Purchasing Management Specialist - Food (bilingual Mandarin)

$60,000 - $80,000/Yr

Yami - Brea, CA

Full-time - Entry Level

Brea, CA

Food Services and Drinking Places

About the position

The Purchasing Management Specialist is a pivotal role responsible for the planning, sourcing, and purchasing of all products within designated categories. This position entails end-to-end ownership of a product category, which includes daily functions such as sourcing new vendors, managing vendor relationships, negotiating costs and terms, maintaining existing product lines, and establishing new product lines. The specialist will collaborate closely with marketing and promotion teams to devise pricing and selling strategies aimed at scaling and expanding the customer base while driving growth in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) and maintaining healthy profit margins. A key requirement for this role is bilingual proficiency in Mandarin to facilitate effective communication and negotiation with both domestic and international vendors. The responsibilities of the Purchasing Management Specialist extend to generating purchase orders, following up on their status, and ensuring timely delivery. The role also involves sourcing and developing new vendors, crafting negotiation strategies, and closing deals under optimal terms. The specialist will be tasked with sourcing and developing new products in the Asian food segments, taking into account customer demands, pricing, quality, availability, market trends, and budget constraints. Additionally, the specialist will be responsible for developing and executing category sourcing and purchasing strategies, utilizing data and metrics to enhance key performance indicators (KPIs) related to inventory levels, turnover, and cash flow. The ability to forecast prices and analyze customer buying patterns is essential for optimizing product assortments and pricing strategies. Vendor relationship management is another critical aspect of this role, requiring the specialist to maintain strong vendor relationships and performance metrics, including fill rates and lead times. The specialist must demonstrate confidence and perspective during challenging negotiations and tight deadlines while partnering with cross-functional teams on various promotional and marketing initiatives. Overall, the Purchasing Management Specialist plays a crucial role in driving customer satisfaction and business growth through effective purchasing strategies and vendor management.

Responsibilities

• Generate purchase orders, follow up with POs, confirm the status and ensure delivery daily.
• 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 customer demands, price, quality, availability, market trends, and team budgets.
• Develop, lead, optimize, and execute category sourcing and purchasing strategies.
• Use data and metrics to improve KPIs for inventory level, inventory allocation, turnover, and cash flow.
• Forecast price, analyze customer buying patterns and market trends to optimize product assortment and pricing.
• Effectively communicate results of KPIs and root cause analysis with the management team and lead corrective action implementation.
• Manage and maintain good vendor relationships and performance by deploying metrics to improve vendor performance.
• Partner with cross-functional teams on platform promotions, marketing allocation, mark-downs, payments terms, and other special requests.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree
• 1+ 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 Chinese/Mandarin 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
• Must be able to assimilate information to make sound and timely decisions.

Benefits

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Employee discount
• Health insurance
• Vision insurance