Trade Relations Specialist

Trade Relations Specialist

• Full time permanent position
• Auckland location. Hybrid working (3days in office, 2 days WFH)
• Newly created position

We are Woolworths Group | Ko Woolworths Tātou

We are Woolworths Group. 200,000+ bright minds, passionate hearts, and unique perspectives across Australia and New Zealand. Connected by a shared Purpose - 'to create better experiences together for a better tomorrow'. That Purpose fuels our ambition to explore new ideas, make brave commitments, and innovate better ways to meet the food and everyday needs of more than 24 million customers every week.

If you're excited to turn today's blue-sky thinking into a better tomorrow for future generations, you'll find yourself supported and enriched in a dynamic, inclusive, and empowering workplace. With a culture of genuine care, a flexible approach to work, and opportunities across the group to grow your career and make a meaningful impact, the possibilities for what we can achieve together are endless.

What you’ll do | Hei mahi

The Trade Relations Specialist serves as the lead out on the execution for monitoring, auditing, and maintaining Woolworths New Zealand’s compliance with the Grocery Supply Code and broader commercial governance frameworks.

This role is responsible for executing day-to-day compliance checks, establishing rigorous audit trails, and reviewing commercial trading activities. By maintaining robust oversight across category trading teams and supplier touchpoints, the position ensures operational practices align with regulatory obligations, minimises legal and reputational risk, and upholds standards across the organisation

In addition, this role will support supplier communication and engagement management by supporting the execution of the Supplier Engagement Plan.

Additional responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Operational Auditing & Compliance Reporting: Conduct regular documentation audits across internal trading teams and suppliers to track performance, identify risk indicators, and report findings to the Head of Trade Relations.
• Audit Trail & Regulatory Readiness: Maintain comprehensive record-keeping systems and prepare clear audit trails required for internal reviews and external regulatory bodies (e.g., Commerce Commission).
• Process Optimisation & Risk Escalation: Streamline cross-functional processes to reduce administrative burden while proactively flagging trading standard breaches and systemic operational risks.
• Supplier Engagement & Dispute Support: Assist with the Supplier Engagement Plan, manage contact frameworks and scorecards, and provide historical evidence to support swift resolutions for escalated supplier disputes.
• Voice of Supplier & Systemic Improvement: Support the Voice of Supplier program to monitor supplier trust, refine communication rhythms, and resolve systemic operational friction points.

What you’ll bring | Hei koha

• Regulatory & Code Compliance: Strong ability to interpret and apply complex commercial regulations, specifically the Grocery Supply Code, to everyday business practices and trading documentation
• Auditing & Risk Identification: High attention to detail with proven capability in auditing and communications to proactively identify compliance gaps or operational risks.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Communication: Clear, professional written and verbal communication skills to effectively manage supplier engagement frameworks and engage with key stakeholders.
• Data Analysis & Reporting: Aptitude for tracking compliance metrics, analysing trends, and synthesising findings into clear reporting and actionable insights for key stakeholders.
• Process Improvement: Ability to review existing processes and collaborate with category teams to embed compliance controls seamlessly into the day to day.

What you’ll experience | Ngā Huanga

We embrace diversity of thought and love to take on challenges with a pragmatic and innovative approach. Our culture thrives on mutual respect, care, curiosity, openness, and a proactive attitude. We continually seek ways to pair, collaborate, support, and learn from each other as a team!

• Team discounts across our range of Woolworths Group brands you know and love and a robust rewards program that celebrates and incentivises purpose-driven work
• A global business with endless career possibilities around every corner and across every discipline - with valuable exposure to a vast and exciting business network
• A progressive and flexible ‘work from anywhere' policy that gives you the opportunity to harmonise work, life and your wellbeing
• Parental Leave provisions and various leave types, including but not limited to Study Leave and Sports Representation Leave

Everyone belongs at Woolworths Group

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are key to realising our purpose of better together for a better tomorrow. We recognise the value our team’s diversity brings to our business, customers, and communities and that teams with diverse experiences and backgrounds enrich our group and are better able to innovate and solve problems. As one of the largest employers in Australia and New Zealand, we aim to create a truly inclusive workplace where everyone feels that they belong, can be their best selves, and reach their full potential.

We encourage all candidates to apply; please let us know in your application if we can support you with any adjustments in the hiring process.