Most mid-sized companies can tell you who ran the last supplier tender. Fewer can tell you who owns that supplier today. The contract was signed, the file went to the business unit, and the buyer moved on to the next project.
That gap is a staffing problem as much as a process problem. If nobody is hired and accountable for the relationship after signature, the savings from the tender tend to leak away.
Where the value actually leaks
A sourcing win is a price on a day. What happens over the next 3 years decides whether you keep it.
- Scope drift. Requirements change, the contract does not, and every change becomes a change order with a fee attached.
- Missed improvement. Suppliers get better at what they do. Without a standing conversation, those gains stay on their side of the table.
- Unseen risk. Your supplier's financial strain, a single-country dependency or a weak subcontractor becomes your problem when something breaks.
- Quiet renewals. Contracts roll over because no one was watching the date.
Re-tendering to fix these is expensive. Switching costs, onboarding time and transition risk often eat the saving you were chasing. A person who manages the relationship well can often recover more value inside the existing agreement.
Sourcing and vendor management are different jobs
They draw on different temperaments, and hiring one profile for both usually disappoints.
| Area | Sourcing | Vendor management |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Winning the best terms | Delivering and improving on them |
| Rhythm | Project by project | Continuous, calendar-driven |
| Core skill | Negotiation, market analysis | Relationship building, performance data, escalation |
A strong negotiator may be restless in a role that is mostly steady follow-up. A strong relationship manager may be soft at the table. Be honest about which one you are hiring for.
Why risk makes the role more pressing
Supply chain exposure is wider than it was. Currency swings, tariffs and cross-border trade rules affect Canadian and US buyers alike, and a supplier's trouble moves quickly to your dock or your service desk.
Reporting duties are growing too. In Canada, the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act requires certain entities to report annually on the steps they take. Even if your company is below the threshold, larger customers may push the same questions down to you. Someone has to collect that information and keep it current.
What to look for when you hire
Whether the title is vendor manager, supplier performance lead or contract manager, look for evidence of the following:
- Experience owning a contract for its full term, not only negotiating it.
- Comfort building scorecards and using them in uncomfortable conversations.
- Enough commercial and legal literacy to read an agreement and spot where change orders come from.
- Ability to work with plant, IT and finance leads who are the actual day-to-day users.
- Some familiarity with supplier risk checks, from financial health to compliance questionnaires.
In interviews, ask for a time they got a supplier to improve terms mid-contract, and what they did when a supplier underperformed. Vague answers about "relationships" tell you little. Specific numbers, dates and trade-offs tell you a lot.
Where it sits in the organization
For a company under about 500 people, this may not be a full team. It might be one operations or finance hire who holds the top 15 to 20 supplier relationships and reviews them quarterly. In a manufacturer, it could sit next to purchasing and plant operations. In a services business, it may sit with finance or the COO.
What matters is that the name is on the contract, the review dates are on a calendar, and the person has authority to raise issues with the supplier directly.
Technology is a reason to start now
Suppliers are adopting automation and AI in how they schedule, forecast, support and deliver. Those gains can show up as shorter lead times, fewer tickets and lower labour in managed services. They only reach you if someone is asking for them and tying them to price or service levels.
What to do next
List your 10 largest supplier contracts and write the owner's name next to each. If a name is missing, or belongs to someone who never speaks to the supplier, you have found the gap. Decide whether to give the work to an existing role or hire for it. A Traverse recruiter can help you define the role and find people who have done it.