IT Vendor Manager

Position Purpose:

Vendor Management is responsible for delivery of third-party services under contract which maintain IT assets in the store, logistic, and corporate locations. As a Vendor Manager you will be expected to cultivate relationships with internal business and IT peer organizations, understand business needs, produce a set of requirements and expectations, identify an effective service provider / solution, produce a statement of work, negotiate service contracts, create and maintain accurate expense budgets, manage and maintain services and run rates to meet the ongoing Day 2 requirements of the business. A Staff level associate is expected to have a deeper knowledge of associated processes, mature communication skills enabling interactions with all levels of the business, proper levels of situational awareness, ability to mentor junior level associates, manage daily and project related workloads with minimal supervision, produce a quality work product that is accurate, concise, and ready for review with minimal adjustment.

Key Responsibilities:

Relationship Management:
• Effectively develop and grow relationships to enable and maintain support of IT Assets and Services
• IT: Device Engineering, Technology Deployment, Project Management, Device Repair, Technology Support Center, etc. to support technology introductions, deployments, maintenance, and management efforts
• Business: Store, logistics, and corporate peer groups to develop support requirements as required to meet business needs
• Procurement: To facilitate negotiations of appropriate contract terms, conditions, and services compliant with Home Depot standards
• Legal: To ensure Home Depot agreements meet legal requirements set by the Home Depot
• Security: To ensure systems and services meet security requirements set by the Home Depot

Contract Management
• Proficient in contract negotiations and RFP / RFI process.
• Ability to work with Procurement, the business, and other teams to capture and represent requirements in a contractual agreement
• Ensure services are contracted to provide optimal service, efficiency, and value (cost favorability while meeting the needs of the business are met)
• Ensure key contractual conditions are included and maintained in Home Depot's best interest
• Ensure tracking and timely renewal of agreements for assigned partners / all contracts are maintained in an effective and timely manner
• Ensure current copies of contracts including amendments / SOWS / Attachments are in a common repository / readily available - update and maintain audit sheets for ease of tracking

Vendor & Service Delivery Management
• Manage assigned partners and services - maintains and nurtures relationships
• Have a working knowledge of contracted vendor responsibilities and services being provided to Home Depot
• Proactively manage SLAs / vendor performance to ensure service levels are being met (this includes all services being performed by the vendor that are in scope to maintain devices supported - PMs, etc.)
• Ensure inventory (Vendor and Home Depot maintained) are managed and maintained to expected service levels
• Procurement, Inventory, and Replenishment Management: Effectively manage Home Depot and third party's ability to maintain inventories to ensure proper support and avoid out of stock / delayed service events.
• Update tracking / audit list of devices supported, performance, and financial tools on a regular cadence (monthly at a minimum)
• Handle Escalations of assigned services – have processes and procedures defined and documented
• Engages vendors as needed to resolve or proactively remediate issues;
• Ensure coverage of assigned areas
• Assist with project and refresh efforts to ensure proper and timely implementations (as related to in-scope responsibilities)
• Escalate issues in a timely and appropriate manner
• Maintain Vendor Scorecards to trend performance - ensure input from stakeholders
• Service Improvement: Perform regular ticket analysis to identify trends - work to reduce expense (T&M), associate distraction, LOE (level of effort), and gain efficiencies
• Roadmap: Provide a strategic roadmap for services and devices supported – inclusive of leveraging available funds to achieve business value / obtain maximum service availability
• Be available / reachable post business hours to support escalations to ensure the business is being served
• Update system processes and ensure System Maintenance and Updates are applied and kept up to date
• Provide Quarterly roadmaps of SMART goals to derive optimal value and efficiencies
• Holiday and DR - ensure readiness for holidays, DR, seasonal events, etc. in support of the Business

Reporting & Vendor Performance Management
• Knowledge of required best practices and metrics to effectively manage services contracted
• Reporting: Ensure reporting is provided for assigned services / service delivery to effectively manage and convey value / service delivery to the business
• Data Analysis: Perform analysis in support of third-party service delivery to acceptable levels (all functions), ability to review data for accuracy
• Ensure vendors are providing metrics and other data in a timely fashion
• Provide weekly reports in a timely manner – updates written in executive ready format - status items plus summary of activities
• Provide performance reports for areas / vendors you are accountable for
• Assist with creating / have the ability to create strategic views of key metrics to show the business value derived from services supported
• Ensure dashboards are maintained to convey value and service level performance

