Job Description

DESCRIPTIONAmazon.co.za is coming to South Africa in 2024! It is an exciting time to be part of a team that will continue to innovate to bring value, convenience, and delight to our customers around the world, and now to South Africa.Amazon is looking for an experienced, enthusiastic, hard-working, analytical and creative candidate to join our team. You will work directly with strategic vendor partners to develop and manage their business, acting as a liaison and executing joint business plans that improve value, selection and convenience across their business portfolio.The Vendor Specialist position offers an exciting introduction to our on-line retail business and a broad training ground for future success. This role will work directly with strategic and large vendors to grow their business through various levers including merchandising/marketing, new product launches, pricing, inventory management, and supply chain optimization. The Vendor Specialist will also work with multiple internal teams and management as they grow and improve their vendor's success at Amazon. This role will be both strategic and tactical.Key job responsibilities
The Vendor Specialist role will be responsible for the following:

• Acting as the 'business owner' for their vendors, possessing a complete understanding of internal and external variables that impact the business
• Owning forecasting, monitoring, understanding and reporting on vendor, along with responsibility for driving strategic supply chain projects and promotions to achieve business objectives
• Proactively negotiating costs, promotional opportunities, and other business inputs for the vendor - autonomously
• Conducting pricing and ROI analysis and making recommendations for initiatives that optimize profit margin
• Managing Purchase Orders and In-Stock analysis for the strategic brands
• Optimizing the online presence and content of each product on the brand's portfolio
• Developing and executing marketing plans in order to drive awareness and purchases for the brand
• Driving cross-category initiatives to improve operational process and deliver results

The role offers a unique opportunity to work at the most innovative online retailer and to develop strong functional skills in online merchandising/ marketing, buying, planning and forecasting, pricing, and business analysis. Vendor Specialist roles offer opportunity for greater responsibility and advancement into a variety of roles including Merchandising, Vendor Management and Inventory Management.We are open to hiring candidates to work out of one of the following locations:Cape Town, ZAFBASIC QUALIFICATIONS- 3+ years of with Excel experience
- 5+ years of retail, operations, product or program management, or business management/consulting with negotiations and delivering results experience
- Bachelor's degree, or 3+ years of professional or military experience
- Experience with financial analysis and P&L ownershipPREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS- Experience managing large data sets and utilizing to drive performance and process improvements
- Experience in vendor negotiations, pricing and promotion, inventory management, and product developmentAmazon is an equal opportunities employer, and we value your passion to discover, invent, simplify and build. We welcome applications from all members of society irrespective of age, sex, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief. Amazon is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from South African citizens who are members of designated groups who may contribute to Employment Equity within the workplace and the further diversification of ideas. In this regard, the relevant laws and principles associated with Employment Equity will be considered when appointing potential candidates. We are required by law to verify your ability to work lawfully in South Africa. Amazon requires that you submit a copy of either your identity document or your passport and any applicable work permit if you are a foreign national, along with an updated curriculum vitae.

Amazon