Director of Vendor Engagement

The Fresh Market Inc; Fisher Park (NC); Hybrid; USD 95,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Team member discount up to 40%

Health, Dental & Vision insurance

401K contribution and match

Personal time off

Job summary

The Fresh Market Inc in Fisher Park is seeking a Director of Vendor Engagement to lead and define the vendor engagement strategy. This role emphasizes strategic partnerships over transactional functions, focusing on vendor lifecycle management and building scalable processes.

The ideal candidate will have 8-12+ years of experience in merchandising or vendor management, demonstrating a strong ability in negotiation and cross-functional leadership. The position offers a chance to build effective vendor relations and drive impactful business outcomes.

Qualifications

• 8–12+ years of experience in merchandising, vendor management, procurement, or retail partnerships.
• Proven experience in vendor negotiations, joint business planning, or strategic partnerships.
• Strong analytical and financial acumen with ability to translate insights into action.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement a comprehensive vendor engagement strategy aligned with merchandising and enterprise priorities.
• Establish vendor segmentation and differentiated engagement models.
• Lead enterprise-wide joint business planning processes focused on strategic vendors.

Skills

Vendor negotiations

Analytical skills

Stakeholder management

Cross-functional leadership

Job description

The Fresh Market & You:

Our mission is to make everyday eating extraordinary for our guests. We create a warm, welcoming, memorable experience with exceptional, personal service.

We’re looking for a leader who strives for excellence and brings positive energy, commitment, and a “can-do” attitude to work every day. We value teamwork and celebrate our successes as a team and will value your contribution!

Added Benefits for choosing The Fresh Market Team:

• Team member discount up to 40%
• Health, Dental & Vision insurance available for individual, spouse, partner, and family.
• And much more!
• 401K contribution and match for part-time and full-time team members.
• Personal time off and additional time off purchase plans available

About the Position:

The Director of Vendor Engagement is responsible for defining and leading the enterprise vendor engagement strategy across The Fresh Market. This role shifts vendor management from a transactional function to a strategic capability focusing on joint business planning, negotiation excellence, supplier segmentation, and partnership development.

You will own the vendor lifecycle while building scalable processes, tools, and capabilities that enable best-in‑class vendor partnerships and negotiations.

What You’ll Do:

• Develop and implement a comprehensive vendor engagement strategy aligned with merchandising and enterprise priorities
• Establish vendor segmentation (strategic, core, emerging) and differentiated engagement models
• Define and standardize vendor processes, tools, and playbooks across the organization
• Lead enterprise‑wide joint business planning processes focused on a set of strategic vendors, ensuring alignment on growth, funding, innovation, and performance goals
• Partner with merchants and vendors to build mutually beneficial strategies that drive sales, margin, and differentiation
• Create visibility and accountability for vendor performance vs. agreed plans and financial commitments
• Facilitate strategic business reviews with top vendors to identify opportunities for growth and improvement
• Elevate negotiation capabilities across merchandising through tools, training, and frameworks
• Partner with merchants to structure deals that maximize value (cost, funding, innovation, supply reliability)
• Integrate insights (e.g., commodities) into negotiations to strengthen outcomes
• Establish KPI frameworks, scorecards, and reporting to track vendor performance
• Monitor vendor performance against financial commitments and business objectives
• Identify opportunities for vendor consolidation, optimization, and cost savings in partnership with Cencosud
• Partner with Merchandising, Finance, Supply Chain, and Operations to ensure alignment on vendor strategies
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to ensure vendor strategies support assortment, pricing, promotions, and operational execution
• Build vendor engagement capabilities across the organization, including negotiation, analytics, and partnership development
• Develop training, tools, and processes to enable merchants to manage vendors more effectively
• Foster a culture of collaborative partnerships vs. purely transactional relationships
• Vendor relationships are structured, strategic, and consistently deliver mutual value
• Joint business plans are established and tracked across key vendors
• Negotiation outcomes improve (margin, funding, cost transparency)
• Vendor performance is transparent, measurable, and actively managed
• Merchants are equipped with the tools and capabilities to engage vendors effectively

Qualifications:

QUALIFICATIONS

At a minimum, what you’ll need:

• 8–12+ years of experience in merchandising, vendor management, procurement, or retail partnerships
• Proven experience in vendor negotiations, joint business planning, or strategic partnerships
• Strong analytical and financial acumen with ability to translate insights into action
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross‑functional initiatives in a complex retail environment
• Exceptional communication, influence, and stakeholder management skills

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience in grocery, food retail, or consumer packaged goods
• Exposure to vendor performance management, supplier segmentation, or procurement strategy
• Experience building new capabilities, processes, or operating models within merchandising organizations

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS: Consistent with applicable laws, TFM will make reasonable accommodations for qualified applicants and team members, unless doing so would result in an undue hardship to TFM. This guiding principle applies to all aspects of employment, including hiring and job assignment, compensation, discipline, termination, and access to benefits and training.

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer:

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard race, color, creed, religion, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy and related medical conditions, national origin, genetic information, uniformed service, veteran status, disability, or any other basis prohibited by federal or state law.

The statements in this job description are provided to describe the general nature and level of work expected in this role. While these statements include the essential functions of the job, they are not intended to be a complete list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required. As we work as a team, there may be times team members are needed to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities based on business needs.

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