Manager, Vendor Management (VMO)

Job Summary:

The VMO will lead the strategic oversight of third-party vendors to ensure performance, mitigate risk, and align vendor relationships with the company’s operational, legal, and strategic goals. This role will develop and implement enterprise wide vendor management policies and serve as the primary point of contact for all vendor governance matters. The VMO will be responsible for overseeing the entire vendor engagement lifecycle, including onboarding new vendors, managing contract renewals, overseeing the completion of ongoing vendor audits, guiding successful vendor terminations, and ensuring compliance with company policies and standards

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop and manage the enterprise vendor management framework, policies and procedures.

• Collaborate with the Business, Legal, IT, Security, and Finance to support the full vendor lifecycle: selection, onboarding, contracting, performance management, and offboarding.

• Identify vendor consolidation and cost-optimization opportunities.

• Compliance and Risk Management

  • Conduct periodic vendor risk assessments, including due diligence, regulatory compliance, cybersecurity, and data privacy evaluations.
  • Ensure Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and cost structures align with business goals.
  • Perform audits of vendor activities to ensure compliance with company standards.
  • Address and resolve any vendor performance issues in collaboration with relevant departments.
• Maintain a centralized vendor inventory, performance dashboards, and issue tracking

• Process Improvement:

  • Develop and implement standard operating procedures (SOPs) for vendor management processes.
  • Continuously evaluate and improve vendor management practices to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
  • Provide training and support to internal stakeholders on vendor management best practices.
• Contract Management:
  • Maintain contracts in vendor management system.
  • Monitor contract expiration dates and initiate renewal processes in a timely manner.

Experience and Qualifications:

• Minimum 3 years of experience in vendor management or similar role

• Proven track record of building or managing vendor governance programs.

• Understanding of contract law, regulatory compliance, and third party risk management (TPRM)

• Experience with data privacy and cybersecurity framworks (e.g. CCPA, SOC2 Type2, ISO 27001)

• Excellent project management, stakeholder communication, and analytical skills

• Familiarity with vendor management systems (VMS) or governance, risk and compliance (GRC) tools.

Education:

Four year college degree or equivalent experience