Manager, Data Vendor Management

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan • Toronto, ON

1d • CA$105,000 - CA$155,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Manager, Data Vendor Management, will function as the 3rd Party Data Product Owner, accountable for the end-to-end lifecycle, performance and value realization of third-party data products. Treating data as a product, the Manager defines the product vision and roadmap, understands customer needs, prioritizes demand, enables delivery and adoption, and measures product outcomes. The role also leads data sourcing, commercial negotiations, contract lifecycle management, vendor relationships, budget stewardship, and risk management. Working across the organization, including Investments, Technology, Legal, Procurement, Finance and Risk Teams, the Manager ensures that data products are trusted, fit for purpose, cost-effective, scalable and aligned with organizational priorities.

Requirements

• University degree in business, finance, economics, computer science, data management or related discipline, or equivalent experience.
• Strong commercial and contract acumen, including negotiation of data licensing, pricing, usage rights, service levels and risk provisions.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation and negotiation skills, with the ability to translate complex data & contractual matters for technical & non-technical audiences.
• 5+ years of manager level experience in market data vendor management, data sourcing, contract management, product ownership, or a related field
• Demonstrated experience managing complex third-party data products in financial services, investments or another data-intensive environment (i.e. regulatory, etc.)

Responsibilities

• Own the vision, strategy, roadmap and lifecycle for assigned third-party data products, from discovery and sourcing through to onboarding, operation, enhancement, renewal and retirement.
• Act as the accountable product owner and primary point of contact for vendors, business stakeholders, data consumers, technology partners and corporate partners.
• Develop a deep understanding of customer goals, workflows and data consumption patterns; identify unmet needs, pain points and opportunities to create measurable business value.
• Define clear product outcomes, service expectations and success measures, which may include adoption, data quality, availability, timeliness, user satisfaction, cost efficiency, and risk.
• Maintain and prioritize the product backlog, balancing business value, contractual constraints, regulatory obligations, technical dependencies, risk and available capacity.
• Translate business needs and vendor capabilities into product requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria and release priorities; validate that delivered outcomes are fit for purpose.
• Establish feedback loops with consumers and continuously improve product usability, documentation, service performance, and adoption.
• Lead discovery and market scans to identify data sources and services that address business priorities and strengthen data capabilities.
• Evaluate vendors and data products across business fit, coverage, methodology, quality, delivery model, operating resilience, licensing, integration effort, risk and total cost of ownership.
• Develop business cases and recommendations that clearly articulate options, benefits, trade-offs, implementation considerations and expected value.
• Monitor industry, technology and data-market trends; proactively share relevant insights and identify emerging opportunities.
• Provide consultative guidance on data categories, vendor offerings, permitted use, and effective adoption.
• Build strong relationships with business clients in the Investments Division to understand their data requirements, how data will be used to support the investment activities and identify any potential gaps.
• Develop and maintain an effective and productive relationship with data vendors focused on delivering value while minimizing risk through organizational/process alignment, SLA management, and performance management.
• Maintain complete, accurate records of contracts, entitlements, products, users, costs, renewal dates, obligations, vendor contacts and key decisions.
• Build strategic vendor relationships and conduct regular business reviews to assess service, product roadmap, innovation, issue resolution, risk and value delivery.
• Plan renewals sufficiently in advance to preserve negotiating leverage, complete required governance, and avoid service disruption.
• Lead and support budget planning, forecasting, invoice validation and allocations, accruals and financial reporting for the assigned data portfolio.
• Monitor spending, commitments, utilization and variances; provide transparent reporting and timely recommendations to business and finance partners.
• Optimize total cost of ownership through demand management, entitlement rationalization, consolidation, pricing benchmarks, usage analysis and commercial negotiation.
• Ensure data products comply with licensing restrictions, contractual obligations, internal policies, privacy, security, records-management and third-party risk requirements.
• Partner with data governance & technology teams to define and monitor product-level controls for data quality, lineage, metadata, access, availability and timeliness
• Establish data performance metrics.
• Educate users on permitted uses, restrictions and responsibilities; coordinate vendor audits and remediate identified compliance gaps.
• Identify, assess and communicate product, vendor, contractual, operational and concentration risks; maintain appropriate mitigation and contingency plans.
• Ensure material incidents and data-quality issues are triaged, communicated, resolved, and followed by sustainable corrective action.
• Build trusted partnerships across business, investments, data, technology, legal, procurement, finance, risk and operations.
• Lead cross-functional working groups and delivery teams through influence, clear priorities, timely decisions and disciplined follow-through.
• Communicate product roadmaps, decisions, risks, dependencies, performance and financial position to senior stakeholders in concise, decision-ready language.
• Support organizational change, onboarding and adoption through communications, documentation, training and stakeholder engagement.
• Contribute subject-matter expertise to enterprise data strategy, operating-model and process-improvement initiatives.

Benefits

• Pay-for-performance with base salary and annual incentive based on individual and enterprise performance.
• Numerous opportunities for professional growth and development
• Comprehensive employer paid benefits coverage
• Retirement income through a defined benefit pension plan
• The opportunity to invest back into the fund through our Deferred Incentive Program
• A flexible work environment combining in office collaboration and remote working
• Competitive time off
• Our Flexible Travel Program gives you the option to work abroad in another region/country for up to a month each year
• Employee discount programs including Edvantage and Perkopolis

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: Associate degree