Job Description
Vendor Manager
Title: Vendor Manager Bill Rate: $38-42/HR Hours: 8-5 M-F | Flexible Fully Remote Assignment Duration: 4 months
Key Accountabilities
- Enterprise Vendor Strategy
- Execute the enterprise vendor strategy for talent and learning solutions, shaping recommendations and delivery plans
- Establish clear principles for when to build, buy, scale, or exit vendors
- Reduce duplication and fragmentation across segments and functions
- Ensure vendor choices align to enterprise standards, platforms, and capability priorities
- Vendor Selection, Rationalization & Lifecycle Management
- Lead vendor selection, onboarding, rationalization, and exit processes, in partnership with Group Procurement and enterprise Talent & Learning leadership
- Maintain a clear, enterprise view of the approved vendor landscape
- Drive consolidation where appropriate to improve value, consistency, and leverage
- Ensure vendors are positioned appropriately (strategic partner vs tactical provider)
- Commercial Management & Contracting
- Partner with Group Procurement on MSAs, SLAs, renewals, negotiations, and commercial terms, providing insight, analysis, and recommendations
- Ensure contracts support scalability, flexibility, data protection, and performance accountability
- Balance commercial efficiency with service quality and innovation
- Proactively manage renewals and avoid reactive, last minute contracting decisions
- Performance, Value & ROI
- Define and track vendor performance metrics aligned to outcomes, not just activity
- Establish clear expectations for delivery, quality, innovation, and responsiveness
- Drive cost efficiency, value for money, and return on investment across the vendor portfolio
- Hold vendors accountable for results and continuous improvement
- Spend Transparency & Risk Insight
- Provide leaders with clear insight into learning and talent spend, value, and risk
- Create transparency across enterprise and segment level investments
- Identify cost pressures, duplication, and under performing investments early
- Ensure vendor risk (financial, operational, data, compliance) is visible and managed
- Enterprise Alignment & Enablement
- Work closely with Talent, Learning, SSC, and segments to align vendor usage to enterprise priorities
- Enable segments to access high quality partners quickly within agreed guardrails
- Act as a trusted advisor, not a blocker, balancing discipline with business needs
Key Partnerships
- Group Procurement
- Enterprise Talent, Learning, and Leadership capability owners
- Segment Talent and Learning leaders
- Finance and budget owners
- Shared Services Centres (SSC)
- Legal, Risk, and Compliance partners
- Strategic talent and learning vendors
Experience & Profile
- Experience: 3+ years proven experience in procurement, vendor management, or commercial leadership, ideally within learning, talent, or professional services
- Experience managing complex vendor portfolios in a global organization
- Strong commercial acumen, including contracting, negotiations, and performance management
- Experience working in partnership with central procurement functions
Ways of Working
- Commercial, analytical, and outcome focused
- Comfortable operating within enterprise direction and supporting the modernization of legacy arrangements
- Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills
- Able to balance enterprise discipline with business flexibility
Personal Attributes
- Credible and confident with senior leaders
- Pragmatic and decisive; avoids unnecessary complexity
- Trusted advisor with a strong sense of commercial judgement
- Able to bring clarity and structure to complex spend environments
Job Tags
Remote work, Flexible hours