Supplier Management Specialist

About The Team

Print Supply Chain Management is responsible for printing/manufacturing books, demand forecasting, deciding where products should be produced, and distribution, warehousing, transportation, stocking, and print-on-demand fulfillment.

About The Role

The role requires driving the performance of strategic suppliers to deliver quality, service, cost, and value; build strong supplier partnerships that promote accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement; and collaborate across the Supply Chain to strengthen resilience, manage risk, and deliver end-to-end business outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Supplier Performance Management: Manage strategic supplier performance. Maintain scorecards, KPIs, reports, reviews, and meetings. Monitor contracts and SLAs. Address gaps through corrective actions. Improve service, quality, cost, and operations. Build strong relationships and maintain commercial governance.
• Contract Management: Manage supplier contracts throughout their lifecycle. Monitor obligations, pricing, and service commitments. Support renewals, amendments, and extensions. Maintain accessible records. Work with Procurement and Legal to clarify contract terms.
• Tender and Supplier Selection Support: Support sourcing and tender activities. Contribute to RFPs, RFIs, evaluations, and due diligence. Assist with supplier assessments, onboarding, and transitions. Define performance and service expectations.
• Financial and Commercial Management: Track supplier spend, volumes, and cost trends. Measure results against budgets and targets. Support invoice checks and payment resolution. Verify pricing and identify savings. Report spend, volume, and performance.
• Risk and Business Continuity: Work with Risk Management and Operations. Assess operational, financial, geopolitical, cybersecurity, sustainability, and compliance risks. Maintain risk registers and track mitigation actions. Support continuity plans, incident management, and reviews.
• Supplier Governance: Ensure compliance with company policies, regulations, sustainability commitments, and ethical standards. Support onboarding and ongoing governance. Review compliance records and certifications. Escalate issues appropriately.
• Data, Reporting, and Insights: Maintain supplier dashboards and reports. Analyse operational and commercial data. Identify trends and improvement opportunities. Report to key stakeholders. Support forecasting and capacity planning.
• Collaboration: Partner with Procurement, Operations, Finance, Customer Service, Planning, Risk Management, Legal, and other teams. Prevent silos and share expertise. Support cross-training, supplier transitions, business changes, and major projects. Promote an integrated, end-to-end supply chain.

Requirements

• Demonstrate a strong commitment to achieving goals.
• Monitor progress regularly, take responsibility for group outcomes, and encourage accountability and ownership.
• Recognise and share credit for contributions.
• Serve as a subject matter expert and provide coaching and mentoring to others.
• Explain complex technical matters clearly and adapt communication to suit the audience.
• Remain current within the discipline, build external connections, and apply best practices.
• Provide clear instructions and direction.
• Listen actively, ask effective questions, and consider different viewpoints.
• Explain the wider business context clearly.
• Manage unexpected situations independently and act with confidence.
• Remove obstacles and follow through on agreed actions.
• Encourage initiative by providing appropriate information, resources, and support while maintaining individual ownership of goals and achievements.
• Ask relevant questions and gather facts from multiple sources.
• Identify and analyse problems, recommend suitable solutions, and manage routine issues independently.
• Promote cooperation