IT Contracts and Vendor Relations Manager

Jobtailor; Arizona; On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Jobtailor is seeking an senior IT Vendor Manager in the United States (Arizona) to lead critical vendor relationships and contract programs. You will negotiate agreements, manage SLAs, and drive governance with IT and Supply Chain teams.

In this role you will build trusted supplier partnerships, review contracts for risk, and deliver cost-saving initiatives while ensuring regulatory and procurement compliance across multi-million-dollar engagements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, information systems administration or related field.
• 8 years' experience managing vendor relationships involving licensing, software, SaaS, PaaS, cloud services, or related areas.
• Experience negotiating, contracting, and managing IT vendor contracts.
• Experience working with suppliers and strategic vendor initiatives.
• Ability to build relationships with key suppliers and liaise between vendor and internal organizations to resolve conflicts.
• Ability to track and negotiate contract requirements, including SLAs.
• Ability to lead using informal authority to drive organizational objectives.
• Knowledge of IT vendor relationship management.
• Ability to communicate effectively with internal and external clients.
• Ability to perform advanced business and financial analysis of vendor engagements.
• Ability to solve complex problems and improve vendor relationship effectiveness.
• Track record managing application managed services, incident management, and cost reduction.
• Ability to author and negotiate waterfall and agile scopes of work for complex system integration.

Responsibilities

• Manage critical IT vendor agreements and contractual relationships.
• Conduct contract review, redlining, negotiation support, compliance oversight, and vendor governance activities.
• Build trusted relationships with IT vendors and serve as a go-to partner for internal business teams.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to negotiate vendor services aligned with business needs and resolve service gaps.
• Lead vendor discussions about performance, expectations, accountability, and issue resolution.
• Partner with Supply Chain to establish the appropriate legal framework for technology engagements.
• Navigate complex, multi-stakeholder challenges while balancing stakeholder expectations and IT budgets.
• Develop, implement, and manage IT vendor management processes aligned with Supply Chain best practices.
• Develop and implement strategic vendor strategies and programs supporting IT operational goals.
• Represent business areas and partner with Supply Chain and IT stakeholders on complex, multi-million-dollar contracts.
• Participate in IT contract development and evaluations to identify risks and potential issues.
• Ensure contracts meet regulatory, risk, strategic, and procurement requirements.
• Serve as the primary IT escalation point for significant vendor issues affecting Development and Operations.
• Hold vendors accountable for continuous improvement opportunities.
• Define and monitor contract SLAs for strategic partners.
• Drive IT governance by tracking progress toward goals and vendor expectations.
• Identify improvement and cost-saving opportunities through better utilization of vendor resources

Skills

Vendor management

Contract negotiation

SLAs

Vendor relationship management

Financial analysis

Negotiation

Education

Bachelor's degree in business / information systems

Job description

• Manage critical IT vendor agreements and contractual relationships
• Conduct contract review, redlining, negotiation support, compliance oversight, and vendor governance activities
• Build trusted relationships with IT vendors and serve as a go-to partner for internal business teams
• Collaborate with stakeholders to negotiate vendor services aligned with business needs and resolve service gaps
• Lead vendor discussions about performance, expectations, accountability, and issue resolution
• Partner with Supply Chain to establish the appropriate legal framework for technology engagements
• Navigate complex, multi-stakeholder challenges while balancing stakeholder expectations and IT budgets
• Develop, implement, and manage IT vendor management processes aligned with Supply Chain best practices
• Develop and implement strategic vendor strategies and programs supporting IT operational goals
• Represent business areas and partner with Supply Chain and IT stakeholders on complex, multi-million-dollar contracts
• Participate in IT contract development and evaluations to identify risks and potential issues
• Ensure contracts meet regulatory, risk, strategic, and procurement requirements
• Serve as the primary IT escalation point for significant vendor issues affecting Development and Operations
• Hold vendors accountable for continuous improvement opportunities
• Define and monitor contract SLAs for strategic partners
• Drive IT governance by tracking progress toward goals and vendor expectations
• Identify improvement and cost-saving opportunities through better utilization of vendor resources

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in business, information systems administration or related field
• 8 years' experience managing vendor and supplier relationships involving licensing, software, SaaS, PaaS, cloud software services, IT application, development and maintenance services, or related experience
• Experience negotiating, contracting, and managing IT vendor contracts
• Experience working with and negotiating with suppliers and strategic vendor initiatives
• Ability to build relationships with key suppliers and liaise between vendor and internal organizations to resolve conflicts
• Ability to track and negotiate contract requirements, including Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
• Ability to lead using informal authority to drive organizational objectives
• Knowledge and experience with IT vendor relationship management
• Ability to maintain composure in critical negotiations and communicate effectively with internal and external clients
• Ability to perform advanced business and financial analysis of vendor engagements
• Ability to solve complex problems and improve vendor relationship effectiveness and efficiency
• Proven track record managing application managed services, incident management, and cost reduction
• Ability to author and negotiate waterfall and agile scopes of work for complex system integration activities across design, build, testing, hypercare, and warranty phases
• Applicants must confirm U.S. person or non-U.S. person status; some positions may require U.S. person status under U.S. Export Control Laws

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in IT vendor management, including contract negotiation, compliance oversight, and relationship building with key suppliers. Proven ability to implement strategic vendor strategies and manage complex, multi-million-dollar contracts while ensuring alignment with organizational goals.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• IT Vendor Management
• Contract Negotiation
• Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
• Vendor Relationship Management
• Business and Financial Analysis

Hard Skills

• Contract Review
• Vendor Governance
• Negotiation Support
• Compliance Oversight
• IT Application Management
• SaaS
• PaaS
• Cloud Software Services
• Incident Management
• Cost Reduction

Soft Skills

• Relationship Building
• Conflict Resolution
• Effective Communication
• Problem Solving
• Leadership

Industry Keywords

• Vendor Agreements
• Supply Chain Best Practices
• Regulatory Compliance
• Strategic Vendor Initiatives
• U.S. Export Control Laws