Apex Wheels

Manager

• Vendor Relationship Management: Serve as the primary liaison between Apex and international manufacturing partners, ensuring mutual understanding across time zones, languages, and cultural expectations. Own vendor relationships and consistently and proactively follow up with vendors for their deliverables to ensure production objectives are not delayed by any vendor-side disorganization.Own vendor relationships and consistently and proactively follow up with vendors for their deliverables to ensure production objectives are not delayed by any vendor-side disorganization.
• Vendor Onboarding: Identify and onboard new vendors strategically to mitigate risk, diversify supply, and support future product launches. Develop scalable vendor onboarding and evaluation frameworks that can support future growth and new product categories.
• Vendor Performance Management: Develop and maintain vendor scorecards to evaluate performance on quality, lead time, cost, communication responsiveness, and risk.Collaborate with internal teams (engineering, inventory, and finance) to translate forecasts, design changes, and launch plans into clear vendor deliverables. Track and negotiate cost structures, identifying opportunities for cost reductions or process efficiencies without compromising quality. Mediate and resolve vendor disputes effectively and diplomatically while safeguarding Apex’s operational and financial interests.
• Vendor Communications: Lead morning or early evening group calls to check in with vendors and solve problems. Conduct quarterly business reviews (QBRs) with vendors to ensure continuous improvement and alignment with Apex’s evolving priorities. Maintain timely, clear, and thorough communication with all vendors, tracking all deliverables due for both sides. Foster a culture of transparency by maintaining clear communication channels and documentation of all key decisions, commitments, and follow-ups. Train and mentor internal stakeholders on vendor communication best practices, cultural fluency, and escalation protocols.
• Contract Management and Negotiations: Own the vendor contract lifecycle, from drafting and negotiation (with leadership support) through renewal and compliance tracking. Continuously refine vendor management systems, leveraging AI and automation tools where they make sense to increase visibility and accountability. Collaborate with leadership to align vendor strategy with Apex’s long-term growth, innovation, and sustainability goals. Analyze market trends and regional developments that could impact vendor performance or cost structures.
• Support Quality Management: Ensure compliance with Apex’s quality standards, coordinating with cross-functional teams to audit processes and implement corrective actions and hold vendors accountable to product quality standards through improved contract language and follow up. Reduce product issues by pushing each vendor to improve. Own each problem and work with vendors and various department heads to catch issues and find solutions. Establish and enforce corrective action plans for recurring performance issues, documenting outcomes and learnings. Chase vendors down for compensation for errors and implement solutions to prevent repeats.
• Continuous Improvement: Improve our current processes and results using APICS or another similar methodology. Establish department-level KPIs in alignment with organizational goals. Implement and monitor risk mitigation plans for geopolitical, environmental, and supply chain vulnerabilities. Ensure compliance with international trade regulations, ethical sourcing policies, and Apex’s internal code of conduct. Create knowledge-sharing resources (such as vendor management playbooks or cultural best practices guides) for internal teams.
• Internal Collaboration: Act as a liaison to Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, and Supply Chain teams to ensure that information is being disseminated to relevant team members and the factory. Support engineering by keeping your finger on the pulse of run-rates of molds and providing for future projects. Eventually, you may manage one or more individuals, from hiring to termination, including performance evaluations, coaching, and mentoring.
• Other duties as assigned.

Vendor Manager