Vendor Manager - Merchandiser (All Genders)

Job Description

The Vendor Manager owns the commercial success of a portfolio of strategic suppliers, driving profitable growth through strong supplier partnerships, commercial negotiations, data-led decision making and cross-functional collaboration. You will play a key role in shaping category strategy while delivering exceptional value for both customers and suppliers. Reporting to the Lead Vendor Manager UK, you will join a UK-based Vendor Management team and work closely with both local and international colleagues to optimise supplier performance and deliver strong commercial success. 

Why join us?  

In this role, you will have the opportunity to drive significant impact within a fast-growing company. You will be at the forefront of the pet industry, shaping product offerings and strategies that resonate with customers and set us apart from the competition. If you're passionate about building strategic supplier partnerships, driving commercial growth, and shaping the future of Europe's leading online pet retailer, we'd love to hear from you!   

Key Responsibilities  

• Commercial & Category strategy: Own the commercial performance and profitability of a portfolio of strategic suppliers, defining growth strategies to deliver sales, margin and market share targets. 

• Commercial Negotiations: Lead annual and ongoing commercial negotiations covering trading terms, promotional investment, new product launches, and annual business planning. 

• Joint Business Planning: Build long-term strategic partnerships through annual Joint Business Plans that align supplier investment with business objectives. 

• Marketing & Promotional Planning: Partner with marketing and campaign teams to develop promotional calendars to maximise supplier participation in key commercial events. 

• Sales Planning, Forecasting, & Merchandising: Manage sales forecasting, purchasing plans and product sell-through, partnering with Supply Chain to optimise stock availability while ensuring products are effectively merchandised to maximise conversion. 

• Assortment Management: Curate and optimise an assortment that aligns with the overall strategy, including clear and data-driven decisions for listing and delisting products.  

• Performance Optimization: Monitor supplier performance using commercial KPIs, identifying opportunities to improve profitability, availability, promotional effectiveness and customer experience. 

• Market & Competitor Analysis: Monitor market trends, competitor activity and customer insights to identify growth opportunities and inform category strategy. 

• Collaboration: Promote collaboration within your team and across departments, including Marketing, Operations, Pricing, Supply Chain, and Finance, ensuring alignment on strategic initiatives and efficient project execution. 

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent commercial experience. 

• 3+ years of relevant experience in Buying, Category Management, Vendor Management, Commercial Account Management or Merchandising, with a proven track record in the FMCG, retail, or e-commerce industries. 

• Strong commercial skills with the ability to balance supplier relationships with business objectives. 

• Analytical mindset with a demonstrated ability to leverage data in decision-making.  

• Excellent organizational and project management skills, able to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.  

• Fluency in English is essential; additional language skills are an advantage.  

• In-depth product and industry knowledge, preferably in the pet, retail, or FMCG sectors.  

• Proficiency in MS Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint. Familiarity with ERP systems and data analysis tools is a plus. 

Additional Information

Headquartered in Munich, with offices across Madrid, Krakow, Wroclaw, London and Vienna, we collaborate because we genuinely love working together - so you’ll be at the heart of an incredible, multinational team. We trust each other to get the job done, which means you’ll benefit from hybrid working, spending 60% of your time in the office and 40% at home. There’s an option to work for 20 days abroad in approved countries too.

Add to that development opportunities that help you to shape your own career path, excellent training and support, wellbeing offers, subsidised transport or bike leasing, plus 20% discount across all our products, and you’ll begin to get a sense of what sets us apart. Find out more about the specific benefits at your local office in our blog posts.

A note on compensation: We believe in being transparent about salary ranges. The range shown reflects the full scope that the role can grow into over time, depending on experience, skills, and impact. Most offers are positioned around the midpoint of the range, ensuring a fair and consistent approach across our teams.

At zooplus, we believe in equal opportunity and support everyone to fulfil their potential. We recognise the power of listening and learning from each other and embrace diversity and inclusion of all.

#LI-Hybrid