Vendor Management Associate Director

Grant Thornton•Chicago, IL

2d•$136,000 - $220,320

About The Position

Grant Thornton is seeking a Vendor Management Associate Director to join the team. Approved office locations can be found below. Grant Thornton’s Sourcing, Procurement and Vendor Management Team team is looking for an Vendor Manager to ensure that the services and quality of services provided by each critical/key supplier continues to meet and/or exceed the operational and business needs and requirements. As part of the F&A team , the Associate Director Vendor Manager will be accountable for managing the operational processes and service performance management across each critical/key suppliers and the Vendor Management Global Team. The Vendor Manager will also manage the service performance review management process and will conduct regular reviews of service performance reports with GT operations and each critical/key suppliers. Working with the operational, critical/key suppliers and service delivery teams, the Vendor Manager will facilitate the definition and continuous refinement of Service Level metrics and reporting. The Associate Director will lead a team of vendor managers to support the critical/key suppliers. Essential Duties Responsibilities: Accountable process owner of operational processes and governance oversight. Support the implementation and ongoing management of service performance critical/key suppliers governance program processes, capabilities and tools. Propose enhancements to policies and processes to improve services; resolve any gaps in practice when required. Monitor and evidence performance against SLAs and firm governance policies. Regularly communicate with partners and critical/key suppliers to review service delivery. Collaborate with various lines of business stakeholders and operations to continually evolve service delivery and performance; work to improve the maturity level of critical/key suppliers relationships. Collaborate with Security to ensure security policies and controls are enforced with critical/key suppliers. Facilitates the operation review of performance reporting from MSP/key supplier and related functions. Serves as governance liaison between operational teams, various LOB leaders and technology as well as the applicable critical/key suppliers service delivery team for area of responsibility. Facilitates service trend analyses and significant problem and root-cause analyses with each MSP/key suppliers and the service operations and across services and critical/key suppliers, as required. Manages the annual Service Level review process, including the continuous improvement process for Service Level metrics. Provides guidance to service operations for the promotion and demotion of Critical Service Levels and Key Measurements and changes to the Service Level Credit Allocation %. Provides analysis and support of service metric benchmarking, comparison and/or changes. Ensure MBRs and QBR’s are establishes, measuring value to the organization and ensuring action plans where necessary. Supports the business and operational stakeholders in addressing: Ongoing continuous improvement Service performance assessments Service level validation and reporting Performance and operational reporting Support of service metric benchmarking, comparison and/or changes. Identification and resolution of service performance issues related to MSP/key supplier services Support commercial teams with changes to services, new services and performance related contract changes. Review, analyze and evaluate critical/key suppliers Invoices for accuracy, and contractual mandated requirements Provide oversight of MSP (Managed Service Providers) Subcontractor On boarding and Off Boarding process/tools. Service Performance Primary focal point for service performance management across all applicable critical/key suppliers. Governance Tower Lead for Firm Policies & Operational Processes / Service Management (i.e. Incident, Problem, Change, Service Request, Capacity, Release, Monitoring, Availability, etc.) Attends critical/key suppliers operational and management committees and provides input on overall critical/key suppliers service performance. Support Service Knowledge Management Process and manages annual review of critical/key suppliers Policy and Procedures Manuals (PPM). Collaborates with business stakeholders & operational teams to review Operational Incidents and approves critical/key suppliers root cause analysis reports, remediation plans and service improvement plans to ensure compliance to GT Incident and Problem Management Processes. Identifies opportunities for improved service delivery and suggests process improvements.

Requirements

Bachelor Degree in Business, with key focus on communication, contracts and technology or equivalent business experience
Minimum of 8-10 years of experience in working in a technology based MSP/key suppliers outsourcing operating model
5+ years’ experience working with technology and professional services and within a service performance/delivery capacity
5+ years’ experience working within an information technology governance role
Knowledge of best practices in ITIL and managed service governance
Experience in outsourcing/managed services environment is required
Experience in supervising offshore MSP/Key suppliers delivery teams
Ability to work independently as well as in a team environment
Able to collaborate with diverse teams and staff of all levels
Ability to manage multiple priorities
Previous resource management experience

Nice To Haves

ITIL accreditation is highly preferred

Responsibilities

Accountable process owner of operational processes and governance oversight.
Support the implementation and ongoing management of service performance critical/key suppliers governance program processes, capabilities and tools.
Propose enhancements to policies and processes to improve services; resolve any gaps in practice when required.
Monitor and evidence performance against SLAs and firm governance policies.
Regularly communicate with partners and critical/key suppliers to review service delivery.
Collaborate with various lines of business stakeholders and operations to continually evolve service delivery and performance; work to improve the maturity level of critical/key suppliers relationships.
Collaborate with Security to ensure security policies and controls are enforced with critical/key suppliers.
Facilitates the operation review of performance reporting from MSP/key supplier and related functions.
Serves as governance liaison between operational teams, various LOB leaders and technology as well as the applicable critical/key suppliers service delivery team for area of responsibility.
Facilitates service trend analyses and significant problem and root-cause analyses with each MSP/key suppliers and the service operations and across services and critical/key suppliers, as required.
Manages the annual Service Level review process, including the continuous improvement process for Service Level metrics.
Provides guidance to service operations for the promotion and demotion of Critical Service Levels and Key Measurements and changes to the Service Level Credit Allocation %.
Provides analysis and support of service metric benchmarking, comparison and/or changes.
Ensure MBRs and QBR’s are establishes, measuring value to the organization and ensuring action plans where necessary.
Supports the business and operational stakeholders in addressing: Ongoing continuous improvement Service performance assessments Service level validation and reporting Performance and operational reporting Support of service metric benchmarking, comparison and/or changes.
Identification and resolution of service performance issues related to MSP/key supplier services Support commercial teams with changes to services, new services and performance related contract changes.
Review, analyze and evaluate critical/key suppliers Invoices for accuracy, and contractual mandated requirements Provide oversight of MSP (Managed Service Providers) Subcontractor On boarding and Off Boarding process/tools.
Service Performance Primary focal point for service performance management across all applicable critical/key suppliers.
Governance Tower Lead for Firm Policies & Operational Processes / Service Management (i.e. Incident, Problem, Change, Service Request, Capacity, Release, Monitoring, Availability, etc.)
Attends critical/key suppliers operational and management committees and provides input on overall critical/key suppliers service performance.
Support Service Knowledge Management Process and manages annual review of critical/key suppliers Policy and Procedures Manuals (PPM).
Collaborates with business stakeholders & operational teams to review Operational Incidents and approves critical/key suppliers root cause analysis reports, remediation plans and service improvement plans to ensure compliance to GT Incident and Problem Management Processes.
Identifies opportunities for improved service delivery and suggests process improvements.