Manager of Vendor Relations

PPLSI•Denver, CO

37d•Onsite

About The Position

LegalShield (PPLSI) is a pioneering provider of subscription-based legal and identity theft protection plans to individuals, families, and businesses in North America. Operating through two brands — LegalShield and IDShield — the company serves 1.8 million active members through a network of nearly 40 law firms across the US and Canada. Founded in 1972, LegalShield is dedicated to the belief that everyone deserves a secure life and equal treatment under the law. Backed by Stone Point Capital, the company is investing in growth, technology modernization, and operational excellence. We are seeking a Manager of Vendor Relations to establish and lead a centralized vendor management discipline across the organization. Reporting directly to the CFO, you will be the company's senior authority on third-party relationships — building the governance, performance, contract, spend, and risk frameworks that ensure the company gets maximum value, accountability, and resilience from its vendor portfolio. This is a newly created role, and it is intentionally broad. The company has the building blocks of vendor activity spread across functions today, but no single owner for the discipline. You will define what "world-class vendor management" means here — setting the operating model, prioritizing where to focus first, and shaping the function as it matures. Much of the role's design is deliberately left to the person who takes it: we are looking for a builder who can bring structure to ambiguity, earn cross-functional trust, and stand up a program from the ground up. This is a hands-on leadership role in a PE-backed environment where precision, speed, and disciplined cost management are expected. You will start lean — with at least one direct report — and be expected to make the case for the team, tools, and processes the function needs as it scales. Scope & Accountability The Manager of Vendor Management is the single point of accountability for the discipline of managing the company's third-party vendor and supplier relationships. The role spans the full vendor lifecycle: selection and onboarding, contracting and commercial terms, performance and relationship management, spend and cost optimization, risk and compliance, and offboarding. As a new function, the initial scope and priorities will be shaped by the incumbent in partnership with the CFO. You will begin by building visibility — a clear inventory of the company's vendors, contracts, spend, and obligations — and then establish the governance and operating cadences that bring consistency to how the organization engages and manages its vendors. Over time, you will define vendor tiering, standardize performance expectations, and create the playbooks that allow the discipline to scale across business units. You will manage at least one direct report from the outset and are expected to grow and develop the team as the function's mandate expands. You will work as a connector across Finance, Legal, IT/Security, Procurement, and the business units that own day-to-day vendor relationships — providing the structure, leverage, and accountability that individual owners cannot achieve on their own.

Requirements

8+ years of progressive experience in vendor management, procurement, strategic sourcing, contract management, or a closely related discipline, including time in a leadership or program-ownership role.
Demonstrated experience building or significantly maturing a function, program, or process — comfort operating in ambiguity and creating structure where little exists.
Proven track record managing strategic vendor or supplier relationships — negotiating commercial terms, holding vendors accountable on performance and cost, and resolving escalations.
Strong commercial and analytical skills; ability to analyze spend, model savings, and build a fact base that supports negotiation and decision-making.
Excellent cross-functional influence — able to earn trust and drive alignment across Finance, Legal, IT, and business stakeholders without direct authority.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present clearly to senior leadership.
Comfort operating in a PE-backed environment with a bias for precision, speed, and disciplined cost management.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's degree in business, finance, supply chain, or a related field; MBA or relevant certification (e.g., CPSM, CIPS) a plus.
Experience standing up a vendor management or procurement function from the ground up.
Familiarity with contract lifecycle management (CLM) or vendor/supplier management technology platforms.
Experience with third-party risk management, particularly involving data security and privacy.
Background in a subscription, membership, services, or technology-driven business.
Experience managing and developing a small team.

Responsibilities

Design and stand up the company's vendor management operating model — governance structure, policies, roles and responsibilities, and decision rights — from the ground up.
Build and maintain a centralized inventory of vendors, contracts, spend, renewal dates, and key obligations across the enterprise.
Establish a vendor segmentation / tiering framework that focuses governance and attention on the most strategic, highest-spend, and highest-risk relationships.
Define and document standardized processes for vendor intake, onboarding, review, and offboarding.
Set the cadence and forum for vendor governance — periodic business reviews, escalation paths, and reporting to leadership.
Define performance expectations, service levels (SLAs), and key metrics for strategic vendors; track and report against them.
Own the relationship with strategic vendors end-to-end — conducting business reviews, managing issues and escalations, and driving continuous improvement.
Serve as the central point of accountability when vendor performance falls short, coordinating remediation and, where necessary, transition or replacement.
Build constructive, long-term partnerships with key vendors that create value beyond the contract.
Partner with Legal to manage the contract lifecycle — supporting negotiation of commercial terms, renewals, amendments, and terminations.
Maintain visibility into contract terms, renewal and notice dates, auto-renewals, and key obligations to prevent surprises and unfavorable lock-ins.
Negotiate, or support negotiation of, pricing, service levels, and terms that protect the company's interests and reflect its scale.
Establish standard contracting templates and commercial playbooks in coordination with Legal and Finance.
Build visibility into third-party spend; identify opportunities to consolidate vendors, eliminate redundancy, and rationalize the portfolio.
Drive cost savings and value through negotiation, competitive sourcing, and disciplined demand management.
Partner with Finance and FP&A on vendor spend budgeting, forecasting, and savings tracking.
Challenge spend where deliverables don't justify cost, and hold vendors accountable for the value they deliver.
Establish a vendor risk management framework covering financial, operational, security, privacy, regulatory, and reputational risk.
Partner with IT/Security, Privacy, and Legal to assess and monitor third-party risk, particularly for vendors handling sensitive or member data.
Ensure vendors meet the company's compliance, data protection, and business continuity requirements throughout the relationship.
Maintain documentation and audit readiness for vendor due diligence and ongoing monitoring.
Support business units in sourcing and selecting new vendors — defining requirements, running competitive evaluations (RFx), and structuring selection decisions.
Bring market awareness of alternative providers to ensure the company has access to best-in-class options and is not over-reliant on any single vendor.
Standardize the evaluation and approval process for new vendor engagements.
Lead, mentor, and develop the vendor management team, beginning with at least one direct report and building the team as the function scales.
Make the case for the people, tools, and technology (e.g., contract lifecycle management or vendor management platforms) needed to support the discipline.
Identify and implement automation and process improvements that increase visibility, reduce manual effort, and improve cycle time.
Develop standardized workpapers, playbooks, and documentation that support institutional knowledge and continuity.