Vendor Relationship Manager

**What’s the role?**

The Vendor Relationship Manager will be responsible for building and fostering strong relationships with our key technology partners, who work alongside us to deliver an exciting roadmap of programs and projects.

Reporting to the Vendor Management Lead, this role will manage the relationships and performance of our strategic partners to ensure they deliver on their operational and contractual commitments. By engaging closely with key stakeholders and the business, the Vendor Relationship Manager will work with our key partner/s to align and respond to our business needs and support a culture of continuous improvement and innovation within our environments.

**Vendor Framework & Processes**

+ Supporting the development and maintenance of a Vendor Management Framework which addresses the planning of vendor requirements, selection of appropriate vendors, and ongoing effective operation and management of relevant vendor partners.

+ Ensuring the Vendor Management Framework and associated requirements are embedded within the day-to-day operation of the TDD function and align to broader organisational processes and policies (e.g. Procurement, Finance, Legal).

+ Collaborating with team members across the News Corp’s global and local businesses to share knowledge and align to best practice across the vendor and contract management discipline

**Vendor Governance & Relationship Management**

+ Proactively identifying and managing vendors and contracts within the TDD function, including leveraging vendor relationships to extract value added benefits aligned to TDD needs

+ Implementing and maintaining mechanisms for vendor governance, specifically relating to target metrics and the identification of improvement opportunities

+ Participating in and providing reporting to vendor governance forums to support visibility of risks/issues and subsequent decision making requirements.

+ Working with vendors to identify and implement actions to improve the working relationship and overall partnership

+ Managing vendor operational contract enquiries, issues, disputes and variations; and undertaking negotiations with vendors as required.

+ Leading contract review meetings to ensure delivery against objectives and agreed budgets, develop regular reports on contract milestones and performance, and provide visibility to key stakeholders of activities and progress.

+ Providing informed advice in relation to contracts interpretation, management, service level and quality assessment, benchmarking and dispute resolution.

**Vendor Reporting**

+ Monitoring and reporting on vendor performance (both at a vendor level and portfolio level) - including performance against SLAs, pricing and payment, capability and quality and compliance to contractual terms and conditions

+ Providing key stakeholders with regular performance reports, which include analysis of drivers for both strong and underperforming areas

+ Ensuring contracts are assessed against criteria such as complexity, value, and risk, to identify those contracts/vendors that should be considered critical and require active management

+ Maintaining/ enhancing tools used for vendor management

**Who are you?**

+ Well-developed interpersonal skills, with a track record in building and maintaining strong vendor partnerships

+ Strong commercial acumen with experience in managing and negotiating vendor contracts

+ The ability to analyse complex situations and determine a path forward that responds to the needs of multiple parties

+ Excellent written, numerical and verbal skills to communicate with vendors, senior management and internal customers

+ Experience working with internal groups to understand business requirements, implementing new processes, and contributing to ongoing process improvements

+ Demonstrated ability to utilise Excel and/or Google Sheets to analyse data, producing insights and actionable reports that can guide business decision making

**News Benefits**

News Benefits is our way of saying thank you to our people for their valued contribution to News, our audiences, clients and communities. Thanking them for the great things they do daily, for the greater good of Australia. Our benefits include:
+ **Exclusively ours** - Access to publications and products from across the News Corp family

+ **Health & wellbeing** - Advice, support and facilities for healthy minds and bodies (including an onsite gym at our Adelaide, Brisbane & Sydney offices)

+ **Time off** - News offers a range of leave options to support your personal needs and moments that matter in life: Parental leave, Birthday leave, Volunteer leave, Career break and Compassionate leave.

+ **Helping you grow** - Development opportunities (including diversity and inclusion - focused education series) and recognition

+ **Financial wellbeing** - Support on making the most of your money

+ **Perks & discounts** - Exclusive offers across a range of products and services

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