IT Vendor Governance & Performance Lead

Princeton University; Princeton (NJ); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Princeton University is seeking a Technology Vendor Manager to oversee vendor relations and establish governance that delivers measurable business value and contractual outcomes aligned with University objectives.

This hands-on role collaborates with business partners across multiple functions to support the university's technology strategy and ensure service delivery, risk management, and financial oversight across enterprise IT vendors.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in vendor management or outsourcing governance.
• Knowledge of commercial agreements and governance.
• Experience with renewal processes to align strategy and cost-saving goals.
• Strong financial acumen with cost analysis and value tracking.
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills.
• Bachelor's degree in business, technology, or related field.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic oversight and governance of enterprise IT vendors, ensuring alignment with business objectives
• Serve as the primary interface between vendor leadership, IT service owners, and stakeholders
• Define and monitor vendor performance expectations and KPIs
• Drive accountability, service improvement, and cross-functional remediation of performance gaps
• Ensure vendor delivery supports reliability, user experience, and business continuity objectives
• Develop and maintain dashboards/scorecards to track performance and inform decisions
• Translate analytics into actionable insights; identify systemic risks, root causes and improvement opportunities
• Partner with Finance and Procurement to manage vendor financial performance and discipline
• Lead vendor business reviews and maintain strong cross-functional partnerships
• Collaborate with business partners to support vendor technology strategy across the organization

Skills

Vendor management

IT service management

Contract governance

Stakeholder engagement

Negotiation

Financial analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in business, technology, or related field

Tools

Tableau/Power BI

Job description

Princeton University is seeking a Technology Vendor Manager to oversee vendor relations and establish governance that delivers measurable business value and contractual outcomes aligned with University objectives.

This hands-on role collaborates with business partners across multiple functions to support the university's technology strategy and ensure service delivery, risk management, and financial oversight across enterprise IT vendors.