Vendor Manager

Ultimate Languages pride themselves on delivering high-quality localisation services, alongside impeccable customer care. We work with our client as an extension of their team. Our mission is to bring global businesses closer to their customers, in their native language, by simplifying complex translation solutions. Our project managers all specialise in different areas of localisation from audiovisual translation to multilingual data management. Our core fields of expertise are travel, tourism and hospitality, mechanical engineering and manufacturing.

Prime Objectives of the Post

The purpose of this role is to provide professional and effective support, adding value to the business and enabling the Company to deliver high-quality translation services to its client base. You will be responsible for supervising and managing the daily workload of the vendor management team. You will act as the primary point of contact for all team members, requiring excellent communication skills and the ability to foster effective collaboration. You are expected to act proactively to ensure smooth team operations and to lead by example, motivating and engaging the team to achieve shared objectives. This role carries a high internal and external profile; therefore, you must be credible and able to build and maintain strong, long‑term relationships with a range of stakeholders, contributing to the ongoing success of the organisation. You will be expected to organise and manage your own effectiveness with minimal supervision, using sound judgement and decision‑making across all aspects of the role while keeping the Managing Director appropriately informed. The role requires the ability to analyse a range of information and make informed judgements based on available data, prior knowledge, and experience. You will also be responsible for identifying problems, evaluating appropriate solutions, and ensuring that all relevant stakeholders are informed in a timely and appropriate manner. As the role involves managing a variety of issues, timely, creative, and effective problem resolution is essential.

Responsible to Managing Director

Key Responsibilities

• Recruitment and onboarding of new vendors
• Management of vendor database
• Building and developing of meaningful business relationships with vendors
• Creation and implementation of QA process for the Project Management team
• Supporting the Project Management team
• Negotiation with vendors
• Monitoring of vendors’ costs
• Monitoring the vendor management team’s KPIs
• Monitor team performance
• Create an inspiring team environment with an open communication culture
• Delegate tasks and set deadlines, and evenly distribute workload regularly amongst team members
• Ensure that all tasks are delivered on time and within budget
• Identify any issues and elevate if necessary
• Oversee day‑to‑day operations
• Motivate team members
• Discover training needs, spot teams' weaknesses that need to be filled and organise appropriate training with the approval from management
• Listen to team members' feedback and resolve any issues or conflicts
• Recognise high performance and reward accomplishments

Requirements

• 2 years minimum experience as Vendor Manager (including previous roles)
• Excellent communication and leadership skills
• Organisational and time‑management skills
• Able to work to tight deadlines in a fast‑paced environment
• Ability to co‑ordinate within the team a wide range of tasks
• Advanced TMS, BMS and MS Office Skills
• Exceptionally well organised with impeccable attention to detail
• Excellent communicator with fluent English language
• Capable of working independently and as part of a team
• Capable of hands‑on problem‑solving, with the ability to generate ideas and solutions
• Flexibility to adapt to business requirements
• Proficient knowledge of localisation best practices and industry‑related technology