Technology Vendor Manager (IT)

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

Overview

The Technology Vendor Manager, a hands-on manager, will manage vendor relations and establish the governance framework that will provide visibility on vendor risk, vendor performance and overall financial benefit of the vendor to the University. This will include governing strategic third-party relationships and ensuring suppliers deliver measurable business value, operational performance, and contractual outcomes aligned to University objectives. The Technology Vendor Manager will collaborate with business partners across multiple functional areas to support the vendor technology strategy across the organization.

Responsibilities

Vendor Governance & Strategy

• Lead strategic oversight and performance governance of enterprise IT vendors, ensuring alignment with business objectives


• Serve as the primary interface between vendor leadership, IT service owners, and stakeholders

Performance & Service Delivery

• 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

Risk, Compliance & Contracts

• Assess and manage vendor cyber operational, financial, and reputational risk


• Enforce contractual obligations and ensure alignment between delivery execution and agreed terms

Insights, Reporting & Financial Oversight

• 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

Stakeholder Engagement

• Lead vendor business reviews and maintain strong cross-functional partnerships


• Collaborate with business partners to support vendor technology strategy across the organization

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in vendor management, outsourcing governance, IT service management, or related professional work experience.


• Working knowledge of commercial agreements and contractual governance.


• Experience with structured renewal processes to align strategy and cost‑saving goals.


• Strong financial acumen including cost analysis and value tracking.


• Excellent communication, negotiation, and influence skills


• Education: Bachelor’s Degree in business, technology, supply chain, or related field

Preferred:

• Experience with data visualization tools like Tableau or Power BI


• Advanced degree

Princeton University is Equal Opportunity Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

The University considers factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's qualifications, work experience, education/training, key skills, market, collective bargaining agreements as applicable, and organizational considerations when extending an offer. The posted salary range represents the University's good faith and reasonable estimate for a full-time position; salaries for part‑time positions are pro‑rated accordingly.

If the salary range on the posted position shows an hourly rate, this is the baseline; the actual hourly rate may be higher, depending on the position and factors listed above.

The University also offers a comprehensive benefit program to eligible employees. Please see this link for more information.

Equal employment opportunity, including veterans and individuals with disabilities.