Vendor Relationship and Engagement Specialist

Ace Hardware CorporationOak Brook, IL, US

6 hours ago

Job type

Full-time

Job description

Job Description

About This Role

The Vendor Relationship and Engagement Specialist plays a pivotal role in strengthening vendor partnerships and ensuring seamless communication across the organization. This role is responsible for developing and executing a strategic communication plan that keeps vendors informed about deadlines, process changes, system updates, and urgent needs. By defining performance metrics and analyzing survey feedback, the specialist drives continuous improvement in vendor engagement.

A key responsibility includes working with vendors and internal partners to identify and implement operational efficiencies that can improve quality and vendor performance.

Additionally, this role manages the Ace Vendor Portal content, coordinating with cross-functional owners to maintain and annually review materials. The specialist serves as a responsive liaison for vendor needs, ensuring escalations and inquiries are resolved within 24 hours while proactively identifying opportunities for support as business needs evolve.

What You'll Do

Communication : Develop, maintain, and execute a communication plan to help educate the vendors on : deadlines, process improvements, system enhancements / outages, or urgent needs. Define key performance indicators for the vendor communication channels while analyzing survey results to drive improvements
Convention Support : Lead efforts related the semi-annual conventions to drive vendor engagement relative to show invitations, deal submissions, and othjer convention related vendor activivites.
Create Executive Reports - Report vendor call volume analyzing reports for trends. Work with business partners to addressed issues found
Manage and maintain the Ace Vendor Portal content by collaborating with all the cross functional business owners. Develop and execute a plan to review content yearly
Cross Functional Support : Collaborate with business partners to determine additional vendor needs as business needs arise, while ensuring vendor calls and escalations are handled in 24 hour period

Who You Are

You're passionate about building strong vendor relationships and thrive on using communication strategies to drive engagement and performance. You enjoy collaborating across teams, solving operational challenges, and leveraging data insights to improve processes and elevate the vendor experience.

Required Skills

College degree in education, business or related field

Must have excellent project management, communication written and verbal, and attention to detail and follow-up

Participatory and distributed leadership style that builds strength, collective wisdom and servant-first principles when working across all stakeholder groups

Strong analytical skills that demonstrate an ability to apply logical thinking to gather and analyze data and information as well as make sound recommendations for problem prevention and resolution

Ability to analyze / monitor multiple projects simultaneously

Excellent PC skills including skilled knowledge of Excel, Word, PowerPoint & Outlook as well as various MS Operating Systems.

Knowledgeable in SmartSheet, My Emma, SalesForce, Survey Monkey, and DocuSign programs

Fiscal management skills (able to work within budget constraints)

Up to 10% travel may be necessary

Preferred Skills

Strong communication and relationship-building skills to effectively engage vendors and cross-functional teams.

Analytical mindset with the ability to interpret survey data and call volume trends to drive process improvements.

Compensation Details :

$86700 - $108500 Per Year

Why should you join our team?

We live our values - W.E.L.I.G.H.T (Winning, Excellence, Love, Integrity, Gratitude, Humility, and Teamwork). Gratitude. Humility. Love. You don't often see values like these in most corporate statements, but Ace is different. These things are important to us. They represent our commitment to the company, our employees, to Ace retailers and to the Ace brand.

In addition to providing our employees a great culture, Ace also offers competitive benefits

that address life's necessities and perks, many of which expand and improve year after year, including :

Incentive opportunities, based on role / grade level (rapid company growth over the past 5 years resulted in incentives being paid out at an average of 122% of your target opportunity!)

Generous 401(k) retirement savings plan with a fully vested matching contribution the first year in addition to quarterly contributions and annual discretionary contribution (once eligibility requirements have been met). Over the past 5 years, company contributions (matching, quarterly & discretionary) for fully eligible employees have averaged 10.4% of total eligible compensation.

Comprehensive health coverage (medical, dental, vision and disability - up to 26 weeks short-term disability and long-term disability ) & life insurance benefits for you and your dependents

21 days of vacation immediately available (prorated in the first year) and up to 6 paid holidays depending on the month of hire

Your career at Ace is more than just a job. It's a chance to be part of something meaningful. We help locally-owned businesses thrive and make an impact in their communities - and we support our employees in doing the same by offering an annual Ace Cares Week, 20 hours off work per year to volunteer at an organization of your choice, opportunities to help Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and the Ace Helpful Fund through the Ace Foundation

Ace invests in every employee we hire, with a key focus on development and coaching. We offer on-site classes, facilitator-led courses, and a generous tuition assistance program, plus a performance management approach that goes beyond the typical annual review

We know the work environment matters. That's why Ace holds frequent campus events like Employee Appreciation Week, vendor demos, cookouts, and merchandise sales

We bring them to you! Services such as mobile spas, auto maintenance, car wash and detailing, dry cleaning, dentists, eye doctors, flu shots, recycling and more!

Employee discounts on Ace merchandise (including top brands like Weber, Traeger, Yeti, Craftsman, DeWalt and more), travel, fitness, computers and thousands more

Birth / Adoption bonding paid time off

Adoption cost reimbursement

Employee Assistance Program (EAP) - access to free visits to therapists and lawyers, guidance on financial matters, elder and childcare, and assistance with tickets to entertainment events

Identity theft protection

Benefits are provided in compliance with applicable plans and policies.

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We want to hear from you!

When most people think of career opportunities with Ace Hardware, they often think of the helpful cashiers and sales associates at their local store. However, have you also considered the people behind the scenes who select, promote, ship and process the invoices for more than 75,000 products? Maybe you haven't, but we'd like you to. Because together we help our customers take care of their homes. Come find out why a career with the Ace Hardware Corporation is one of America's best kept secrets.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Ace Hardware Corporation is committed to a policy of promoting equal employment opportunities. The company recognizes the importance of diversity and leveraging the skills and talents of all people to the mutual advantage of each individual and the organization. The company is committed to the prevention of employment discrimination related to race, religion, color, sex (including sexual harassment), gender identity, national origin, age, marital status, disability and military or veteran status, sexual orientation or any other action covered by federal or applicable state / local laws.

Disclaimer

The pay range for this position starts as listed in the job posting, but could be higher based on education and experience. Please note, compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each opening. We take into consideration the minimum requirements outlined in the job description, such as an individual's education, training and experience, the position's work location, required travel (if any), and external market conditions when determining the final salary for potential new hires.

Be aware that salary estimates published via alternate online job boards may not be a true representation of the actual pay range offered for this position. Please refer to the Ace position description for the accurate starting pay range information and feel free to discuss this with a Talent Acquisition professional if you are chosen to move forward with an interview.

This written "Position Description" is not intended to cover all aspects of the position listed. It is meant to cover the basic / general essential job functions of a particular position. Ace Hardware Corporation reserves the right to change job duties, including essential job functions, according to business necessity.

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

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Vendor Specialist • Oak Brook, IL, US