Strategic Sourcing Specialist

Adept Global; United States; On-site; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading marketplace firm is seeking a Senior Manager – Vendor Management in the US. The role demands extensive vendor onboarding and negotiation experience in gift cards and rewards sectors. You will manage vendor relationships, optimize commercial terms, and drive considerable marketplace growth. Candidates should possess 3–8 years of relevant experience and strong connections in the industry. This full-time position offers the opportunity to enhance operational excellence and ensure vendor satisfaction.

Qualifications

• 3–8 years of experience in vendor onboarding and vendor management.
• At least 3 years in the US gift card or rewards ecosystem.
• Strong negotiation skills with proven commercial improvement.

Responsibilities

• Identify, evaluate, and onboard new vendors across gift cards, digital rewards, and merchandise.
• Negotiate pricing and commercial terms to improve margins.
• Act as primary contact for key vendors ensuring smooth operations.

Skills

Vendor onboarding

Commercial negotiation

Vendor management

Relationship building

Job description

Location: USA

Department: Marketplace / Strategic Sourcing

Reports to: CSO / Head of Marketplace

Who We Are Looking For

We are looking for a Senior Manager – Vendor Management (US) who lives and breathes vendor onboarding, commercial negotiation, and long-term partner relationships—especially in the gift cards, stored value, and rewards industry in the US.

You should have 3–8 years of experience in vendor onboarding and management, with at least 3 years in the US gift card or rewards ecosystem (e.g., working with players like Blackhawk, Tango, gift card aggregators, brands, and issuers).

This is a builder + hustler role: you’ll expand our clients marketplace by adding both physical merchandise and digital reward options, negotiating great commercials, and unlocking differentiated content that our enterprise customers love. Existing connects in the industry are a big plus.

Key Responsibilities

• Vendor Sourcing & Onboarding Identify, evaluate, and onboard new vendors across gift cards, digital rewards, experiences, and physical merchandise for the US market.
• Own the end-to-end onboarding process: outreach, due diligence, commercials, contract closure, and internal handoff.
• Commercial Negotiation & Margin Management Negotiate pricing, discounts, SLAs, and commercial terms that improve our clients margins while maintaining strong vendor relationships.
• Continually optimize commercials across top vendors to keep us competitive and profitable.
• Vendor Relationship Management Act as the primary point of contact for key vendors in the US, ensuring smooth operations, fast issue resolution, and a “preferred partner” experience.
• Conduct regular business reviews with top vendors to track performance, resolve bottlenecks, and co-create growth plans.
• Catalog Expansion & Differentiation Work closely with Marketplace, Product, and Sales teams to identify catalog gaps and priority categories (e.g., lifestyle, travel, food, wellness, local brands).
• Proactively bring in new physical merchandise lines and digital reward options that align with customer demand and emerging trends.
• Operational Excellence Collaborate with Finance, Legal, Risk/Compliance, and Operations to ensure vendor contracts, documentation, tax/compliance requirements, and payment terms are always up to date.
• Ensure vendor SLAs (delivery, uptime, fulfilment quality) are well defined, monitored, and met.
• Data-Driven Decisions Track vendor performance metrics (fill rates, margins, redemption volume, stock-outs, issue rates) and use data to drive renewals, renegotiations, and rationalization decisions.
• Work with internal analytics teams to build visibility dashboards for vendor performance and marketplace health.

Objectives & Key Results (OKR) Overview

You will be measured against stretched, but achievable goals, such as:

• Redemptions & Margin Impact Enable $20M+ annual redemptions on the marketplace influenced by your vendor portfolio.
• Improve overall category-level margins by targeted commercial renegotiations and smarter sourcing.
• Vendor & Catalogue Growth Onboard 50+ new high-quality vendors (gift cards, digital rewards, and merchandise) in the first 12–18 months.
• Expand US catalog coverage across key categories and geographies, with a focus on uniqueness and depth of options.
• Vendor Performance & Experience Achieve 95%+ vendor SLA adherence on agreed metrics (availability, delivery times, issue resolution).
• Maintain high vendor satisfaction and long-term continuity with strategic partners.

Preferred Qualifications

• 3–8 years of experience in vendor onboarding and vendor management, preferably in the gift cards, rewards, payments, incentives, or loyalty industry.
• At least 3 years of work experience in the US gift card / stored value / rewards ecosystem, ideally having worked with aggregators, processors, or large brand programs.
• Strong negotiation skills with a proven track record of improving commercial terms, margins, and SLAs.
• Existing relationships and contacts in the US gift card and rewards industry that can accelerate vendor onboarding will be a big plus.Experience managing a broad vendor portfolio with clear KPIs and data-driven decisions.
• Strong understanding of contracts, compliance, and risk considerations in vendor relationships.
• Builder mindset: comfortable operating in a fast-paced environment, setting up processes from scratch, and iterating quickly.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to work cross-functionally with Product, Finance, Legal, Operations, and Sales.

Industry & background preference

• Preference will be for candidates from the loyalty, rewards, benefits, incentives, or corporate gifting industry.
• Any entrepreneurial or founder experience (including side ventures or early-stage builder roles) will be a big plus.

Seniority level

Associate

Employment type

Full-time

Job function

Purchasing, General Business, and Product Management

Industries

Software Development, IT System Custom Software Development, and Technology, Information and Media