Vendor Manager - Strategic Initiatives, MENA UFG

Q Tech General Trading LLC; Dubai; On-site; AED 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading grocery technology firm in Dubai seeks a Vendor Manager to build vendor relationships and enhance selection in fresh and frozen categories. You will negotiate contracts, manage P&L, and drive performance improvements. Ideal candidates have 5+ years in operations or product management and strong analytical and negotiation skills. Join a fast-paced environment where you’ll lead initiatives to optimize profitability and customer experience.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience with Excel.
• 5+ years in retail, operations, or business management with negotiation experience.
• Strong negotiation skills.

Responsibilities

• Build relationships with vendors and expand selection.
• Negotiate vendor relationships and contracts.
• Own P&L to meet financial targets.

Skills

Negotiation skills

Analytical skills

Leadership skills

Vendor management

Tools

Excel

Job description

Interested in working on an innovative and high-impact business that is changing the way customers think about grocery? The MENA Grocery team (UFG) is offering a role to own building new business from ground zero. We are seeking a self-starter who can quickly familiarize themselves with this fast-paced environment, build relationships and trust with cross-functional teams, and assume ownership within the program. This will require understanding complex business, tech, and operations processes at Amazon and our partners, and devising an optimal engagement model. You must thrive in an entrepreneurial environment and be comfortable with ambiguity and competing priorities. High judgment, analytical talent, and good communication skills are essential.

In this role, you will influence internal and external stakeholders and leadership to buy into your strategic direction, build a sourcing strategy for a new category, ensure flawless execution, and analyze key metrics to drive improvements.

The Vendor Manager (VM) will be responsible for building relationships with vendors, expanding selection, managing profitability, optimizing pricing, and developing their team. The ideal candidate will have leadership skills, analytical ability, strong vendor management and negotiation skills, curiosity about operational details, and a passion for creating a world-class shopping experience. The position requires autonomous work in a fast-paced, demanding, and ambiguous environment.

The candidate should possess strong business judgment, a track record of project delivery, negotiations, and relationship management, along with analytical skills. The role involves working with stakeholders across marketing, marketplace, legal, supply chain, and operations.

Key job responsibilities

This external-facing role involves collaboration with vendors to build seasonal and long-term selection in Fresh and Frozen categories. There is potential to build the Amazon Ultra-Fast-Grocery (UFG) retail business from scratch, define SOPs for scaling, and support strategic initiatives.

Support category leaders in driving initiatives and opportunities.

Negotiate vendor relationships, terms of trade, and contracts across various categories including Dry Grocery, Commodities, Fresh & Frozen items (Fruits & Vegetables, Dairy, Poultry, Ice-cream, etc.).

Develop seasonal portfolios to increase traffic and engagement.

Identify automation opportunities to scale solutions and improve metrics such as selection, profitability, pricing, and availability.

Post-launch, own the P&L to meet financial targets and lead projects to improve profitability involving key stakeholders.

Define and refine assortment selection to reduce shrinkage and enhance customer experience.

Source deals during Tier 1 and Tier 2 events to provide value to Prime customers.

Negotiate marketing funds for category visibility during regular operations and events.

Prepare, pitch, and close annual Joint Business Plans (JBP).

Day-to-day expectations

This startup role involves managing high ambiguity and requires proactive problem-solving.

Basic qualifications

• 3+ years of experience with Excel
• 5+ years in retail, operations, product, program management, or business management/consulting with negotiation experience
• Experience with financial analysis and P&L management
• FMCG, Grocery, Commodities, or Import Vendor management and retail experience
• Strong negotiation skills
• Ability to engage with C-level executives externally

Preferred qualifications

• Experience managing large data sets for performance improvements
• Experience aligning cross-functional teams

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