Supplier Performance Manager

Johnson Brothers•Fargo, ND

About The Position

Johnson Brothers is a leading family-owned distributor of wine, spirits, and beer, delivering exceptional service since 1953. The company proudly represents the world’s top beverage brands and is committed to excellence, innovation, and growth, operating across 20 states. Johnson Brothers is searching for a high-energy and motivated Supplier Performance Manager. In this position, the manager acts as the liaison between a set of suppliers and sales divisions to execute sales and marketing strategies to achieve Johnson Brothers of North Dakota's financial objectives. The role requires serving as the expert on the portfolio of suppliers, managing all aspects of the supplier’s business within the house, and providing a critical link between the sales departments, operations, and management. Johnson Brothers is an equal opportunity employer, committed to fair treatment and hiring based on qualifications, prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, military status, or any other protected status under applicable laws. The company is led by Michael and Todd Johnson and has been named one of America’s Most Trustworthy Companies for 2025 by Newsweek.

Requirements

2-3 years’ experience in sales and or supplier management.
Expected to own supplier relationships; resolve issues with urgency by working with the sales consultants and ensure a high level of supplier satisfaction.
Ensure profitability of team by analyzing pertinent business, financial, service and operations information; identify and evaluate trends and options; choose a course of action; define objectives; evaluate outcomes.
Ability to work independently as well collaborate with peers on topics to grow share and drive our overall business plans.
Ability to manage many moving parts, meet deadlines and juggle multiple priorities.
Must be tech savvy and proficient with Microsoft Office 365 suite.
Proficiency with Loglity, DIPA, AS400.
Strong organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills.
Dedicated to exceeding quality standards and services of the highest caliber.
Experience supporting or developing firm marketing plans including event planning.

Responsibilities

Builds the annual plan/calendar, contributes to the pricing plan, promotional calendar and supports development of sales force incentives by closely collaborating with supplier partner(s), GSMs, and aligning supplier and Johnson Brothers of SD goals.
Modifies the plan as necessary by continually evaluating opportunities and working directly with supplier partners.
Maintains market and sales understanding through knowledge growth and market visits with key accounts, sales consultant, and manager knowledge.
Maintains and grows gross profit for the company by negotiating price supports, validating internal depletion allowances, and managing budgets for the year via GM & VP Trade Development Reviews with GSMs.
Forecasts adequate supply for key sales programs and ensures that appropriate inventory levels are maintained by closely collaborating with the purchasing team.
Conducts monthly inventory assessment and reviews, builds plan recommendation to drive inventory reduction, and gates the new item process through capacity planning.
Defines, manages, and approves supplier and internal spend to accomplish annual plan by creating budget, and tracking spend on a monthly basis to ensure spend does not exceed budget (BDF/Bank Oversight).
Ensures achievement of supplier plan by translating plan into divisional sales goals, defining target accounts leveraging Power BI and TD Linx, communicating goals to sales team and tracking performance against goal.
Participates in planning and preparation of General Sales Meetings by translating brands’ features and benefits into sell sheets, concept sells and other selling materials and attending/presenting brand initiatives and marketing strategies to all supporting sales teams.
Oversees and drives monthly supplier bill-backs process, together with finance, and manages supplier accounts receivable by ensuring balances are resolved with supplier and JB accounting team.
Coordinates supplier meetings, ride-with, winery visits, blitzes and target account spend activity and shares data (as needed) with supplier by communicating with all sales management as well as managing workflow, and calendars.
Creates and distributes best practices around aligned focus periods, goals and program results.
Develops and participates in the delivery of supplier business reviews and monthly supplier communication meetings by preparing content and working with senior management to codify information.
Maintains a relevant inventory of point of sale materials by working with suppliers to determine types and quantities of POS that should be ordered, when necessary, assisting in the design of any custom POS, and working closely with sales management to dispose of aged POS.
Help guide supplier decision-making by employing strong comprehension of competitive landscape and market dynamics.