Apex Wheels is hiring an International Vendor Manager to be the cornerstone of our relationships with long-term contract manufacturing partners in Southeast Asia. You will build strategic, trust-based partnerships, measured by vendor performance in quality, timeliness, and cost. This remote role requires Mandarin fluency to bridge communication gaps and involves proactive management, negotiation, and travel.
What You'll Do
- Lead morning or early evening group calls with vendors to check in and solve problems.
- Maintain timely, clear, and thorough communication with all suppliers, tracking all deliverables.
- Own vendor relationships and proactively follow up to ensure production objectives are not delayed.
- Manage supplier contracts and pricing negotiations.
- Help onboard new suppliers and improve contracts and standards with existing ones.
- Hold vendors accountable by improving contract language and following up on all issues and credits until resolved.
- Reduce product issues by pushing each vendor to improve quality control.
- Own each problem and work with vendors and department heads to catch issues and find solutions.
- Secure compensation from vendors for errors and implement solutions to prevent repeats.
- Improve current processes and results using APICS or another similar methodology.
- Establish department-level KPIs in alignment with organizational goals.
- Project manage team deliverables for better clarity and delegation.
- Use software tools to stay well organized.
- Prioritize projects and issues in line with Apex's goals and strategy.
- Act as a liaison to Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, and fulfillment teams to ensure information is disseminated.
- Support engineering by monitoring run-rates of molds and providing for future projects.
- Eventually participate in people-management from hiring to termination, including performance evaluations and coaching.
What We're Looking For
- Excellent English written and verbal communication skills.
- Excellent Mandarin verbal skills required.
- 5+ years experience in purchasing, production and manufacturing with significant responsibilities related to vendor management.
- 5+ years experience managing relationships with Mandarin speaking contract manufacturers.
- 3+ years of experience managing vendor relationships where products are single or dual-sourced.
- Ability to travel up to 15%, domestic and international.
- Detail-oriented with a proclivity towards analytical and critical thinking.
Nice to Have
- Mandarin reading/writing skills is an optional plus.
- A bachelors degree in Supply Chain Management, Materials Management, Business or another relevant area is highly preferred.
- APICS certification or similar supply chain certification is preferred.
- Proficiency in ERP systems (such as Netsuite) and forecasting software is a plus.
- Slack, Gmail experience preferred.
- Project Management experience and the use of PM software is a plus (Click-Up).
- Car enthusiasts get bonus points.
Technical Stack
- ERP systems (Netsuite)
- Forecasting software
- Slack
- Gmail
- Project Management software (Click-Up)
Team & Environment
You will join a team of 40+ staff spread out remotely across the USA. You will report directly to the COO and, eventually, to the CFO. You'll work closely with the Inventory & Demand Manager and his team, Engineering, and Customer Service.
Benefits & Compensation
- Medical Benefits: We cover 100% of monthly premiums for employees.
- Compensation: $100K - 130K total comp depending on location and experience.
Work Mode
This is a fully remote position within the contiguous United States. Our culture is remote-first, self-motivated, values long-term partnerships, and embraces conflict as a tool to build relationships.
