Associate Program Manager

What the Candidate Will Do

1. Vendor Procurement: Lead end‑to‑end RFP processes, vendor short‑listing, commercial negotiations, and contract drafting. Craft and manage Service‑Level Agreements (SLAs) that balance cost, risk, and performance. Establish KPIs, run quarterly business reviews, and publish vendor scorecards. Analyze spend and performance data to surface cost‑saving and value‑creation opportunities.
2. Vendor Compliance and Risk: Ensure adherence to contractual, legal, regulatory, and information‑security requirements. Proactively identify, assess, and mitigate vendor‑related risks; maintain risk registers and contingency plans.
3. Relationship Management: Build and nurture long‑term, win‑win relationships with technology and service vendors. Serve as the single point of contact for all vendor‑related communications and escalations. Lead rapid‑response cross‑functional task forces to resolve vendor disputes, service failures, or delivery risks.
4. Process Improvement and Strategic Planning: Map, measure, and streamline procurement and onboarding workflows using Lean / Six Sigma techniques. Partner with Finance, Legal, IT, and Business teams to align vendor strategy with company OKRs.
5. Data and Reporting: Build dashboards (Excel, SQL, Power BI, or similar) to visualize spend, SLA adherence, and risk posture. Present insights and recommendations to leadership to guide strategic decisions.
6. Stakeholder Management: Influence leaders and functional heads; communicate program status, risks, and ROI in clear, executive‑ready formats.

What the Candidate Will Need

1. Minimum of 3 years experience as a program manager in a tech and/or start up environment and managing scaled operations, technology vendors, RFPs, contract negotiations, or large‑scale procurement programs. Education in Business, Engineering, Supply‑Chain, or related field.
2. Proven record of securing favorable commercial terms and driving total‑cost‑of‑ownership savings. Intermediate knowledge of Data Analytics (e.g., SQL, Google Data Analytics, Tableau, Power BI).
3. Familiarity with e‑procurement / P2P suites (Coupa, Ariba, etc.), contract‑lifecycle tools and platforms.
4. Working knowledge of current market dynamics, emerging tech vendors, and pricing trends in SaaS and infrastructure. Exposure to global, multi‑vendor ecosystems (on‑shore, near‑shore, off‑shore).
5. Hands‑on experience running process‑improvement and risk‑mitigation initiatives.
6. Exceptional verbal/written skills with outstanding emotional intelligence and the ability to build trust, influence and empower people across a variety of job functions through your relationships and resolve conflicts across cultures and time‑zones.