Job Description
Roles & Responsibilities
As our Regional Contracting Manager, you are the strategic mastermind behind how we source, negotiate, and build supplier relationships across the region. You will lead a sharp, dedicated regional buying team, drive operational excellence while ensuring alignment of vendor agreements with the organization s goals - including sustainability and ethical practices. Additionally, it oversees contract renewals, performance tracking and cross-functional training - while maintaining a focus on continuous improvement and stakeholder collaboration.
What You ll Be Doing
- Drive the Buying Strategy: Develop and execute regional purchasing plans that maximize cost efficiency without ever cutting corners on quality.
- Build Epic Partnerships: Source new vendors, run RFPs, keep up with market trends, and manage relationships to ensure competitive pricing and high-quality service.
- Own the Contracts: Manage the end-to-end contract lifecycle (negotiations, renewals, and amendments), weaving our social enterprise values and legal standards into every deal.
- Captain the Squad: Lead, mentor, and inspire the regional buying team to hit their operational and performance targets.
- Share the Knowledge: Act as the go-to contracting expert for other departments, providing cross-functional training and support on best practices.
- Own the Numbers: Manage the regional travel budget, track expenditures, and dive into financial reports (like Trip Profitability and Balanced Scorecards) with senior leadership to find optimization opportunities.
- Mitigate Risk & Stay Compliant: Partner with our Legal team to ensure total alignment with corporate governance. Keep our centralized contract repository organized and spotless.
- Keep it Green: Fiercely protect our sustainability and ethical goals throughout the vendor selection and audit processes.
Desired Candidate Profile
- A Bachelor s degree (or higher) in a relevant field.
- At least 6 years of experience in Travel, Buying, and Operations specifically within the region.
- Proven experience negotiating large-scale contracts and managing complex vendor relationships.
- Deep, extensive knowledge of western and global tourism markets, competitor landscapes, and industry trends.
- Highly proficient with contract management systems, internal tracking software, and advanced financial reporting tools.
- Advanced communication skills in English plus fluency in at least one additional regional language.
- Exceptional organizational and administrative skills, with a proven ability to juggle conflicting demands and tight deadlines without losing your attention to detail.