The Director of Vendor Management will be responsible for designing, implementing, maintaining, and administrating the Vendor Management Program. The Vendor Management Program should provide an efficient system for selecting, contracting, and monitoring the vendors that serve the organization and its various departments. The system should include vendor qualification and risk management criteria, contract standardization, cost control, service and product quality control, and data reporting to provide visibility into vendor usage and spending. The program should enhance the development of a pool of reliable, qualified, cost-efficient vendors for the organization and provide opportunities for small and minority-owned businesses. The Director will supervise one or more Vendor Managers, who in turn will be supported by Vendor Management Specialists. The Director will report to the Executive Vice President.
RESPONSIBILITIES- Collaborates with Senior Management and department project managers, legal teams and risk management to align procurement, vendor management and contract strategies with business goals and risk tolerance.
- Works with Senior Management to provide subject matter expertise in the creation, implementation, and maintenance of appropriate risk management tools, policies, and procedures to be compliant with applicable rules and regulations using industry best practices.
- Works closely with Yardi (IT) and Accounting teams to understand systems capabilities and interactions and to design work flows and technical solutions to streamline vendor on-boarding, data management, and reporting, including the synthesis of data from different platforms.
- Collaborates with Senior Management to develop criteria and best practices for vendor selection.
- Proposes any necessary updates to management regarding vendor management policies and procedures to ensure compliance and best practices.
- Ensures that the organization maintains appropriate and well-managed third-party vendor relationships across the organization. Works with managers to ensure that they are holding vendors accountable for their actions in relation to our contract and service agreements.
- Ensures thorough documentation that all vendor contracts are in line with our vendor management policy and are reviewed by each vendor's relationship manager/owner on a routine basis for continual compliance.
- Establishes a time frame for ongoing vendor due diligence reviews and follows up with managers to ensure they are conducted as required. Utilizes systems such as Vendor Shield to expedite this process.
- Serves as a point of escalation for vendor issues and disputes and drives those issues to resolution.
- Responsible for ensuring all vendor contracts and documents are received in a timely manner and maintained in the Yardi system and in the Vendor Management document library.
- Designs, prepares, and analyzes reports for management based on the Vendor Café and Yardi Elevate platforms and other platforms utilized within the organization.
- Guides/participates in the negotiation process of service level agreements, ensures that contractual obligations are achieved, and initiates contract changes when required. Responsible for ensuring compliance of negotiated agreements relating to operations.
- Responsible for optimizing vendor relationships through contract and relationship management and financial and quantitative analyses to effectively create mutually beneficial opportunities.
- Manages/leads vendor management team.
- Performs other duties as assigned.
- Attends company sponsored events that relate to the development of the team, which from time to time may include overnight stays at locations away from the employee's home.
SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS- Ability to identify issues and work them to closure, including remediation and escalation where appropriate. Strong data analytical skills and understanding of MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, and Smartsheets. Strong knowledge of Vendor Café and Yardi ERP system is a plus.
- Effective in response to shifting priorities and assignments and ability to meet deadlines and expectations. Effective in delivering messages across a wide spectrum of individuals at the company having varying degrees of technical understanding.
- Strong interpersonal skills to be able to establish relationships with internal partners to build consensus and deliver various types of messages to internal and external parties.
- A significant level of trust, credibility and diplomacy is required. In-depth conversations and explanations with customers, direct and indirect reports and outside vendors can be of a sensitive and/or highly confidential nature. Communications may involve motivating, influencing, educating and/or advising others on matters of significance. Typically includes subject matter experts as well as first level to middle managers.
EXPERIENCE & EDUCATION- Five years of similar or related experience, including time spent in preparatory positions.
- Minimum of a high school diploma or GED required. College degree or certification preferred.
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS/WORK ENVIRONMENT- Operate computer and office equipment.
- Work is primarily sedentary in nature.
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