Vendor Management Lead

Centific; George Town; Hybrid; MYR 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading AI data firm in Malaysia seeks a Vendor Management Lead responsible for building and managing a global network of service providers. This role involves overseeing the recruitment and qualification of vendors to support Language and AI services while requiring practical vendor management experience and the ability to work US time zone hours. The firm offers a dynamic environment for developing long-term vendor relationships and driving talent attraction initiatives.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in vendor management or talent acquisition, preferably in language services.
• Experience managing global freelance and agency vendors.
• Strong understanding of Language and AI services.
• Hands-on experience with contracts and vendor negotiations.
• Willingness to work US time zone hours.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain a global pool of vendors for Language and AI services.
• Manage end-to-end vendor recruitment lifecycle.
• Design talent attraction campaigns on social media.
• Lead vendor contract and rate negotiations.
• Support delivery and project teams with vendor availability.

Skills

Vendor management experience

Strong communication skills

Relationship-building

Attention to detail

Ability to work independently

Job description

Overview

Working hours :Mon - Fri, 8.00am - 5.00pm

Position Title :Vendor Management Lead

Work location: Penang - George Town

The Vendor Management Lead is responsible for building, managing, and expanding a global network of service providers to support Language and AI services. This role drives vendor recruitment initiatives, runs talent attraction campaigns, and oversees vendor qualification to ensure the right resources are matched to the right projects. The role requires hands-on vendor management experience and the ability to work US time zone hours.

Key Responsibilities

• Build, maintain, and continuously expand a global pool of freelance and agency vendors for Language and AI services.

• Source and engage suitable collaborators across services including translation, editing, proofreading, MTPE, language quality assessment, data labeling, annotation, and LLM authoring.

• Manage the end-to-end vendor recruitment lifecycle, including sourcing, screening, evaluation, negotiation, and onboarding.

• Design and execute creative talent attraction campaigns, leveraging multiple channels with a strong focus on social media.

• Review and process vendor information, assessing suitability based on project requirements and account needs.

• Coordinate and manage translation and qualification tests for potential vendors.

• Lead vendor contract and rate negotiations, ensuring alignment with company policies and project-specific requirements.

• Process, manage, and archive NDAs, MSAs, and other vendor agreements in compliance with internal policies.

• Maintain accurate records of approved vendors in the vendor/resource database.

• Support delivery and project teams by coordinating vendor availability, communication, and response follow-ups.

• Build and scale language teams for new projects, languages, and accounts.

• Negotiate additional rates, revisions, and discounts when required.

• Develop and maintain strong, long-term relationships with vendors to ensure engagement and commitment.

• Act as a point of escalation for vendor-related issues, conflicts, or performance concerns.

• Continuously identify opportunities to improve tools, processes, and technologies related to vendor management.

• Perform additional duties as required to support business needs.

Key Requirements

• Proven experience in vendor management, vendor recruitment, or talent acquisition, preferably within language services, localization, or AI/data-related industries.

• Experience managing freelance and agency vendors on a global scale.

• Strong understanding of Language and AI services (e.g. translation, MTPE, LQA, data annotation, AI training data).

• Hands-on experience managing contracts, rate cards, and vendor negotiations.

• Strong communication, relationship-building, and stakeholder management skills.

• Highly organized with strong attention to detail and documentation management.

• Comfortable handling confidential information and PII in compliance with data protection standards.

• Ability to work independently in a fast-paced, global environment.

• Willingness and flexibility to work US time zone hours.

• Some management or leadership experience is preferred.

About Centific

Centific is a frontier AI data foundry that curates diverse, high-quality data, using our purpose-built technology platforms to empower the Magnificent Seven and our enterprise clients with safe, scalable AI deployment. Our team includes more than 150 PhDs and data scientists, along with more than 4,000 AI practitioners and engineers. We harness the power of an integrated solution ecosystem—comprising industry-leading partnerships and 1.8 million vertical domain experts in more than 230 markets—to create contextual, multilingual, pre-trained datasets; fine-tuned, industry-specific LLMs; and RAG pipelines supported by vector databases. Our zero-distance innovation™ solutions for GenAI can reduce GenAI costs by up to 80% and bring solutions to market 50% faster.

Our mission is to bridge the gap between AI creators and industry leaders by bringing best practices in GenAI to unicorn innovators and enterprise customers. We aim to help these organizations unlock significant business value by deploying GenAI at scale, helping to ensure they stay at the forefront of technological advancement and maintain a competitive edge in their respective markets.

Your Authentic Self at Centific

Centific is an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, mental or physical disability, medical condition, gender (including pregnancy), gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, familial status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.

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