Manager, Vendor Management and Expert Network Innovation, External Talent Function

Bain & Company; Toronto; On-site; CAD 110,000 - 132,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plans

Retirement plan

Flexible time off

Mentorship & training

Job summary

Bain & Company in Toronto is seeking a Manager, Vendor Management to lead the external research vendor ecosystem and drive structured execution across multiple stakeholders.

The role focuses on vendor performance, process improvements, and risk management within a global consulting context, anchored in English-language work authorization for Canada.

Qualifications

• Manager-level experience in vendor management, operations, contingent workforce planning, professional services, consulting operations, external talent management, product operations.

Responsibilities

• Manage Bain's external research vendor portfolio and partner networks.
• Oversee vendor management activities including business reviews, performance check-ins, and follow-ups.
• Track vendor performance against service, quality, compliance, and commercial expectations.
• Support vendor selection, onboarding, renewal, amendment, and offboarding with internal stakeholders.
• Support initiatives to improve quality, consistency, efficiency, and scalability of Primary Research operations.
• Translate priorities into structured workplans with owners, timelines, risks, and decisions.

Skills

Vendor management

Operations

Contingent workforce planning

Professional services

Consulting operations

External talent management

Product operations

Job description

Bain & Company is recognized as one of the top international management consultancy firms. We assist major corporations worldwide with strategy, acquisitions, organizational design and performance improvement.

We are proud to be consistently recognized as one of the world's best places to work, a champion of diversity and a model of social responsibility. We believe that diversity, inclusion, and collaboration is key to building extraordinary teams. We hire people with exceptional talents, abilities, and potential, then create an environment where you can become the best version of yourself and thrive both professionally and personally.

Position overview

Bain’s Primary Research capability supports high-quality insight generation for client teams through a broad ecosystem of external research partners, including expert networks, survey providers, specialist research vendors, and other third-party partners. The Manager, Vendor Management, will support category management, quality and risk-related initiatives, commercial and performance tracking, stakeholder communications, and operational improvement efforts.

The ideal candidate is a strong Manager-level operator who can bring structure to ambiguity, coordinate across multiple stakeholders, manage complex vendor workstreams, and translate priorities into practical execution.

Why this role matters

Primary Research is an important capability for Bain, helping teams develop distinctive market, customer, and expert perspectives. As research channels become more complex, Bain’s ability to manage a high-performing vendor ecosystem, maintain quality standards, and support efficient research operations is increasingly important to delivering client impact.

Key responsibilities

Support the ongoing management of Bain’s external research vendor portfolio, including expert networks, specialist research vendors, and other third-party partners.

Oversee recurring vendor management activities, including business reviews, performance check-ins, issue-resolution meetings, and commercial follow-ups.

Track vendor performance against agreed service, quality, compliance, operational, and commercial expectations.

Support vendor selection, onboarding, renewal, amendment, and offboarding processes in partnership with relevant internal stakeholders.

Support innovation initiatives that improve the quality, consistency, efficiency, and scalability of Primary Research operations.

Translate priorities into structured workplans with clear owners, timelines, risks, dependencies, and decision points.

Prepare clear updates that summarize progress, key risks, decisions required and recommended next steps.

Build trusted working relationships with internal stakeholders across business, research, Legal, Risk & Compliance, Finance, technology, and client-service teams.

Support communications with external vendors, including meeting preparation, follow-up notes, action tracking, and issue escalation.

Required qualifications

Manager-level experience in vendor management, operations, contingent workforce planning, professional services, consulting operations, external talent management, product operations, or a related field.

Demonstrated ability to manage multiple complex workstreams simultaneously.

Strong project management and organizational skills, with ability to translate ambiguous problems into clear plans, owners, and next steps.

Strong written communication skills, with ability to prepare concise, structured, senior-ready materials.

Strong stakeholder management skills, including ability to coordinate across teams with different priorities and incentives.

Analytical comfort with vendor performance, spend, usage, operational metrics, and issue tracking.

Commercial judgment and comfort supporting vendor negotiations, contract tracking, and performance discussions.

High attention to detail and strong follow-through.

Preferred qualifications

Experience with expert networks, primary research, survey vendors, external talent providers, professional services vendors, or knowledge/research operations.

Experience supporting risk, compliance, fraud prevention, vendor quality, or third-party management initiatives.

Experience working with product, data, or technology teams on business requirements, tool adoption, or operational enablement.

Experience in consulting, private equity support, diligence operations, or other client-service environments.

Experience preparing leadership-level updates or executive communications.

Comfort working globally across time zones and stakeholder groups.

Current Vacancy:

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

Language Requirements and Work Authorization:

The language of work for this role, located in the Toronto office of Bain & Company, is English, with written and spoken fluency required.

Must be legally authorized to work in Canada.

Accommodations:

Bain is committed to providing you with an accessible and equitable candidate experience. We provide reasonable accommodations as part of our interview process. Should you require an accommodation to complete the interviews, please contact your recruiter, who will connect you with Human Resources to discuss possible reasonable accommodations. We do not permit the use of AI tools during our interview process.

Compensation:

The estimated annualized compensation for this role is as follows:

• Base salary in the annualized full-time range of CAD $109,750 to CAD $131750 . Placement within this range will vary based on experience, education, licensure/certifications, and skill level.
• Annual discretionary performance bonus.
• Annual employer retirement program contribution of 10% of eligible compensation (prior year base salary and performance bonus received), up to the annual government-allowable limit. Begins accruing on day one and is paid to active employees at end of February each year.

Bain's comprehensive benefits and wellness programs include:

• Wellbeing: Health plans for employees and their eligible dependants that go beyond the basics to include mental, emotional, and behavioral health resources, counseling, assistance, and digital wellness tools. Bain pays 100% of individual and family premiums for its extended medical, dental, and vision health plan.
• Financial Security: Life, accident, and disability insurance, as well as retirement contribution, where eligible.
• Flexibility: Paid holidays, vacation, personal time, sick time, and reasonable accommodations.
• Learning: A culture of mentorship across all roles and comprehensive continuous training programs.

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ABOUT US

Bain & Company is a global consultancy that helps the world’s most ambitious change makers define the future. Across 63 offices in 38 countries, we work alongside our clients as one team with a shared ambition to achieve extraordinary results, outperform the competition, and redefine industries. We complement our tailored, integrated expertise with a vibrant ecosystem of digital innovators to deliver better, faster, and more enduring outcomes. Our 10-year commitment to invest more than $1 billion in pro bono services brings our talent, expertise, and insight to organizations tackling today’s urgent challenges in education, racial equity, social justice, economic development, and the environment. We earned a gold rating from EcoVadis, the leading platform for environmental, social, and ethical performance ratings for global supply chains, putting us in the top 2% among other consulting firms. Since our founding in 1973, we have measured our success by the success of our clients, and we proudly maintain the highest level of client advocacy in the industry.