Vendor & Ecosystem Specialist

Hitachi Energy Ltd.; Kraków; Hybrid; PLN 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Incentives

Well-being

Flexible work

Financial security

Job summary

Hitachi Energy Ltd. seeks a Vendor & Ecosystem Specialist within Innovation-as-a-Service to discover and assess external vendors, technology partners, and startups across AI and other emerging technologies.

You will manage relationships and translate offerings into structured inputs for assessments and architecture reviews. You’ll build vendor intelligence repositories, ecosystem maps, and briefing materials for internal stakeholders, collaborating with architecture and other teams to ensure

Qualifications

• At least three years of experience in vendor or ecosystem management.
• Strong knowledge of AI, data and emerging digital tech vendor landscape.
• Experience producing vendor assessments and ecosystem maps.
• Familiarity with startup scouting and corporate venturing.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience with Request for Information (RFI) processes.

Responsibilities

• Scout and evaluate vendors, partners, and startups in AI and emerging tech.
• Maintain a structured vendor intelligence repository with landscape maps.
• Serve as the main interface between Innovation-as-a-Service and vendors.
• Clarify offerings, capabilities, constraints, and commercial information.
• Create capability summaries, comparison matrices, and ecosystem maps.
• Support reuse and enterprise readiness of internal capabilities.
• Prepare briefing presentations and opportunity summaries.
• Collaborate with architecture to support solution assessments.
• Monitor internal landscape to avoid duplication and promote reuse.

Skills

Vendor management

Technology partner management

Vendor scouting

Startup scouting

Market intelligence

RFI processes

Ecosystem mapping

Stakeholder management

Communication

Presentation skills

Job description

As a Vendor & Ecosystem Specialist within Hitachi Energy’s Innovation-as-a-Service function, you will discover and assess external vendors, technology partners, and startups, and manage relationships across AI and other emerging technologies, including within the Hitachi Group innovation network. Your work will combine on-demand solution scouting for internal innovation topics with proactive scouting.

You will serve as the primary direct interface between Innovation-as-a-Service and relevant vendors, technology partners, and startups. You will clarify their offerings, capabilities, constraints, and available commercial information, translating these into structured inputs for innovation assessments, recommendation packages, and architecture reviews.

Alongside this work, you will identify relevant startup and partner opportunities and maintain reusable vendor intelligence, including capability summaries, comparison matrices, and ecosystem maps.

In close collaboration with other stakeholders and using the relevant repositories, you will support the effective reuse, scaling, and enterprise readiness of internal capabilities and solutions already available within the company.

How you’ll make an impact

• Scout and evaluate solution providers, technology partners, and startups across AI and other emerging technologies, both on demand and proactively. Maintain a structured vendor intelligence repository with current capability assessments and landscape maps.
• Act as the central Innovation-as-a-Service contact for relevant vendors, technology partners, and startups. Engage directly to obtain and clarify information required for innovation assessments.
• Coordinate with Hitachi Group entities to identify relevant vendor and partner opportunities. Facilitate introductions and coordination for initial assessments.
• Scout and assess startups, identifying their fit with Hitachi Energy’s strategic priorities and innovation pipeline. Prepare briefing presentations and opportunity summaries for relevant candidates.
• Produce structured comparisons of offerings, capabilities, fit with Hitachi Energy’s requirements, constraints, and available commercial information.
• Create and maintain up-to-date vendor and startup repositories and landscapes across key AI and emerging technology categories. Produce capability summaries, comparison matrices, and ecosystem maps for internal stakeholders.
• Contribute vendor and ecosystem intelligence to recommendation packages. Structure vendor comparisons and capability information for reuse in reports and presentations.
• Collaborate with the architecture team, providing current vendor-landscape and capability information to support solution assessments.
• Monitor the internal application and platform landscape to avoid duplication and promote reuse of existing capabilities.

Your background

• At least three years of professional experience in vendor management, technology partner management, vendor scouting, startup scouting, market intelligence, or ecosystem management in a technology or enterprise context.
• Strong knowledge of the AI, data, and emerging digital technology vendor landscape. Prior experience with Request for Information (RFI) processes.
• Experience producing vendor assessments, capability comparisons, and ecosystem maps.
• Familiarity with startup scouting, corporate venturing, and innovation partnership concepts.
• Strong communication, relationship management, and stakeholder management skills, supported by strategic and conceptual thinking. Strong presentation and report preparation skills.
• Knowledge of portfolio, demand, and requirements management, alongside digital competency and an understanding of artificial intelligence and innovation.
• Proactive and creative mindset: You anticipate and adapt to new challenges and topics, readily connecting the dots. An assertive, clear, and direct communication style.
• Patience and persistence in research: You seek a deep understanding of a topic and conduct thorough scouting research that goes beyond a superficial assessment.

The final offer will be based on candidate location, skills and qualifications, experience, and aligned with internal pay structures.

This role may be open in multiple locations. If the salary information listed is not applicable for your current home location, salary details relevant to your location will be discussed with you at a later stage.

Our benefit offering is tailored based on your country of employment and generally includes:

• Competitive salary and incentives
• Well-being and care
• Paid and unpaid leave
• Flexible work options
• Benefits that support your financial security

You will receive more specific information during the recruitment process.

We are a global leader in electrification, powering the electricity era to meet the energy demands of today, and the next 25 years. As the energy arm of Hitachi Group, over three billion people depend on our pioneering, mission-critical technologies to power their daily lives.

With over a century of innovation, we are addressing the most urgent energy challenge of our time: driving the evolution of the world’s energy system to ensure abundant, secure, affordable, and sustainable power for today’s generation and the next.

With an unparalleled installed base in over 140 countries, we are the grid ecosystem partner across the utility, industry, data center, and transportation sectors. Headquartered in Switzerland, we employ over 56,000 people in 60 countries and generate revenues of around $20 billion USD.