Financial Management
• Financial Management: Ability to develop and maintain accurate budgets, effectively process invoices – perform audit, and reconciliation functions in a timely manner
• Forecast and maintain budgets within a 5% variance – quarterly / annually
• Complete fiscal year budget creation activities in a timely manner including timely updates to monthly invoice and population tracking models
• Ensure invoice and billing processes are maintained and received in a timely manner, are accurate and managed to forecasted budget – measured on a monthly basis (examples: Prebill and invoice approvals)
• Identify and proactively manage seasonal and recurring events
• Obtain and provide accurate and up-to-date quotes, etc.
• Update budget / expenditure tracking sheets in an accurate and timely manner
• Reconcile and ensure forecast / actuals are in line with Finance

Soft Skills:
• Organization
• Organize data, work, and processes to gain efficiencies and timely delivery of responsibilities / services.
• Organization: Maintain proper levels of structured process and data to effectively, efficiently, and accurately manage assigned responsibilities; be able to use those elements to respond to business needs in a timely manner
• Building Relationships: Ability to collaborate with internal (peers/teams) and external partners to achieve the best outcome
• Communication:
• Ability to present written, oral, and visual content appropriately, effectively, and concisely at all levels, including effectively creating and presenting presentations and standard templates
• Ability to collaborate effectively, share concepts and ideas to move work efforts forward
• Acts as a role model for maintaining relationships with site leadership
• Identifies process and systems improvements that drive quality within the team
• Self Awareness: Cognizant of audience, pertinent and appropriate content, and interactions (concise delivery)
• Self Starter / Driven: Doing the right thing, motivated to handle assigned areas of responsibilities
• Follow-Through: Be accountable from start to finish (do not reverse delegate or delegate to others), provide timely delivery of assigned tasks - committed to deliverables
• Document: - Ability to document processes, requirements, cadence, person responsible, etc. as required
• Knowledge of Areas Assigned: Products, Role, Contracts, Business, IT, Security Requirements, etc.
• Leading Without Authority: Being able to influence actions of others for the betterment of Home Depot / Service overall.
• Development
• Ability to maintain recommended and required training plans
• Ability to identify and own training plan to further career development and service responsibilities assigned
• Mentoring
• Guides the communication of troubleshooting approaches and methods across IT functions; serves as a resource for more junior team members on how to approach or complete this task
• Sets standards in Vendor Management responsibilities and service and relates best practices to more junior team members on how to approach or complete these tasks
• Produces and updates content for training

Direct Manager/Direct Reports:
• Typically reports to the Product Support Manager or Sr. Manager.

Travel Requirements:
• Typically requires overnight travel less than 10% of the time.

Physical Requirements:
• Most of the time is spent sitting in a comfortable position and there is frequent opportunity to move about. On rare occasions there may be a need to move or lift light articles.

Working Conditions:
• Located in a comfortable indoor area. Any unpleasant conditions would be infrequent and not objectionable.

Minimum Qualifications:
• Must be eighteen years of age or older.
• Must be legally permitted to work in the United States.
• Must be legally permitted to work in the United States

Preferred Qualifications:
• 3-6 years of relevant work experience
• Expertise in managing third parties, contracts, finance, and inventory management
• Proficient in maintaining best practices of maintaining IT equipment and related services
• Proficient in Microsoft Office standard applications
• Expertise in developing and enhancing knowledge database and team training documentation
• Expertise in mentoring more junior team members
• Expertise in setting high standards through action
• Proficient in analyzing trends and determining and applying necessary process or standard operating procedure changes to optimize efficiency and effectiveness
• Proficient in selecting and engaging vendors, and establishing, nurturing, and maintaining vendor relationships

Minimum Education:
• The knowledge, skills and abilities typically acquired through the completion of a bachelor's degree program or equivalent degree in a field of study related to the job.

Preferred Education:
• No additional education

Minimum Years of Work Experience:
• 3

Preferred Years of Work Experience:
• No additional years of experience

Minimum Leadership Experience:
• None

Preferred Leadership Experience:
• None

Certifications:
• None

Competencies:
• Being Resilient: Rebounding from setbacks and adversity when facing difficult situations
• Collaborates: Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives
• Communicates Effectively: Developing and delivering multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences
• Customer Focus: Building strong customer relationships and delivering customer-centric solutions
• Decision Quality: Making good and timely decisions that keep the organization moving forward
• Interpersonal Savvy: Relating openly and comfortably with diverse groups of people
• Manages Conflict: Handling conflict situations effectively, with a minimum of noise
• Optimizes Work Processes: Knowing the most effective and efficient processes to get things done, with a focus on continuous improvement
• Resourcefulness: Securing and deploying resources effectively and efficiently
• Situational Adaptability: Adapting approach and demeanor in real time to match the shifting demands of different situations

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