PROCUREMENT & VENDOR MANAGEMENT MANAGER

Location: Dallas, TX
Work Arrangement: Hybrid
Compensation: $110,000–$135,000 base salary + 10–15% target annual bonus

ABOUT WALTERS HOSPITALITY

Walters Hospitality is one of the premier wedding and hospitality companies in the United States, owning and operating 46 venues across Texas, Georgia, and Tennessee. Our vertically integrated platform encompasses venue operations, catering, bar services, lodging, construction and design, and a curated vendor collective.

We are investing heavily in both organic and acquisitive growth as we seek to grow and diversify our business across the country.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Procurement & Vendor Management Manager is a newly created role and will initially be Walters’ sole dedicated procurement employee. Reporting to the Corporate Controller, with dotted-line reporting to the COO and Regional Vice Presidents as required, this individual will build the procurement function from the ground up.

This role will establish group purchasing and distributor relationships, consolidate a fragmented vendor base, establish procurement controls, and develop processes that support Walters’ continued growth.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Sourcing & Category Management

• Build and execute a category sourcing calendar covering food and beverage, facilities and grounds, utilities and waste, linen, janitorial, office and FF&E, fleet, and other spend.

• Evaluate, select, and manage the company’s group purchasing organization relationships, including item-level contract coverage analysis, enrollment of every venue ship-to location, and compliance monitoring.

• Run competitive RFPs for broadline and regional distribution, with full disclosure of manufacturer allowances and deviations.

• Prepare negotiation packages, benchmarks, and cost analyses to support CFO-led negotiations on large agreements.

• Verify supplier price increases against contract terms and market data before they are accepted.

• Reconcile rebates and deviations to ensure all amounts are properly collected.

Vendor Consolidation & Contract Administration

• Maintain a consolidated vendor master and item master across all venues and regions, standardizing product specifications, units of measure, pack sizes, and other relevant data.

• Own the enterprise contract and renewal calendar, including auto-renewal notice windows for waste, linen, pest control, landscaping, telecom, and other agreements.

• Reduce the active supplier count in each category while maintaining at least two qualified sources for critical inputs.

• Maintain approved supplier lists, vendor scorecards, and onboarding standards covering W-9s, insurance certificates, and payment terms.

Purchase-to-Pay Compliance & Systems

• Administer procurement workflows in Ramp, including request intake, approval routing by venue and category, purchase order issuance, and two-way and three-way invoice matching.

• Partner with Accounting to ensure purchase orders, receipts, and invoices flow accurately into Sage and reconcile cleanly at period close.

• In collaboration with the Corporate Controller and CFO, define procurement policies and approval thresholds, then monitor contract compliance and off-contract spend by venue and region with Regional Vice Presidents.

• Audit supplier invoices for billing errors, unauthorized fees, and surcharge escalators, and pursue recovery of overcharges.

Acquisition Integration & Supplier Conversion

• Serve as the procurement lead on acquisition integrations, converting acquired venues onto Walters contracts, vendors, and purchasing systems against a defined timeline.

• Conduct pre-close vendor diligence on acquisition targets, including distributor agreements, group purchasing commitments, beverage contracts, and termination exposure.

• Quantify procurement synergies during diligence, track them through realization, and retire or renegotiate legacy agreements inherited through acquisitions.

Cost Analytics & Business Partnership

• Maintain portfolio-wide spend analytics by vendor, venue, and category.

• Report savings against a documented baseline and support Finance with budgeting for cost of goods sold and indirect categories.

• Supply Operations and Regional Vice Presidents with purchase price trends, unit cost benchmarks, and vendor performance data to support venue-level food and beverage cost management. Ownership of physical inventory and cost variance remains with Operations.

• Build strong working relationships with venue General Managers and culinary leadership so that centralized purchasing improves operations rather than constraining them.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Finance, Hospitality Management, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

• 7+ years of progressive purchasing, procurement, or category management experience, including at least two years supporting a multi-unit or multi-site operation.

• Demonstrated experience sourcing food and beverage through broadline and regional distributors, with working knowledge of cost-plus pricing, deviations, and manufacturer allowances.

• Track record of consolidating a fragmented vendor base and delivering documented, auditable savings.

• Hands-on experience with procure-to-pay or spend management software such as Ramp, Coupa, Procurify, or comparable platforms, including purchase order and invoice matching workflows.

• Advanced Excel skills, including building spend analyses from raw system exports and normalizing inconsistent vendor names, product descriptions, and pack sizes into usable master data.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to work credibly with venue operators and executive leadership alike.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience in hospitality, events, catering, restaurants, or another multi-unit food and beverage operation.

• Direct experience with a foodservice group purchasing organization such as Foodbuy, Entegra, Dining Alliance, Avendra, or similar, including rebate administration and compliance tracking.

• Familiarity with Sage Intacct, Ramp, Corrigo, and/or Tripleseat.

• Working knowledge of alcohol beverage purchasing regulations, particularly Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission requirements for on-premise licensees.

• Professional certification such as CPSM, CPSD, or CSCP, or experience auditing waste, linen, telecom, or utility contracts for billing errors and fee escalation.

CORE COMPETENCIES

Data Discipline: Builds the fact base before the argument. Comfortable normalizing messy vendor and item data and insists on defensible data before claiming savings.

Commercial Judgment: Understands the difference between a lower price and a lower landed cost. Reads contract language closely and does not mistake headline discounts for actual landed-cost savings.

Field Credibility: Earns the trust of venue operators rather than mandating compliance from a corporate desk. Understands that successful centralized purchasing requires partnership with the field.

Ownership Mentality: Treats the company’s spend as their own—chasing every rebate, catching every price escalation, and following through to ensure Walters captures all available savings.

Adaptability: Thrives in a fast-growing, acquisitive company where the vendor base, venue count, and priorities change quarter to quarter.

GROWTH & CAREER PATH

This will initially be the sole procurement role at Walters, providing the opportunity to define and build the procurement function. As the portfolio grows, we expect the position to expand in scope and potentially evolve into a Director-level role overseeing a procurement team.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

• Hybrid position based at our Dallas, TX corporate office, with a regular in-office presence.

• Periodic travel to venues, especially during supplier conversions and acquisition integrations.

• Occasional extended hours during period close, renewal cycles, and integrations.

COMPENSATION

$110,000–$135,000 base salary, plus a 10–15% target annual bonus.