Associate Director - Commercial (Personal Care & Home Care)

About the Role

Associate Director - Commercial (Personal Care & Home Care) responsible for strategic sourcing, commercial management and category planning for Commercial Dry Grocery Non-Food to drive business outcomes and partnerships with suppliers and customers.

Responsibilities

• Set strategic direction for assigned cross-functional sourcing programs through collaborative development of Strategic Sourcing initiatives and Category Plans; lead cross-functional sourcing teams.
• Review and drive Commercial Dry Grocery Non-Food commercial activities that lead business outcomes and enhance strategic partnership with external customers and top suppliers (Makro mail, KVI, annual promotion plan, sales gap recovery action plan, special events, etc.).
• Formulate price policy and price structure, ensure proper implementation to maintain market competitiveness; review price negotiation, competitor price matching, quotation process and promotion year plan.
• Conduct industry deep-dive analysis to inform long-term sourcing strategies (3+ years) and provide proactive market insights.
• Lead assortment strategy and implementation: annual reviews for new store, new product, core product by store type; item performance review; control SKU counts; Plan-O-Gram review & approval.
• Identify sourcing best practices, determine supplier performance metrics, and facilitate quarterly supplier reviews with stakeholders.
• Conduct, review and manage budgeting and costing for Commercial Dry Grocery Non-Food; translate and cascade annual budget into actionable steps across teams and store formats.
• Update and communicate tasks, agreed actions and results; meet with Store General Managers/Assistant GMs to communicate business direction, familiarize teams with new products and operations.
• Determine innovations to meet customer needs, improve competitiveness and recover sales to create profitable revenue opportunities.
• Negotiate and manage major packaging contracts to meet quality, service, availability and budget objectives.
• Coordinate onsite supplier visits to review production processes and ensure end-product quality (flavor, texture, look) meets requirements.
• Act as Subject Matter Expert for strategic sourcing and contract review/negotiation in assigned categories to ensure product variety and quality, local sourcing and seasonality.
• Coach immediate team, liaise with wider organization and suppliers to deliver against strategic direction and annual budgets; ensure people development and build team capability.

Qualifications

• Master or Bachelor in Business Administration, Science, Marketing or a technical/related field; MBA preferred.
• 15+ years professional experience in Dry Grocery Non-Food management, retail operations and/or consumer product goods preferred; 5–7 years strategic sourcing experience preferred.
• Department level supervisory/managerial experience of direct and indirect reports; demonstrated people/team leadership and coaching ability.
• Retail/wholesale industry knowledge and ability to develop market expertise in customers, suppliers, products, pricing and commercial opportunities.
• Strong negotiation skills and ability to manage pricing, contracts and supplier/customer agreements professionally.
• Demonstrated business acumen, strategic and operational planning capabilities; fosters change and innovation to create customer value.
• Fluent in English communication skills.
• Ability to travel up to 30% for supplier visits, internal meetings, industry meetings, trade shows and joint sales calls.