Vendor Management Lead

Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Bethesda (MD); On-site; USD 121,000 - 151,000; Full time

Job summary

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is seeking a dedicated vendor management advocate within Finance to lead procurement relations with vendors across the Institute. You will help define HHMI needs, evaluate proposals, and push for favorable terms while ensuring vendor performance aligns with HHMI standards.

The role emphasizes negotiation, accountability, and regular executive reporting, operating with cross-functional teams to maintain HHMI's vendor relationships and compliance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Help pick the vendor.
• Hold vendors accountable for terms, SLAs and deliverables.
• Negotiate terms, renewals and amendments to HHMI's advantage.

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Job description

Primary Work Address: 4000 Jones Bridge Road, Chevy Chase, MD,20815

HHMI is focused on supporting and moving science forward in avariety of different ways ranging from conducting basic biomedicalresearch, empowering educators, inspiring students, developing thenext generation of scientists – even stretching into film and mediaproduction. Our Headquarters is in the greater Washington, DC metroarea and is home to over 300 employees with expertise ininvestments, communications, digital production, biomedicalsciences, and everything in between. The work housed here supportsand augments the groundbreaking research conducted in HHMI labsacross the nation. As HHMI scientists continue to push boundariesin laboratories and classrooms, you can be sure that yourcontributions while working here are making a difference.

This is a role for someone who reads a vendor contract and immediately spots where the leverage sits, and who is comfortablebeing the person who says no on HHMI's behalf.

You are HHMI'sadvocate with its vendors: in choosing them, in negotiating withthem, and in holding them to what they promised.

You will sit in Finance and report to the Director, Procurement,but the vendors you cover span the Institute (from benefitsproviders to enterprise SaaS vendors). Whichever department ownsthe day to day relationship, you own whether the vendor is actually delivering.

The job is advocacy and accountability, not account coordination.You help HHMI pick the right vendor in the first place. Younegotiate contract terms and renewals to HHMI's advantage, buildthe service level agreements and terms that define what good lookslike for us, and run the compliance reviews that catch it when avendor falls short. When something breaks, you are the point ofescalation, and you drive it to resolution instead of passing italong.

You will work closely with Procurement, the Office of GeneralCounsel, and HHMI's other department leads, and with staff acrossthe Institute who manage these vendors day-to-day. You will reportregularly to the executive team, through the COO, on how ourvendors are performing. None of the people you work with day-to-dayreport to you, so getting to the right outcome depends on how wellyou make your case.

What you will actually do

• Help pick the vendor. When a department needs a newvendor, you are in the room. You help define what HHMI needs, weighthe proposals, and push for the vendor and the terms that willserve the Institute best.
• Hold vendors accountable. Across the Institute, youtrack whether vendors are delivering the terms, service levels, anddeliverables they agreed to, no matter which department manages therelationship day to day.
• Negotiate the contract. You negotiate terms, renewals,and amendments to HHMI's advantage, including the SLAs and theterms that will work for us, with Procurement and the Office ofGeneral Counsel alongside you on pricing, scope, and risk.
• Build and run SLA reviews. You develop and documentservice level agreements with key vendors, then run regularcompliance and SLA reviews to confirm they are living up tothem.
• Take the escalation. When a vendor is not meeting itscommitments, you are the first call. You drive performance issues,errors, and delays to resolution.
• Watch the biggest relationships. You own whether HHMI'smajor service providers deliver, enterprise-wide, with the heaviestfocus on benefits vendors and software and IT vendors.
• Run performance reviews. You lead periodic vendorperformance reviews, document what you find, and hold vendors tocorrective action plans when they fall short.
• Coordinate without owning. You work with the staff whodeal with these vendors day to day. You gather what they know anduse it to represent HHMI's interests.
• Keep the executive team informed. You report regularlyto the executive team, through the COO, on vendor performance, openescalations, and what is coming up for selection or renewal.

What we are looking for

• A dogged advocate for HHMI. You are on the Institute'sside, every time, from the first vendor conversation through thelast performance review, and vendors know it.
• A tenacious negotiator. You can hold firm on contractterms and service expectations while keeping a workablerelationship with the vendor.
• Judgment on when to escape. You can tell thedifference between a vendor hiccup and a pattern, and you know whento raise it and how to drive it to a close.
• Fluent in SLAs and metrics. You can write a servicelevel agreement that actually measures something, and apply itacross vendor types that have nothing in common with eachother.
• Comfortable without a permanent seat. You can walk intoa vendor relationship you do not own day to day and still get theoutcome you need.
• High expectations, worn lightly. You expect real servicefrom a vendor. You expect the department that owns the relationshipto expect it too. You can hold both without becoming thatdepartment's adversary.

Nice to have

• Direct experience negotiating or managing benefits contracts orsoftware and IT agreements.
• Exposure to other enterprise service providers, such as cloudplatforms, HR or HCM systems, or benefits administrationplatforms.

What this role is not

• A contract filing job. You are negotiating and enforcing terms,not just tracking renewal dates and storing signedagreements.
• A role for someone who avoids friction. Part of the job istelling a vendor, plainly, that they are not meeting the bar, andstaying in that conversation until it is fixed.

Practical details

This role is based at HHMI Headquarters and reports to theDirector, Procurement. It is an individual contributor positionwith no supervisory or budgetary responsibility. HHMI is lookingfor five to seven years of experience in vendor management,supplier relationship management, or contract administration, and abachelor's degree or equivalent experience.

Compensation and Benefits

Our employees are compensated from a total rewards perspective inmany ways for their contributions to our mission, includingcompetitive pay, exceptional health benefits, retirement plans,time off, and a range of recognition and wellness programs. Visitour Benefits at HHMI site to learn more.

Hiring Pay Range

$120,517.60 - $150,647.00

Pay Type:

Annual

The posted range reflects HHMI’s good faith estimate of theanticipated hiring salary range for this role at the time ofposting. Actual hiring compensation is determined by a candidate’squalifications, experience, and internal equity.

HHMI is an Equal Opportunity Employer

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