Vice President, Supply Chain

POSITION OBJECTIVE:

Establish scalable sourcing strategies leveraging top vendors to increase quality and value AUC. Lead Product Development, Logistics, QA and Technical Design teams from Seasonal Trend Presentation, where initial vendor allocation occurs, through product delivery. Work closely with key partners in Design to allocate production and leveraging the best capabilities of our supply base. Ensures negotiations for the best cost is executed without compromising the brand’s quality or on-time deliveries. Responsible for maintaining brand integrity and providing leadership to the Technical Design department, ensuring brand specifications and fit standards are maintained.

FUNCTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Drive supply chain initiatives that enable speed, flexibility, and agility to deliver profitable top-line growth and gross margin percentage improvement.
• Manage vendor/supplier relationship and monitor supplier performance and compliance using company policies and established evaluation criteria both qualitative and quantitative
• Manages and leads raw material, tech design and sourcing teams as they effectively identify, source, develop and negotiate all components of the product
• Develop and maintain cross-functional relationships within the brand
• Provides leadership to ensure and maintain measurement and fit consistency by product category and across vendor base, including both market and development vendors.
• Strategically manages all pre-costing activities and negotiations with suppliers to meet or exceed targeted product costs, quality and delivery requirements.
• Strategically aligns style/vendor allocation to maximize bulk fabric opportunities.
• Manages the development and communication of seasonal time and action calendars and ensures internal and external teams follow required dates.
• Ensures suppliers comply with compliance and production policy and standard operating processes.
• Partners with Merchants & Planning to execute and leverage core fabric placements to help deliver margin and delivery targets. Monitors liabilities ensuring the consumption or resolution to minimize financial exposure.
• Monitors all vendor chargeback’s and/or discount details.
• Leads team in building long term vendor partnerships and alliances.
• Conduct key research of competitors for countries of origin pricing, timing, flow fabrics, and styles to continually improve efficiency of supply chain operations
• Optimize product cost by understanding macroeconomic climate and various levers to unlock value

COMPETENCIES:

Customer Focus:

Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.

Drive for Results

Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.

Timely Decision Making

Makes decisions in a timely manner, sometimes with incomplete information and under tight deadlines and pressure; able to make a quick decision.

Integrity and Trust

Is widely trusted; is seen as a direct, truthful individual; can present the unvarnished truth in an appropriate and helpful manner; keeps confidences; admits mistakes; doesn’t misrepresent him/herself for personal gain.

Strategic Agility

See ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.

Developing Direct Reports and Others

Provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments; holds frequent development discussions; is aware of each person’s career goals; constructs compelling development plans and executes them; pushes people to accept development moves; will take on those who need help and further development; cooperates with the development system in the organization; is a people builder.

Directing Others

Is good at establishing clear directions; sets stretching objectives; distributes the workload appropriately; lays out work in a well-planned and organized manner; maintains two-way dialogue with others on work and results; brings out the best in people; is a clear communicator.

Motivating Others

Creates a climate in which people want to do their best; can motivate many kinds of direct reports and team or project members; can assess each person’s hot button and use it to get the best out of him/her; pushes tasks and decisions down; empowers others; invites input from each person and shares ownership and visibility; makes each individual feel his/her work is important; is someone people like working for and with.

Organizational Agility

Knowledgeable about how organizations work; knows how to get things done both through formal channels and the informal network; understands the origin and reasoning behind key policies, practices, and procedures; understands the cultures of organizations.

Conflict Management: Steps up to conflicts, seeing them as opportunities; reads situations quickly; good at focused listening; can hammer out tough agreements and settle disputes equitably; can find common ground and get cooperation with minimum noise.

Problem Solving: Uses rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions; probes all fruitful sources for answers; can see hidden problems; is excellent at honest analysis; looks beyond the obvious and doesn’t stop at the first answers.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• 10+ years minimum of Supply Chain: Product Development/Sourcing & Technical Design, Logistics, & QA experience inclusive of international trade.
• Solid knowledge of production processes, costing and logistics for women’s apparel
• Solid knowledge of technical requirements related to testing of fabric, trims, and garments.
• Solid knowledge of International Trade Law and US Apparel and Customs regulations
• Superior management skills, including the ability to provide leadership and motivation.
• Ability to prioritize and effectively manage workflow and projects for the team and CFT
• Self-Motivated, creative problem solver with a strong sense of urgency
• Computer literate in Google mail or comparable software, Product and PO tracking software, PLM, Excel and Word
• 4 Year College Degree

Skills:

• Action-oriented
• Strategic agility
• Strong analytical and financial skills
• Ability to build effective teams
• Ability to interact with all levels of the company
• Process management
• Negation skills
• Extensive knowledge of yarns and fabric construction and garment manufacturing and how it relates to cost
• Leadership capability to drive change
• Knowledge of trade policies and legislative action
• Access to extensive network of contracts and relationships
• Ability to drive projects to successful completion