Sourcing Specialist, Marketing Services, US

The Sourcing Specialist, Marketing Services provides operational support internal marketing teams in the sourcing, acquisition, use, and ongoing management of a variety of Marketing providers, including but not limited to, advertising, media, creative, strategic, PR, and digital agencies.

• The Sourcing Specialist, Marketing Services supports internal teams with selecting, negotiating, and contracting, as well as driving performance metrics, compliance, and best practices.
• Given the responsibilities of this position, success is highly dependent on subject area expertise and close collaboration and teamwork with colleagues in Marketing, Finance, Legal and other related divisions.

Provide ongoing support to internal sourcing and marketing teams to enable optimized performance and return on investment from external agencies and their work.

• Establish relationships with and acquire knowledge about existing and potential external agency partners.
• Work in close collaboration with related groups across Suntory Global Spirits in the form of participating in joint projects; sharing of knowledge, plans, and market intelligence; sharing and adoption of best practices.
• Collaborate in the development and implementation of a host of best practices, repeatable processes, templates, and tools for such things as RFI (request for information), RFP (request for proposal), contracting, SOWs (statements of work) and evaluation of external partners.
• Support and actively participate in efficient and effective RFPs on behalf of and in support of marketing teams.
• Support, with the eventual aim to lead the negotiation and contracting process for agencies, in close consultation with all relevant internal stakeholders.
• Ensure the ongoing execution of effective agency relationship management programs to achieve optimal outcomes.
• Develop and implement various reporting and analytics for the benefits of internal marketing teams and other internal stakeholders. Includes performing ongoing tracking and analysis of established performance metrics, rates, hours (FTE’s), pass-through costs, etc.
• Competitive benchmarking across prior business and other leading organizations
• Work collaboratively and effectively with all internal and external partners and stakeholders.
• Be accountable for the delivery of marketing sourcing improvements across the spend, including: ATL, BTL, media, PR, and Insights
• Work under guidance of Senior

Bachelor’s degree in marketing or a related field is preferred.

• 2-3 years previous experience within sourcing, specifically marketing related.
• Must have experience in understanding functions in external agencies.
• Must have knowledge of the full procurement cycle, i.e. initiating, selecting, contracting, managing, and evaluating vendor performance, contract compliance, and return on investment.
• Some previous experience in performing agency assessments is a plus.
• Experience and demonstrated successes in identifying process gaps and in making and implementing process-improvements.
• Defined negotiation experience and project management skills.
• Flexibility and solutions-oriented mind-set.
• Comfortable presenting to leadership.
• Solid decision-making skills, ability to work on multiple and often diverse areas and to prioritize effectively.
• Consistently manage multiple ongoing high-visibility initiatives.
• Must demonstrate knowledge of the legal and regulatory environment as it relates to the agency/services sector and other vendors.
• Experience in contractual and financial aspects of client-vendor relationships.
• Strong track record of collaboration across functions.
• Proven track record of meeting or exceeding objectives and goals.
• Highly motivated and proactive self-starter with a strong drive to initiate projects independently and achieve results with minimal supervision.
• Actively learns about industry-specific risks that may affect supplier/agency relationships.
• Ability to quickly pick up using systems and reporting tools.

The salary range for this role, based in Chicago, is $70,000-$85,000 along with an annual bonus, 401K match, profit sharing, and medical and wellness benefits. The salary range is commensurate with the candidate’s location, experience, and skillset. The range will vary if outside of this location.