Online Vendor Manager

Jump into a fast-moving, online-first world where vendor partnerships shape everything we ship, sell, and solve. You’ll guide the supplier ecosystem, tune the numbers, and keep promises to customers. Simple, human, effective. You’re here to help us hit the ground running—and then keep going.

Why This Role Matters

Great products are nothing without great partners. When vendors deliver on time, at the right cost, and with reliable quality, customers smile and our brand grows. When they don’t, carts get abandoned and support queues spike. Your work keeps the engine smooth—pricing, purchase orders, lead times, and service levels all aligned. Honestly, it’s about trust. You build it with clear expectations, fair negotiation, and steady follow‑through. And yes, sometimes you’ll say “no” to protect margin or “not yet” to keep quality high. That balance? That’s the craft of vendor management in e‑commerce.

What You’ll Own and Drive

Here, you’ll dive into work that mixes people skills with data sense:

• Build and deepen vendor relationships for our online catalog—supplier management that treats partners like teammates, not ticket numbers.
• Negotiate pricing, terms, and SLAs so we protect contribution margin and improve cost per order.
• Guide vendor onboarding, compliance, and documentation—clean contracts, clear specs, zero guesswork.
• Monitor inventory health: lead time, fill rate, and OTIF (on‑time, in‑full) so stockouts don’t derail campaigns.
• Use data to spot risk and opportunity—category trends, demand spikes, and slow movers.
• Align with marketing, CX, and ops so promotional plans, delivery windows, and return policies actually match reality.
• Improve processes across purchase orders, invoice reconciliation, and dispute resolution.

That’s the list. But the real story is momentum: cleaner inputs, faster decisions, fewer fires.

A Week in the Life (Remote‑First)

• Monday: Quick vendor standups. Maya flags a packaging change; we’ll update specs before the next PO. You review a cost model in Google Sheets and catch a freight surcharge we don’t need.
• Tuesday: Two supplier calls, one win. Jordan agrees to 3% cost down in exchange for a 6‑month forecast. You log it in our ERP and update targets.
• Wednesday: Ops ping. A carrier delay puts a bestseller at risk. You shift to dropship with a backup vendor and keep the product page live. Crisis averted.
• Thursday: Data deep dive. You compare marketplace fees against wholesale margin and recommend moving one SKU to a DTC‑only strategy.
• Friday: Retro and shout‑outs. Lee closed a quality issue with a simple QC checklist. Small fix. Big win.

Remote work can feel lonely sometimes. Here, we keep things connected with weekly team huddles, casual coffee chats, and open Slack channels. Let’s make sure you’re seen, heard, and supported.

Real Moments That Shaped How We Work

• A vendor once missed two consecutive launch dates. Painful. We added a simple pre‑ship photo check. Missed dates dropped by 80% the next quarter. Actually, that tiny change saved a whole promo.
• We used to guess reorder points. Now, a lightweight forecast and safety‑stock rule drives purchasing. Stockouts fell, and customer reviews climbed.
• A supplier pushed for a price hike mid‑season. You’d think we can’t win there, right? We traded longer terms and a bundled SKU instead. Margin held. Sales grew.

These are the everyday moments that turn “procurement” into progress.

Skills That Help You Shine

You don’t need every box checked. Show us you learn fast and care about outcomes. The rest, we’ll build together.

• Strong vendor relationship chops: empathy + backbone.
• Negotiation that’s fair, firm, and data‑backed (cost modeling, landed cost basics).
• Comfortable with e‑commerce operations—purchase orders, packing specs, returns.
• Working knowledge of contract terms, SLAs, and simple risk management.
• Data literacy: VLOOKUPs, pivots, or SQL basics are welcome.
• Experience with ERP or order management tools; Sheets/Excel are your everyday sidekicks.
• Clear writing. Simple words. Fast updates.

You’ve seen enough to know where waste hides—and how to fix it without drama.

Tools You’ll Touch

We keep the stack practical and easy to learn:

• ERP or OMS for purchase orders and receipts.
• Google Sheets/Excel for analysis and forecasting.
• Marketplace portals (think Amazon Vendor/ Seller Central) and Shopify for catalog changes.
• Ticketing and chat for vendor queries and CX escalations.
• Doc tools for contracts, specs, and version control.

Keywords show up naturally in the work: vendor onboarding, contract negotiation, supplier scorecards, and cost optimization—used when they matter, not as buzzwords.

How We Measure Success

Clarity helps everyone move. You’ll know what “good” looks like:

• Availability: Higher in‑stock rate and stable lead times.
• Economics: Better unit economics—lower landed cost, fewer chargebacks, healthier margin.
• Quality: Fewer defects and returns; tighter quality assurance.
• Speed: Faster PO cycles and vendor response times.
• Trust: Vendors who pick up the phone, share problems early, and stick to commitments.

If these needles move, customers feel it on the site, and finance sees it in the books.

30 • 60 • 90 Days

• First 30: Learn the catalog, current suppliers, and open POs. Map who does what. Clean up a quick win—maybe a pricing mismatch or a missing spec.
• Day 60: Own a category. Tighten SLAs, set reorder points, and standardize a vendor scorecard. Share a simple dashboard in Sheets.
• Day 90: Deliver a measurable result: 2–3% cost down in a target category, a lead‑time reduction, or a quality improvement that cuts returns.

From here, you’ll scale what works. And sunset what doesn’t.

What You’ll Bring (Experience Guidelines)

• 4–7 years across vendor management, purchasing, or ecommerce supply.
• Proven wins in negotiation and partnership building—stories welcome.
• Comfort with analytics—forecasting, demand planning, or basic SQL.
• Understanding of logistics and 3PL handoffs, even at a high level.
• Calm in ambiguity. Curiosity in complexity. Ownership by default.

No perfect resumes. Real impact beats perfect formatting every time.

Pay, Perks, and How We Work

• Salary: $148,500 annually.
• Remote‑first. Work from where you’re effective.
• Flexible hours with core overlap for team huddles.
• Time off you’ll actually use.
• Learning budget for courses or certifications.
• Clear goals, honest feedback, and space to grow.

We win as a team. We also rest as a team.

Collaboration Without the Buzzwords

We keep titles light and outcomes heavy. You’ll work with folks from different backgrounds—ops, CX, finance, and creative—so launches feel coordinated, not chaotic. When a campaign is live, you’ll sync with marketing on demand plans and with ops on fulfillment capacity. Simple, quick, human. And when something breaks? It’s okay. We fix it, write it down, and move on.

The Mindset That Fits Here

• You like clear numbers and real conversations.
• You push for clarity and stay kind.
• You notice the small things: a unit of measure, a pallet height, a missing barcode.
• You’re comfortable saying, “I don’t know—let’s find out.”

That’s not corporate speak. That’s how we actually get things done.

Growth Paths

Vendor management can lead anywhere: category leadership, strategic sourcing, marketplace operations, even P&L ownership for a product line. If you’ve got the spark, we’ll open the doors.

Ready to Step Up?

If this sounds like you, let’s talk. Bring your stories—wins, misses, lessons learned. Tell us where you’ve moved the needle: cost savings, faster lead times, happier customers. We’ll bring our roadmap and a team that’s serious about building something useful. And if you’re wondering whether your experience “fits” perfectly—honestly, no one’s does. Show us your thinking. Show us your care. The rest, we’ll build together. Right?