Purchasing Management Specialist - Food (bilingual Japanese)

Job Responsibilities

• Generate purchase orders, follow up with PO’s, confirm status and ensure delivery on a daily basis
• Source and develop new vendors, craft negotiation strategies and terms on price, payment and lead time and close deals with optimal terms
• Source and develop new products in Asian Food segments based on various factors such as customer demands, price, quality, availability, market trends, and team budgets
• Develop, lead, optimize, and execute category sourcing and purchasing strategies
• Use data and multiple dimension metrics to improve KPIs for inventory level, inventory allocation, turnover and cash flow
• Forecast price, analyze customer buying patterns and market trends to identify and optimize product assortment, pricing as well as changes of balance in buyer-supplier power
• Customer-driven, ability to reflect business from the customer side, and increase customer experience through everyday work
• Effectively communicate results of KPIs & root cause analysis with management team and lead corrective action implementation in areas where performance is not meeting expectations
• Manage and maintain good vendor relationships and performance by deploying a standard set of metrics to improve vendors’ performance including fill rate, lead time, OSHA requirements etc.
• Partner with cross functional teams on platform promotions, marketing allocation, mark-downs, payments terms and other special requests

Qualifications and Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree
• 2-4+ years of purchasing and/or vendor management experience in retail or related industries
• Demonstrated enthusiasm for foods/grocery/snack/drink products and understanding of respective customers
• Excellent negotiation and persuasion skills in English, mastery of Japanese language is required
• Analytical thinker with a positive attitude and flexibility to accommodate evolving business needs
• Excellent attention to detail, self-starter with the ability to learn, grow and adapt quickly
• Decision-Making: Must be able to assimilate the information gathered by yourself and others (internal & external) to make sound and timely decisions

Benefits

• 401(k) matching
• Health insurance
• Vision insurance
• Paid time off (PTO): vacation, sick, and holidays
• On-site gym and game rooms
• Employee discount
• $60-80K salary