Manager - Supplier Management parental leave cover

THE ROLE AND THE TEAM

Join our dynamic team as a Manager Supplier Management (Maternity Cover), contributing to the success of our Supplier Management (Negotiation) team and the broader Procurement organisation. In this role, you will play a crucial part in cultivating strong, long-term relationships with our suppliers, driving the company's commercial development and sustainable growth across the platform. As a Manager Supplier Management, you will be at the forefront of strategic projects aimed at enhancing both top and bottom-line performance.

Your responsibilities will include in-depth analysis of our fashion suppliers’ portfolio, identification of commercial opportunities, financial planning and analytics, contribution to cross-functional projects as well as active collaboration in supplier negotiations. Working closely with key stakeholders across Procurement, Finance, and Business Units (primarily Customer Propositions), you will have a direct impact on shaping the future of our commercial ventures.

Please note:

This position is a parental leave cover and limited to 12 months.

• Deeply understand the dynamics of the fashion industry, commercial KPIs, and be able to perform quantitative analyses that enable commercial improvements with our suppliers and business partners, maximising the value of negotiated agreements.
• Possess a sharp analytic mind paired with advanced financial capabilities and be able to understand and process financial data and use appropriate tools to analyze P&L waterfall and its drivers, cash flow and other financial parameters.
• Partner with Customer Propositions to define, shape and optimize the fashion Portfolio negotiation strategies and tactics, providing holistic support in developing commercial relationships with suppliers. This may include financial modelling, P&L assessment, and key commercial improvements impacts calculation.
• Measure and deliver procurement KPIs (e.g. savings) that have a direct impact on Zalando in your area of scope.
• Proactively provide visibility to your lead and relevant stakeholders on the status of actions, KPIs, and issues by providing facts, options, and triggering conversations on mitigation plans.
• Possess Project Management expertise and deliver on cross-functional projects by contributing to specific sub-work streams, defining requirements, gathering data, analysing information, and following up on key project aspects.
• You will need to manage your deliverables in a structured manner and according to stakeholder expectations.
• Be able to quickly identify process gaps or dataset inconsistencies and provide quick-fix / alternative solutions while displaying strong problem-solving skills and stakeholder management.

• You have a minimum of 3-5 years of relevant working experience in the following areas:
  Finance or Banking industry, M&A, Consultancy, Planning, Buying/Merchandising, Controlling, Supplier Management, Procurement, B2B Sales.
• You understand the business needs and priorities to be able to prepare and support the execution of a supplier negotiation, including implications like legal and commercial.
• You are experienced in the fashion industry and/or marketplace platform business models, with strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities, paired with a deep understanding of Fashion commercial KPIs and financial parameters such as P&L and Cash Flow drivers.
• You possess intermediate analytical skills to perform quantitative analysis leveraging basic modelling and data manipulation (ie. queries, macros, advanced pivots, etc.).
• Advanced knowledge of Excel and/or Google Sheets is required; basic knowledge of SQL and/or Python is an advantage.
• You are able to assess the financial impacts of the commercial data analysed, draw conclusions, and expose your findings in eye-catching presentations. PPT and/or Google slide basic knowledge is required.
• You possess project and stakeholder management skills combined with strong problem-solving and analytical competencies, seeking out solutions in an efficient and goal-oriented way.
• You have a self-starting, winning mentality, positive…