Senior Manager, Marketing Services & Operations - Chicago, IL

About UsAt Suntory Global Spirits, we craft spirits of the highest quality and deliver brilliant experiences to people around the world. We are seeking a Senior Manager, Marketing Services and Operations to strengthen the operating foundation behind Trade Marketing by improving how teams plan, buy, produce, manage vendors, and execute across a complex commercial environment.What makes this a great opportunity?Trade Marketing is evolving how it supports Commercial Marketing, Strategic Accounts Marketing, Field Marketing, and Partnerships and Events. This role will help build the vendor management, POS buying, process, and systems infrastructure needed to improve speed, consistency, visibility, and execution quality.This is a high-influence individual contributor role with no direct reports. The ideal candidate is a disciplined operator, strong communicator, and practical problem-solver who can lead cross-functional work through credibility, clarity, and follow-through.Role ResponsibilitiesVendor management: print, POS, and promotional partnersOwn and maintain the preferred vendor roster for print, point-of-sale, and promotional services, including operating standards, approved partners, and quality expectations.Directly manage centrally overseen vendors, including briefs, timelines, deliverables, service levels, issue resolution, and performance reviews.Define and manage vendor service-level agreements covering production timing, quality, responsiveness, accuracy, and escalation expectations.Administer promotional fulfillment partners and platforms for rebates, digital offers, loyalty programs, sweepstakes, and related promotional mechanics.Lead vendor onboarding and offboarding in partnership with Procurement and other required stakeholders, and support consolidated sourcing opportunities where appropriate.Partner with Procurement on vendor cost analysis, including bid comparisons, pricing reviews, cost drivers, benchmarking, and consolidation or savings opportunities; provide operational input while Procurement leads formal sourcing, contracting, and negotiations.POS buy timeline and process managementOwn and communicate the end-to-end POS buy timeline, including briefing, assortment decisions, quantity confirmation, approvals, ordering, production, and delivery milestones.Establish and maintain a clear POS buying process that defines required inputs, decision points, roles, handoffs, and deadlines across Brand Marketing, Commercial Marketing, Field Marketing, Sales, and approved vendors.Coordinate the annual and seasonal POS buy calendar so brand priorities, market needs, and vendor lead times are addressed early enough to support on-time ordering and delivery.Create visibility to status, risks, late decisions, and dependencies across active POS buys; escalate issues and clarify required actions before milestones are missed.Coordinate brand compliance, final specifications, and required approvals before orders are released to approved vendors.Partner with stakeholders and vendors to identify practical consolidation opportunities, reduce duplicative requests, and improve consistency in how POS buys are planned and executed.Provide proactive ordering and delivery updates to Field and Sales teams, with clear owners and next steps when timelines change.Role Responsibilities II Process design and workflow administrationDesign, document, and maintain the operating workflows that connect Brand Marketing, Commercial Marketing, Field Marketing, Partnerships & Events, and Marketing Services.Map current-state processes, identify friction and bottlenecks, and implement practical future-state improvements in partnership with functional leaders.Build and maintain clear Driver, Approver, Consulted, and Informed accountability frameworks for major workstreams.Administer the Trade Marketing execution calendar, including production deadlines, briefing dates, decision gates, and recurring review cadences.Maintain onboarding documentation and a current process library that helps teams navigate systems, vendors, roles, and ways of working independently.Systems governance and adoptionCoordinate Trade Marketing requirements and governance across enterprise and partner platforms, including Ariba, Salesforce, Footmarks, ePOS, Connect/SharePoint, vendor portals, and promotional systems.Serve as the Trade Marketing business owner for Footmarks, partnering with Field Marketing and platform administrators to define requirements, maintain access and operating standards, improve data quality, resolve issues, and drive adoption.Establish practical data-entry, naming, taxonomy, template, and documentation standards that support reliable reporting and consistent user experience.Manage access, permissions, onboarding, and administration for relevant Trade Marketing systems and external platforms.Maintain organized, current activation content and approved resources so users can find what they need without unnecessary handoffs.Evaluate and help implement tools that reduce administrative burden, improve visibility, or strengthen execution quality; support business cases, implementation, and user adoption.QualificationsRequired7+ years of relevant experience in marketing operations, trade or commercial marketing, vendor management, production, promotions, procurement, or a comparable cross-functional operating role.Hands-on experience managing print, POS, promotional, or fulfillment partners, including service levels, timelines, quality, performance reviews, and issue resolution.Demonstrated experience designing and implementing cross-functional processes, workflows, accountability models, and operating standards.Strong project and program management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, stakeholders, vendors, and deadlines with limited oversight.Strong communication, synthesis, judgment, and influence skills; able to clarify decisions, risks, owners, and next steps for both operational and leadership audiences.Advanced Microsoft Office skills, particularly Excel and PowerPoint, and experience with enterprise systems such as Ariba, Salesforce, SAP, or comparable platforms.PreferredExperience with promotional fulfillment or offer-management platforms such as Inmar, Snipp, or equivalent systems.Experience in beverage alcohol, CPG, retail, hospitality, experiential marketing, or another regulated, multi-channel environment.Experience with on- and off-premise activation, point-of-sale production, value-added packs, agency operations, and commercial planning cycles.Experience supporting platform implementation, data governance, self-service reporting, or digital asset management.What success looks likeCreates reliable operating visibility before stakeholders have to ask for it.Turns ambiguous, cross-functional work into simple, usable processes with clear ownership.Improves the experience of Field, Sales, and Marketing teams by reducing friction and unnecessary administrative work.Uses data and disciplined follow-through to strengthen vendor accountability, operational visibility, and execution quality.Improves vendor cost visibility and value through disciplined analysis and strong partnership with Marketing Procurement.Strengthens Footmarks adoption and data quality to support reliable execution visibility and actionable field learning.Builds scalable foundations for Trade Marketing while remaining pragmatic about near-term business needs.Suntory Global Spirits is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, military veteran status, and all other characteristics, attributes, or choices protected by law. All recruitment and hiring decisions are based on an applicant's skills and experience.Salary Range - The salary range for this role, based in Chicago is $135,000 to $155,000 along with an annual bonus, 401K match, profit sharing, and medical and wellness benefits. The salary range is commensurate with the candidate’s location, experience, and skillset.