Strategic Sourcing Manager (213218)

Aquent; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Aquent is seeking a Strategic Sourcing Manager – Marketing & Advertising to partner with Marketing leadership, agencies, and procurement. You will focus on agency contracts, renewals, scopes of work, and stakeholder support, driving value through strategic category management.

You will negotiate contracts, build executive-ready materials, and analyze supplier data to support faster, data-driven decisions in a fast-paced, high-visibility environment.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of relevant experience across Marketing, Advertising, agency management, or marketing procurement.
• Strong background in Marketing categories and agency relationships.
• Experience negotiating marketing-related contracts, MSAs, SOWs, renewals, and terms.

Responsibilities

• Support sourcing across Marketing and Advertising categories, focusing on agency contracts and renewals.
• Lead contract and SOW negotiations with Legal and shared-services teams.
• Develop executive-ready deal summaries, rate analyses, and presentations.
• Analyze supplier data, benchmarks, and opportunities to inform strategy.
• Collaborate with stakeholders across Marketing and senior leadership.

Skills

Marketing procurement

Sourcing strategy

Executive communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Analytical thinking

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Supply Chain, Operations

Tools

Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

We are working with an industry-leading retail brand to recruit a Strategic Sourcing Manager – Marketing & Advertising. Our client’s Strategic Sourcing team is a highly visible business partner supporting the broader organization through strategic category management, supplier negotiations, contract execution, and commercial decision-making.

This role will support the Senior Strategic Sourcing Manager across the full Marketing and Advertising organization. The team is looking for someone who understands the marketing landscape, can communicate effectively with creative and senior-level stakeholders, and can quickly step in to support a high volume of contracts, renewals, and agency relationships.

Candidates may come from a brand, retailer, agency, marketing procurement, or related consulting environment. Deep Marketing and Advertising knowledge is particularly important, and candidates with strong marketing experience and transferable sourcing skills may be considered.

What You’ll Do

You will support sourcing and commercial activity across Marketing and Advertising categories, with a strong immediate focus on agency contracts, renewals, scopes of work, and stakeholder support.

• Manage Marketing & Advertising Sourcing Activities: Support sourcing initiatives across categories including media, creative agencies, social media, influencer marketing, immersive and experiential agencies, content production, PR, external communications, print, direct mail, and other marketing services.
• Lead Contract & SOW Negotiations: Manage contract negotiations, renewals, scopes of work, commercial terms, and agency agreements. Partner closely with Legal and shared-services teams to move contracts through the approval process and resolve potential bottlenecks.
• Support Agency Awards & Existing RFPs: Assist with closing existing sourcing events, including creative and immersive agency engagements, and transition awarded business into contract execution and ongoing supplier management.
• Serve as a Strategic Partner to Marketing Stakeholders: Build strong relationships across the Marketing organization and communicate effectively with creative teams, business leaders, and senior executives. Translate sourcing, contractual, and commercial considerations into clear business language.
• Develop Executive-Ready Materials: Prepare deal summaries, rate analyses, reports, recommendations, and presentations that clearly communicate financial impact, risks, tradeoffs, and required decisions.
• Analyze Commercial & Supplier Data: Use Excel and other analytical tools to evaluate agency rates, commercial models, supplier performance, market benchmarks, and sourcing opportunities.
• Support Category Strategy: Partner with the Senior Strategic Sourcing Manager to support category plans, supplier strategies, renewals, savings opportunities, and longer-term Marketing and Advertising sourcing priorities.
• Manage Risk & Escalations: Identify contractual, commercial, project, and supplier risks and clearly communicate potential issues, bottlenecks, and recommended solutions to stakeholders.
• Drive High-Touch Stakeholder Service: Operate with a consultative, responsive approach and provide strong support to stakeholders across a fast-paced and highly visible organization.

What Our Client Is Looking For

• 5+ Years of Relevant Experience: Approximately five or more years of cumulative experience across Marketing, Advertising, agency management, marketing procurement, sourcing, strategic partnerships, or related functions. Titles may vary, and relevant specialist-level experience may be considered.
• Strong Marketing & Advertising Background: Direct experience working with Marketing and Advertising categories is a key priority. Candidates may come from an agency, brand, retailer, or consulting environment.
• Priority Marketing Categories: Experience in areas such as social media, influencer marketing, creative agencies, media, immersive or experiential agencies, external communications, PR, content production, print, or direct mail is highly valued.
• Marketing Contract Experience: Experience negotiating or managing marketing-related contracts, agency agreements, MSAs, SOWs, renewals, rate structures, and commercial terms.
• Marketing Stakeholder Fluency: Ability to understand how creative and marketing teams operate, communicate in their language, and build credibility with a wide range of stakeholder personalities.
• Executive-Level Communication: Comfortable working with and presenting to senior leaders, including VP-level stakeholders and above.
• Strong Attention to Detail: Ability to manage contracts, deal summaries, presentations, reports, and multiple concurrent workstreams with accuracy.
• Excel & PowerPoint Skills: Strong analytical and presentation capabilities, including rate analysis, commercial comparisons, and the creation of clear executive-facing materials.
• Strategic Sourcing Skills Preferred: Experience with supplier negotiations, RFx processes, category strategy, spend analysis, supplier management, sourcing tools, or procurement processes is beneficial. However, strong Marketing and Advertising knowledge may outweigh deeper traditional sourcing experience.
• Consultative Approach Preferred: Previous consulting, agency, or other high-touch client-service experience is highly valued.
• Adaptability: Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with a high volume of contracts and competing priorities and able to quickly take ownership of work with limited ramp-up time.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Supply Chain Management, Operations, or a related field preferred, or equivalent practical experience.
• Work Arrangement: Hybrid work is preferred, but fully remote candidates may be considered for the right fit.
• Schedule Flexibility: Candidates should be able to support stakeholders across multiple U.S. time zones and be available for Pacific Time meetings when needed.
• Travel: Occasional travel may be required.
• Contract Timing: This role is initially focused on supporting Q4 business needs, with potential for extension based on business needs, budget, and performance.