Cisco Careers

VSMO Vendor Manager

What You'll Do
Experienced vendor management or procurement professional, responsible for leading (ITIL Supplier Management) projects negotiations and statements of work while identifying opportunities to optimize services by implementing best practices and policies.

You will be part of a dedicated team of professionals at CX Vendor Strategy & Management Office who have the overall responsibilities for running the entire lifecycle for Statement of Work for CX Centers teams. In this role, you will handle Cisco's relationship with vendors who supply contractor resources. Through strong procurement leadership, negotiation, communication and influencing skills, you will build trust and confidence with vendors, while foster Cisco's business objectives. In this role, you will:

Financial Management

•        Ensure “Value for Money” from all managed SOWs

•        Renewals / New services: Build budget based on forecasts, capacity planning, lifecycle and performance metrics

•        Track variables that drive the financials (case volumes, headcounts, PID revenues etc) 

•        Raise POs in appropriate tools, and follow up on timely approvals

•        Manage accruals for all owned POs

•        Reconciliation and approval of monthly invoices

•        Close owned POs in the system once accrued for and fully invoiced.

•        Drive optimization/ cost saving opportunities

•        Contribute to the strategy to ensure the CPSP is at least 85% in region

Supplier & SLA Management

•        Build, develop, run, and maintain relationship with assigned vendor(s)

•        Ensure 100% of assigned vendors activity flows through the VSMO organization

•        Contributes to Strategic planning in line with evolving needs of the business.

•        Contribute to the strategy for new CX vendors in alignment to preferred supplier program.

•        Management of deliverables associated with any Agile projects for assigned vendors

•        Contribute to short/long term operations roadmap

•        Manage vendors to ensure all SLAs & KPIs are met

•        Initiate improvement plans with vendors where necessary

•        Manage and run supplier performance reviews

Risk Management

•        Participate in negotiations and drafting of contractual documents / SOWs governing the business relationship with assigned vendors in alignment with Legal and Procurement teams

•        Track and maintain contractual agreements / SOWs to ensure timely reviews/ renewals

•        Ensure vendors meet/exceed contractual obligations

•        Maintain knowledge of current IT trends, vendor capabilities and changes within the technology landscape for traditional and emerging solutions

Operational Excellence

•        Review quarterly capacity with stakeholders

•        Partner Engagement Portal (PEP) Process Management: Submitting budget Request, PCOGS submission (Incremental/New, Renewals, Change Requests, Backfills)

•        Contribute to the vendor consolidation strategy

•        Initiate vendor engagement assessments via PEP tool

•        Work with vendors and business units to arrange interviews with candidates

•        Ensure budget exists for incremental requirements and work with Delivery, Ops and FA for approvals

•        Coordinate with assigned vendors for capacity and/or incremental needs

•        Communicate readiness and timelines to stakeholders where appropriate.

•        Identify areas for Continuous Improvement opportunities

•        Drive and track innovation and automation initiatives.

Who You'll Work With
You will work closely with key Internal customers and external vendors to understand contractor staffing needs and partner with stakeholders to ensure Cisco is getting the best value for its spend. You will also work with other teams within CX Vendor Strategy & Management Office to gain and report key metrics that help drive positive changes and continue to provide exceptional service to Cisco customers.

Who You Are
You are motivated, supportive, collaborative, dedicated, organized and accountable. You have your eyes on the ball at all times, know when to flag risks and embrace opportunities. You are keenly passionate about achieving results and do not miss deadlines.

Minimum Qualifications

• Batchelor’s Degree or equivalent work experience
• Minimum 3 years’ experience in a Vendor Management role
• Track record in holding vendors accountable to contractual commitments

Desired Skills

• Strong vendor relationship cultivation and development skills
• Ability to build strong internal & external relationships with key stakeholders across multiple business units
• Ability to be creative and innovative in finding solutions and negotiating strategies
• Experience in working with procurement tools like Field Glass, Ariba etc
• Proficient in Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint
• Detail-oriented
• Ability to perform multiple tasks
• Excellent interpersonal skills