Director, Sourcing and Supplier Relations
Brilliant
We are hiring a Director to help build our Sourcing & Supplier Relations function at Brilliant. This is a special opportunity for someone experienced in sourcing, buying, supplier relations and procurement, who is an empathetic relationship builder and connector (both internally and externally), a tactful negotiator, and a detail-oriented keeper of processes and data.
You will report to our Head of Client Services and interface directly with our leadership team, including the CEO. You will have the opportunity to build a program, processes and team from the ground up, to support continued growth and success of our rapidly-scaling company.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
1) Source amazing products for Brilliant to offer to its clients and build the relationships needed to secure access to those product lines.
- Follow retail trends closely
- You are a connoisseur of well designed, high quality products at all price points: the idea of identifying the best custom woven sock manufacturer for a variety of situations gets you pumped, just as much as the idea of attending retail markets to search for the trendiest new gifts for the holiday season
- Identify and develop supplier relationships in existing and new product categories
- Foresee supply chain issues
- Operate with awareness of Brilliant clients' and our industry's unique buying needs and constraints (timelines, evergreen SKU depth, etc)
2) Own Brilliant's supplier relationships to:
- Develop and execute negotiation strategy to increase reliability, access to supply chain and increased margins
- Manage negotiated pricing, rebates and other incentive programs
- Handle exceptions and issues individually and holistically, advocating for good outcomes for Brilliant and its clients while maintaining a healthy partnership with essential suppliers
- Conceive of and drive initiatives around emerging focus areas (for example, sustainability and diversity)
- Coordinate supplier interactions and educational content with the Brilliant team
- Work with our Finance and Tech teams to develop smooth and efficient AR and PO reconciliation processes and maintain target margins
3) Be the go-to product and supplier expert for our client services team to ensure consistent, current and excellent expertise and education is available to all
- Get to know the Brilliant product catalog inside and out, continually adding to it and polishing it to reflect available products and discontinuations
- Know the best place to go for all products under all situations
- Be an expert in custom manufacturing and production
- Have a holistic understanding of each supplier's strengths and weaknesses, so as to minimize risk and help channel purchase orders to the best possible supplier
- Build out internal systems as needed to intelligently understand supplier strengths, weaknesses, track records, incentives and more as we scale
- Host educational sessions and produce knowledge-base content as needed to keep the team well-informed about products, suppliers and related topics
4) And broadly:
- Be a connector - work with our Client Services, Ops, Finance and Tech teams as needed to solidify internal processes and tools to support the initiatives above
- Build and manage a team as needed to support the initiatives above
REQUIREMENTS
- At least 5 years experience in some combination of strategic sourcing, product sourcing, retail buying, procurement and supplier relations
- Understanding and empathy of distributor/supplier relationship dynamics
- Experience in developing supplier rebate or incentive programs, negotiating service agreements, building preferred supplier programming
- Enjoys communicating with different stakeholders, navigates conflicts with strength and grace
- Ability to “marshal resources” when necessary in order to achieve objectives, including an understanding of when this is and isn't necessary
- Ability to build and maintain positive, long-term relationships
- Strong drive, work ethic, and ability to work well independently
- Strong degree of personal accountability/ownership
- Detail-oriented, sweats the small stuff, interest in documenting details in an efficient manner
Ideally, you will also have:
- A combination of large company and startup career experience - you can toe the line between knowing how larger orgs work and being nimble and thoughtful as you devise processes and systems at our smaller, quickly-growing company and our unique supplier mix
- Some exposure to the promotional products industry may be helpful, but is definitely not a requirement
Benefits
- Competitive salary and equity based on experience
- Open vacation / PTO policy
- $3k a year in healthcare reimbursement through our QSEHRA program (U.S. only)
- 401k plan and profit sharing (U.S. only)
- Generous holiday calendar, including 2 weeks of company-wide holidays (winter break and summer weekend)
- Home office setup and allowance
- Monthly personal holiday (the Brilliant Self Care Day ✨ )
- Fully remote team (work from anywhere in North America)
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