Vendor Relations Specialist

NTT Limited; North Carolina; On-site; USD 50,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Employer 401(k) with company match

Paid time off

Life and AD&D insurance

Flexible spending or health savings

Job summary

NTT DATA is seeking a Vendor Relations Specialist to ensure client satisfaction by delivering services aligned to SLAs and contractual performance. The role oversees coordinated service delivery, contract lifecycle management, and escalation handling to maintain high performance with vendors.

Ideal candidates bring multi-national stakeholder experience, strong negotiation skills, and a solid background in supply chain or vendor management, with ITIL familiarity preferred.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in supply chain management, marketing, business administration, or a related field.
• ITIL certification is preferable.
• Seasoned contract/supplier management experience in a multi-national environment.
• Proven stakeholder engagement experience and understanding of the contract lifecycle.

Responsibilities

• Responds to new or changed business needs and defines requirements for vendor contracts.
• Negotiates SLAs with vendors to meet business and client needs.
• Executes and signs contracts ensuring conformance to strategy and process.
• Monitors vendor performance against contracts and provides feedback to stakeholders.
• Manages contract renewals and termination dates with the commercial/contract teams.
• Acts as escalation point for vendor disputes to ensure service delivery per SLA.
• Supports vendor training and ensures implementation of service improvements.
• Collaborates in product/service implementation from vendors to ensure on-time delivery.

Skills

Stakeholder relationships

Communication skills

Vendor management

Negotiation

Contract lifecycle management

Problem solving

Business acumen

Initiative

Persuasion

Organizational skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in supply chain management, marketing, business administration, or related field

ITIL certification (preferable)

Job description

Make an impact with NTT DATA Join a company that is pushing the boundaries of what is possible. We are renowned for our technical excellence and leading innovations, and for making a difference to our clients and society. Our workplace embraces diversity and inclusion – it’s a place where you can grow, belong and thrive.

Your day at NTT DATA

The Vendor Relations Specialist is a seasoned subject matter expert, responsible for ensuring client satisfaction by participating in the delivery of services that are aligned to the agreed service level agreements (SLA) and other contractual performance requirements. This role as the seasoned ability to manage the coordinated delivery of service and manage compliance to agreed performance standards.

Key responsibilities

• Offers support by responding to new or changed business needs and/or services and determine and define the requirement for new or updating existing vendor contracts.
• Negotiates service level agreements with vendors that meet the needs of the business, its operations and the needs of the clients.
• Agrees and signs the required contract with the vendor, ensuring conformance to strategy and process.
• Analyzes vendor performance against contract and provides feedback to relevant stakeholders on performance delivery.
• Works closely with commercial and contract management team to process contract renewals, managing schedule of contract termination dates to meet renewal or termination process requirements.
• Serves as the escalation point for vendor disputes, by agreeing points of interaction and escalation with the client and vendor, ensuring the continuous delivery of the service according to the SLA.
• Monitors and reviews service levels to ensure that suppliers are performing within contractual agreements and success targets; may also conduct vendor audits.
• Supports peers by regularly supplying training of vendor relationship skills.
• Determines the impact of service improvements identified in relation to the vendor and documents and ensures the appropriate actions are implemented by the vendor.
• Participates in implementation of products and services from new or current vendors, ensuring smooth execution and on-time delivery.
• Obtains vendor program requirements and provide information to business on the gaps and requirements to close these in order to maintain the chosen level of vendor accreditation.
• Works on strategic projects that identify, analyze and correct problems with cost and quality by alerting vendors to problems or discrepancies.
• Performs any other related task as required.

To thrive in this role, you need to have

• Ability to establish strong relationships with internal stakeholders and external stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to deal tactfully with vendors, suppliers, and contractors who provide a broad spectrum of products and services.
• Seasoned knowledge of accounting, finance, marketing, and logistics.
• Ability to work in high-pressure environments.
• Ability to manage urgent and complex tasks simultaneously.
• Seasoned business acumen and commercial skills.
• Passionate, strong initiative, self-driven with commitment to succeed.
• Displays excellent persuasion and influencing ability.
• Detailed, meticulous and highly organized.
• Proactive in approach with good facilitation skills.

Academic qualifications and certifications

• Bachelor's degree in supply chain management, marketing, business administration, or a related field.
• ITIL certification is preferable.

Required experience

• Seasoned demonstrated contract / supplier management experience preferably in a multi-national environment.
• Proven stakeholder engagement experience.
• Seasoned demonstrated understanding of the contract lifecycle management.
• Seasoned experience managing expectations when balancing alternatives against business and financial constraints.

NTT DATA provides a reasonable range of compensation for U.S.-based positions. The starting pay range for this role is $50,000 to $80,000 annually. Actual compensation will depend on a number of factors, including the candidate’s relevant experience, technical skills, and other qualifications.

This position is eligible for company benefits including medical, dental, and vision insurance with an employer contribution, flexible spending or health savings account, life and AD&D insurance, short and long term disability coverage, paid time off, employee assistance, participation in a 401k program with company match, and additional voluntary or legally-required benefits.

Workplace type: Remote Working

About NTT DATA

NTT DATA is a $30+ billion business and technology services leader, serving 75% of the Fortune Global 100. We are committed to accelerating client success and positively impacting society through responsible innovation.

We are one of the world’s leading AI and digital infrastructure providers, with unmatched capabilities in enterprise-scale AI, cloud, security, connectivity, data centers and application services.

Our consulting and industry solutions help organizations and society move confidently and sustainably into the digital future.

As a Global Top Employer, we have experts in more than 70 countries.

We also offer clients access to a robust ecosystem of innovation centers as well as established and start-up partners.

NTT DATA is part of NTT Group, which invests over $3 billion each year in R&D.

Equal Opportunity Employer

NTT DATA is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer with a global culture that embraces diversity. We are committed to providing an environment free of unfair discrimination and harassment. We do not discriminate based on age, race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, disability, pregnancy, marital status, veteran status, or any other protected category.

Third parties fraudulently posing as NTT DATA recruiters NTT DATA recruiters will never ask job seekers or candidates for payment or banking information during the recruitment process, for any reason. Please remain vigilant of third parties who may attempt to impersonate NTT DATA recruiters whether in writing or by phone in order to deceptively obtain personal data or money from you. All email communications from an NTT DATA recruiter will come from an @nttdata.com email address. If you suspect any fraudulent activity, please contact us.

Is innovation part of your DNA? Do you want to enable a connected future for people, organizations, and society? Join our growing global NTT family and you’ll be part of the world’s largest ICT company (by revenue). We’ve combined the capabilities of 28 remarkable companies to become one, leading technology services provider. Together, we help our people, clients, and communities do great things with technology to create a more secure and connected future. We employ 40,000 people across 57 countries. By bringing together the world’s best technology companies and emerging innovators, we work together to deliver sustainable outcomes to businesses and the world. Innovation is part of our DNA. We believe it’s key to what makes us different. So, we strive to move forward, challenge the status quo, and drive excellence through the technologies we integrate and the services we deliver around the world. The result is connected cities, connected factories, connected healthcare, connected agriculture, connected conservation, connected mobility, and connected sport. Together we enable the connected future.

You’ll be joining a global employer that is committed to attracting, growing and keeping the best talent. A place where you will be at the heart of our success!