Assistant Soucing Manager

DESCRIPTION: The Assistant Sourcing Manager is responsible for managing a merchandise category and supporting the Manager, Global Merchandise Sourcing across multiple categories. The Assistant Sourcing Manager has responsibility for anticipating potential production issues and developing breakthrough ideas and processes to continually mitigate risk. The Assistant Sourcing Manager will be responsible for supporting short and long-term sourcing strategies, driving factory relationships, initial cost negotiations, production follow up, and is accountable for all strategic details and decisions of all categories that are managed by their teams ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: • Proactively drive measurable efficiencies of team communications, tasks, and overall workflow to support continuous improvement. • Assist management on the growth of global and segment-wide relationships. • Support manager to execute short and long-term sourcing strategies for managed categories, proactively drive the set priorities, objectives, and action plans to improve supply base and mitigate risk with measurable accountability. • Assist manager in the leveraging opportunities and executes sourcing strategies for global site-specific items. • Collaborate with Quality Assurance team to ensure products placed with managed suppliers are meeting Disney quality standards. • Drive product development management, communicating key milestones and deadlines within the sample approval process. • Drive proactive production tracking, communicating, and troubleshooting exceptions and delays. • Negotiates costing and proposes value engineering options to achieve profitability goals while ensuring product vision is achieved. • Collaborate with factory and Product Design to bring new art techniques and applications and researching trends. • Support manager to monitor the managed suppliers continues to meet ILS MCS, regulatory standards, and other established supplier performance requirements. CORE SKILLS: • Strong knowledge of product-specific construction standards, materials, and manufacturing processes/techniques. • Outstanding negotiation skills. • Demonstrated ability to balance conflicting priorities between creative design and cost of goods objectives. • Proficient in Japanese, English and Mandarin or Cantonese. • Outstanding written and verbal communication skills. • Strong analytical and strategy-formulation skills. • Ability to influence internal stake holders and drive efficient decision-making. • Experience in merchandise sourcing and production management. • Strong computer skills. (i.e., Excel, PowerPoint, Micro Charts, etc.) • Ability to work on multiple projects within specified time frames. • Demonstrated ability to work in a multi-cultural environment. • Understanding of US and Global testing, safety, and labeling requirements and impact to product design and manufacturing processes. • Understanding of free-trade agreements, duties and resulting impact of sourcing strategies. DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS: • 5 years’ experience in Global Sourcing and/or Merchandising • Bachelor’s Degree • Product-specific technical degree and/or manufacturing experience a plus • Proficiency in English, Japanese and Mandarin (spoken and written) • Ability to communicate in other languages would be a plu