Vendor Engagement & Reliability, Sr. Manager

Salesforce•Chicago, NY

14h

About The Position

About Salesforce Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, where humans with agents drive customer success together. Here, ambition meets action. Tech meets trust. And innovation isn’t a buzzword — it’s a way of life. The world of work as we know it is changing and we're looking for Trailblazers who are passionate about bettering business and the world through AI, driving innovation, and keeping Salesforce's core values at the heart of it all. Ready to level-up your career at the company leading workforce transformation in the agentic era? You’re in the right place! Agentforce is the future of AI, and you are the future of Salesforce. Applications will be accepted until 03/13/2026. Team Overview The Vendor Engagement & Reliability (VER) team is a centralized function within Digital Enterprise Technology (DET) that ensures external technology and service partners deliver reliable, secure, and value-aligned outcomes. VER serves as DET’s strategic sourcing and vendor partnership capability—balancing commercial discipline, operational reliability, and long-term partnership value. Role Summary The Senior Manager, Vendor Engagement & Reliability leads DET’s vendor engagement strategy and operating model. This role defines how vendors are selected, contracted, governed, and optimized, ensuring reliability, cost transparency, risk mitigation, and value realization across DET’s vendor ecosystem. Operating as a senior leader and trusted advisor, this role partners with Engineering, Product, Finance, Legal, Enterprise Sourcing, Security, and Operations to align vendor performance with DET’s business priorities and technology roadmap. This role owns execution of portfolio-level vendor decisions, including rationalization, consolidation, and exit strategies aligned to DET priorities.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
10+ years in vendor management, sourcing, technology operations, or related fields
Strong commercial negotiation, contract management, and vendor governance expertise
Proven ability to influence senior business and technology leaders

Nice To Haves

Experience in SaaS, cloud, or large-scale enterprise environments
Familiarity with FinOps and consumption-based pricing models
Experience partnering with Legal, Finance, Security, and Enterprise Sourcing teams

Responsibilities

Define standards, governance, and performance expectations for the VER organization
Own the end-to-end vendor engagement lifecycle, from assessment and onboarding through performance management and off-boarding
Establish scalable frameworks for vendor reliability, accountability, and partnership management
Oversee vendor assessments, RFPs/RFQs, competitive analysis, and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) evaluations
Lead complex commercial negotiations, ensuring contracts include clear SLAs, KPIs, and accountability
Serve as a trusted advisor to DET leaders in vendor selection and strategic partnership decisions
Lead executive business reviews and resolve vendor escalations
Monitor vendor performance, incident trends, and delivery quality
Identify and mitigate systemic vendor, operational, and delivery risks
Enforce compliance with DET policies, security standards, and governance frameworks
Drive financial visibility and accountability across vendor and cloud spend
Partner with Finance, Product, and Engineering to forecast, track, and optimize costs
Establish unit economics and negotiate improved commercial models
Deliver regular reporting on vendor performance, spend, optimization opportunities, and savings
Monitor vendor performance, incident trends, and delivery quality
Identify and mitigate systemic vendor, operational, and delivery risks
Enforce compliance with DET policies, security standards, and governance frameworks
Drive financial visibility and accountability across vendor and cloud spend
Partner with Finance, Product, and Engineering to forecast, track, and optimize costs
Establish unit economics and negotiate improved commercial models
Deliver regular reporting on vendor performance, spend, optimization opportunities, and savings