SOURCING MANAGER- HOME OFFICE- KENDRA SCOTT
About Kendra Scott: We are a fun, talented and driven team dedicated to providing our customers with gorgeous products and a WOW! experience. Family, fashion and philanthropy are at the core of our company and though we move at a very fast pace, we are committed to maintaining a family-oriented work environment and giving back to our community. A passion for great design, dedication to innovation and a strong social media presence are our building blocks for creating a unique and engaging lifestyle brand across all channels, including retail stores, wholesale accounts and e-commerce. Our headquarters are located in the heart of Austin, Texas, and we embrace the unique vibe and energy of our hometown as an inspiration for our brand and company culture.
Position Overview:
The Sourcing Manager is a member of the sourcing team who reports directly to the Director of Production & Sourcing. This is a salary, exempt position whose primary responsibilities are to implement total company sourcing strategies and manage overall forecasts by vendor & product category. This role follows the product from concept through delivery and ensures that there is a strong vendor base that can support the company growth with on time delivery of quality product.
Responsibilities:
Sourcing
• Build strong relationships & partnerships with vendors and agencies to promote the Kendra Scott family culture throughout the supply chain
• Create a 1-2 year global sourcing strategy & forecasts by vendor, country, & product category
• Report on forecasts vs actuals on a monthly and quarterly basis and adjust as needed
• Ensure company’s global diversification plans are being met or exceeded
• Oversee capacity of all vendors to ensure vendor base can support company’s forecasted growth
• Identify new vendor onboarding needs or existing vendor cross certification to ensure stable and balanced growth
• Create and maintain new vendor onboarding timelines and trackers to ensure any new vendor is successfully onboarded
• Collaborate with internal Vendor Compliance and Legal teams throughout the new vendor onboarding process to ensure all KS compliance standards are being met or exceeded
• Research global industry trends and landscape; build strategies around key insights for new brand opportunities and communicate any foreseen risks
• Attends industry conferences, lectures, trade shows, and other avenues of research to keep informed of new product directions and trends
Production Planning
• Key production internal point of contact for all product in design & development
• Oversee the scheduling of overall production timelines before PO Submission
• Partner with Product Development to determine vendor allocation before sampling each program based on the overall sourcing strategy and bulk production needs
• Oversee creation of a detailed production calendar for all product categories, launches, and reorders to ensure on time quality deliveries
• Partner with merchandising, development, planning, allocation, transportation, & distribution to determine feasibility of new product launches and execute accordingly
• Hold internal teams and vendors accountable for meeting deadlines and adhering to outlined production dates
• Ensure all POs are handed over timely and accurately to production operations after handoff from planning
Costing
• Analyze complete landed product costs and make sourcing recommendations based on costing opportunities
• Collaborate with trade compliance to understand duty rates and product classifications in order to create a cost-effective sourcing strategy
• Develop and execute an exchange rate policy for all vendors and products that maximizes profitability and operational efficiency
• Lead cost re-negotiations strategy for ongoing assortments to maximize profitability
• Responsible for volume price break negotiation strategy
• Proactively think of ways to continuously reduce costs & maximize profitability throughout supply chain
Team Building & Leadership:
• Create departmental strategies and direct internal and external priorities based on production needed to achieve companywide goals and initiatives.
• Build strong cross-functional partnerships with Design, Product Development, Planning, Sales, Finance, Merchandising, Logistics, Distribution, Vendors and Agent, and intuitively know when to effectively engage teams to support department needs
• Lead and develop Production team members
Our Ideal Candidate Will Have:
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience
• 7+ years’ experience leading and developing a successful team in multi category production and international vendor management; jewelry, home, and beauty experience a plus
• Strong multi-tasking skills and ability to react quickly in a fast-paced environment
• Focus on deadlines and highly organized; Not fazed by complexity, multiple timelines, and competing priorities
• Comfort communicating opportunities, risks, changes, and needs to cross-functional teams and senior leadership
• Flexibility, motivation and a ‘can do’ attitude when navigating challenges and frequent priority shifts
• Strong working knowledge of all areas of production process across a variety of materials, techniques and products.
• Extreme proficiency with Excel and ERP systems
• Experience developing, implementing and communicating new processes and tools
• Comprehensive knowledge of retail product development, sourcing & manufacturing processes; applied understanding of the international vendor community
• Excited and able to travel domestically and internationally
• A proven ability to break down larger initiatives into consumable achievable tasks to achieve departmental and company objectives
• Ability to clearly articulate plans and ensure team is aligned
• A solutions-oriented mentality with a data driven approach
• A growth mindset: track record of leveraging past learnings, encouraging new ideas and smart risk taking in self and others
• Strong communication skills with a proven ability to build cross functional partnerships to make effective decisions collaboratively; Chinese language skills a plus
• High commitment to employee growth and development: empowers team and defines success as having a significant impact on other’s careers
• A shared appreciation for our 3 core values of Family, Fashion and Philanthropy