This role plays a key role in shaping and advancing the companys vendor strategy to drive significant year-over-year cost reductions across the vendor base, without compromising quality, service levels, or compliance.
A day in the life and how youll make an impact:
Lead commercial negotiations with new and existing vendors, including renewals, ensuring competitive pricing, strong SLAs, and long-term value.
Own the end-to-end contract lifecycle in partnership with Legal, from requirements definition and redlining through execution and signature.
Partner with internal teams (Operations, R&D, Security, IT, Finance, Support, etc.) to understand business needs and translate them into clear vendor requirements, scopes, and operating models.
Design, implement, and continuously improve the operational workflows that govern how internal teams engage with vendors.
Own vendor onboarding and internal rollout, ensuring clarity around roles, responsibilities, escalation paths, and performance expectations.
Lead vendor governance, risk, and compliance efforts, ensuring vendors meet security, privacy, legal, and operational standards and that risks are proactively identified and mitigated.
Manage ongoing vendor performance through regular reviews and quarterly business reviews (QBRs), driving accountability and continuous improvement.
Analyze vendor spend, identify consolidation and re-sourcing opportunities, and deliver significant year-over-year cost savings.
Serve as the primary internal escalation point for vendor-related issues, coordinating cross-functionally to drive timely resolution.
Maintain centralized vendor documentation (contracts, scorecards, risk assessments, process maps, and renewal calendars), ensuring accuracy and accessibility.
Support the deployment, administration, and adoption of third-party risk management and contract lifecycle management tools used to manage vendor data and workflows.
Partner with Finance on budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning related to vendor spend.
Champion vendor management best practices to improve efficiency, predictability, and compliance across the organization.
5+ years of experience in procurement, vendor management, strategic sourcing, commercial operations, or contract management.
Proven track record of leading complex vendor negotiations and delivering measurable cost reductions.
Experience owning or supporting commercial contracting processes, including reviewing, redlining, and structuring agreements.
Strong understanding of contract structures, commercial terms, SLAs, vendor governance, compliance, and risk management.
Demonstrated ability to build and scale cross-functional operational processes in fast-paced environments.
Experience managing multiple vendors simultaneously, across both strategic and tactical relationships.
Exceptional negotiation, communication, and influencing skills, with the ability to partner effectively across Legal, Finance, Operations, R&D, and leadership.
Highly process-driven, structured, and detail-oriented, with a strong sense of ownership and accountability for outcomes.
Experience in hardware, automotive, manufacturing, logistics, or technology environments preferred.
