Position: Senior IT Vendor Manager- (Contract/Procurement)-Remote
TITLE: Senior IT Vendor Manager (Contract/Procurement)
LOCATION: Remote EST time zone
DURATION: 1 year contract to hire
JOB DESCRIPTION:
Our client is seeking a Senior IT Vendor Manager with strong experience in IT vendor management, contract negotiation, IT procurement working in a large enterprise environment.
Responsibilities:
Vendor Performance Oversight
• Serve as the primary owner for core infrastructure vendor performance, including enterprise servers, storage, backup and recovery services, operating systems, middleware, and database solutions.
• Monitor vendor delivery using defined SLAs, KPIs, and service obligations, ensuring consistent reliability and operational stability.
• Identify performance issues, recurring incidents, or service degradations and drive accountability through structured corrective actions and follow up.
Governance & Review Cadence
• Lead structured vendor performance reviews, including monthly performance reviews and quarterly business reviews.
• Develop and maintain clear performance reporting and dashboards that highlight service performance, trends, risks, and improvement needs.
• Communicate performance results and vendor accountability status to IT leadership and cross-functional partners.
Service Accountability & Issue Resolution
• Oversee the vendor response to service disruptions, call quality issues, outages, and other telecom/contact center incidents.
• Ensure vendors adhere to agreed-upon timelines for incident resolution, RCA development, and follow-through on corrective actions.
• Serve as the escalation point for vendor-related service challenges and ensure timely and transparent resolution communication.
Relationship Management
• Develop and maintain strong working relationships with infrastructure vendors to support effective service delivery and a collaborative operating model.
• Ensure alignment between vendor capabilities, contractual commitments, and evolving business or technical requirements.
• Work closely with internal teams including Infrastructure Engineering, IT Operations, etc.
Contract & Compliance Stewardship
• Validate vendor adherence to contractual obligations, including performance standards, maintenance coverage, reporting expectations, and lifecycle commitments (e.g., EOL/EOS timelines).
• Support contract renewal discussions, evaluation of support models, and pricing reviews with Procurement, Legal, and Finance.
• Ensure vendors meet organizational security and compliance requirements applicable to core infrastructure systems.
Financial & Service Validation
• Review vendor billing and support entitlements to ensure accuracy and alignment with contracted services and service performance.
• Identify opportunities for optimization through lifecycle planning, support tier adjustments, or enhanced vendor performance.
Required Qualifications
• Bachelor's degree in business, information systems, engineering, supply chain or related field
– OR – equivalent professional experience (degree not required for highly qualified candidates).
• 7+ years of vendor management experience with a focus on telecom carriers and enterprise contact center service providers.
• Strong understanding of enterprise server, storage, OS, middleware, and database service delivery models and performance expectations.
• Demonstrated ability to manage vendors through structured governance, performance scorecards, and disciplined accountability.
• Strong communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills with experience engaging cross-functional teams and external partners.
• Experience working in regulated or mission-critical environments; healthcare preferred.