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Sourcing / Vendor Manager (buying office)

Sits on the buyer's side: selects suppliers, places and moves orders, and develops factory capability.

Level
Senior
Works in
Retail buying or liaison office
Department
Sourcing & buying office
Directory organisations in
Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam

The daily work

  • Assess factory capability, capacity and compliance before nomination.
  • Allocate orders across the supplier base and manage price, capacity and risk.
  • Drive supplier development plans on quality, delivery and sustainability.
  • Own escalation when a shipment is at risk and decide between air freight, discount or cancellation.

Skills employers screen for

  • Factory assessment and capacity maths
  • Costing depth — you must know what a garment really costs to make
  • Country and duty knowledge for the sourcing footprint
  • Straight, documented supplier communication

Qualification

Usually several years in merchandising or production first. Buying offices rarely hire this role straight from institute.

How to get in

  1. 1.Do factory-side time first; the best vendor managers have run orders themselves.
  2. 2.Read every published supplier expectation and factory list of the buyer you are targeting.
  3. 3.Apply through the retail group's own careers portal, and follow the liaison office in your country.

Organisations that employ this role

This is a role guide, not a vacancy. These directory organisations employ people in this role but may not be hiring now — check their own careers page for current openings, or browse live NOSK CAREER openings.