Buying Manager, Central America

About Us

G Adventures is the world’s largest small-group adventure travel company and we’ve been making epic travel memories happen on all seven continents for over 30 years.
Our mission is simple: to change lives through travel. And not just our travelers’ either. Since day one, our tours have been built to establish meaningful relationships with local communities, directly benefiting the people and places we visit at every step of our tours.
With the demand for travel coming back strong, we are set up and excited for this next chapter in our company’s story — and we’d love for you to be a part of it.
Our DNA revolves around building, nurturing, and developing a diverse culture of people and a true sense of belonging, where everyone is encouraged to bring their authentic self to work each and every day. You’ll have the opportunity to grow your career, and yourself, alongside a passionate, talented, and welcoming community that works hard to spread goodness around the world.
If all that sounds like your kind of thing, well, we can’t wait for you to join us.

About the role

Reporting to the Buying Director for Latin America, the Buying Manager, Central America is responsible for developing, planning and executing a regional buying strategy, keeping a focus on costs and service quality. This includes developing a regional budget that meets the needs of this strategy and overseeing a regional coordinator team. To be successful in this role one must be able to effectively partner and maintain consistent communication with all stakeholders, internally and externally, to ensure the objectives of the region are achieved.

Responsibilities

• Partnering with stakeholders to develop and lead a regional buying strategy that meets the organizations cost objectives and service standards

• Developing, managing and reporting on the travel and buying budget for the region

• Growing relationships with existing vendors and sourcing new vendors as required for company growth

• Negotiating vendor contracts with the aim of maximizing trip profitability

• Communicating results (costs and cost estimates) to appropriate teams to meet deadlines as needed

• Encouraging and promoting our social enterprise purpose through vendor engagement

• Ensuring G Adventures is a preferred customer among vendors

• Using strong vendor relationships to encourage new ideas and innovative solutions to challenges

• Establishing and maintaining vendor management system reporting

• Implementing contracting processes globally that are both consistent and meet G’s standard of ethics

• Ensuring contracts are effectively processed using internal software

• Maintaining the central depository of contracts for all end users to access efficiently

• Monitoring customer feedback and vendor SOP’s to ensure contracted services are meeting expectations

• Maintaining awareness of competitive marketplace via vendor relationships and market intelligence

• Leading and managing the Quality Assurance Audits (QAA) for the region

• Ensuring updated costs for coming year are received, negotiated and contracted for brochures

• Reviewing monthly Trip Profitability Reports and Balanced Score Card with management, using as a guide in priority setting

• Leading special projects and negotiations, as assigned by Head Office

• Managing, mentoring and overseeing the Product & Contracting Coordinator(s) for the region, encouraging development and success with administrative task and budget updates

• Other duties and responsibilities as assigned

Requirements

• 4 - 6 years or more of relevant travel experience

• Superior knowledge of the region and tourism market

• Superior negotiation skills with demonstrated working experience

• Experience with the buying and product cycle and process

• Knowledge of vendor management system and process

• Advanced communication skills, both oral and written

• Exceptional customer service and communication skills

• Proven experience in administrative, people and process management skills

• Enthusiastic attitude with the drive to embrace and lead change as the company launches new initiatives

• Advanced English and Spanish (written and oral)

• Intermediate to advanced knowledge of Microsoft Word & Excel and ability to learn in house software

• Able and willing to travel as role necessitates, including regularly scheduled visits to Head Office

What do we offer you?

• Competitive salary commensurate with the role

• Competitive benefits package 

• Birthday day off

• Vacation time for you to recharge

• Enhanced Parental Leave

• Learning and growth opportunities

• Employee Resource Groups

*Applicable based on location*

G Adventures is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment. We consider all qualified applicants.