Senior Manager, Vendor Management

Location: Shanghai

Role Overview

We are looking for a Senior Manager of Vendor Management to lead the transformation of vendor governance from a business-embedded, ad hoc model into a centralized, standardized, and transparent operating model. You will drive policy, bidding, and lifecycle governance that reduces reliance on individual business units while improving compliance, fairness, and cost efficiency across all vendor relationships.

Key Responsibilities

1. Vendor Management System Ownership & Tech Enablement

Own and continuously optimize the vendor management system in close partnership with Tech; drive platform enhancements, automation, and data quality improvements to support scalable, centralized vendor operations.

2. Policy & SOP Governance

Develop, maintain, and continuously optimize vendor management policies and SOPs; own end-to-end policy governance including documentation, training, and enforcement to ensure consistent adoption across the organization.

3. Bidding Transparency & Standardization

Lead the progressive transformation of the bidding process toward greater openness and transparency.

4. Bidding Execution & Governance

Participate directly in bid evaluation and scoring; establish and maintain centralized, standardized scorecards and access criteria to ensure fair, consistent, and auditable vendor selection decisions.

5. End-to-End Vendor Lifecycle Management

Own vendor profiling, maintenance, review, and evaluation across the full lifecycle – pre-onboarding due diligence, onboarding, and in-life monitoring – to build a comprehensive, up-to-date view of vendor risk and performance.

6. Budget, Quotation & Savings Governance

Partner with Finance on vendor quotations, budgeting, and cost management; establish and drive achievement of annual savings goals through structured vendor negotiation and spend governance.

7. Centralized & Transparent Governance Transformation

Lead the organization-wide shift from business-embedded, ad hoc vendor management toward a centralized, standardized, and transparent governance model; reduce reliance on individual business units for day-to-day vendor decisions while embedding consistent rules, controls, and audit trails.

Qualifications

· 10+ years of vendor management, procurement, or sourcing experience, including hands-on, end-to-end ownership of vendor governance in a B2B environment.

· Bachelor's degree or above in Business Administration, Compliance, Legal, Supply Chain Management, or a related field.

· Demonstrated expertise in designing, implementing, and enforcing policies, SOPs, and governance frameworks; strong track record of establishing rules and ensuring consistent execution across teams.

· Solid understanding of bidding/tender processes, vendor risk management, and compliance requirements; experience driving standardization and transparency in vendor selection.

· Experience partnering with Finance on budgeting, quotations, and cost/savings management; proven track record of setting and achieving annual savings targets.

· Strong stakeholder management skills; able to build and maintain effective working relationships with business stakeholders while driving standardization and enforcing policy compliance, even amid competing priorities.

· Strong cross-functional leadership and communication skills; fluent English (spoken and written).

Nice-to-Have

· Experience with vendor management platforms (e.g., SAP Ariba, Coupa) or equivalent systems

· Familiarity with China procurement/compliance regulations

· Relevant certifications (e.g., CIPS, PMP)

· Experience driving organization-wide process centralization or transformation initiatives

· Prior experience in cross-border trade business / global vendor management

WM doesn’t charge any recruitment or similar fee in the recruitment process including but not limited to interview, offering and onboarding.