The Software Asset Management Specialist ensures operational resilience by managing the lifecycle of software licensing, vendor relationships, and procurement coordination across the organization's software portfolio.
This role maintains a comprehensive inventory of software assets, proactively manages renewals and vendor communications, and coordinates licensing operations to ensure continuity of service for engineering and IT teams.
The specialist will maintain accurate licensing records, track vendor contracts and entitlements, retrieve vendor updates when available, and document licensing and operational processes. By managing these operational responsibilities, the role enables engineering and IT teams to remain focused on infrastructure and technical work.
The position will also support operational requests involving access management, licensing entitlements, and application maintenance coordination.
Key Responsibilities
1. Software Licensing & Vendor Operations (Primary)
- Maintain a centralized inventory of all software licenses, subscriptions, and entitlements across the organization's application portfolio.
- Track licensing allocations, usage, and ownership across teams.
- Maintain software asset records within Jira Service Management (JSM) Assets.
- Monitor renewal timelines and initiate renewal processes well in advance of expiration.
- Coordinate with internal procurement or finance teams to ensure timely license renewals.
- Serve as the operational point of contact for software vendors.
- Request, review, and track vendor quotes and renewal proposals.
- Maintain vendor communication records and contact information.
- Review licensing agreements and track key contract terms including:
- true-up provisions
- co-terming of licenses
- maintenance and support entitlements
- subscription renewal structures
- Assist with vendor negotiations where appropriate and help justify licensing expenditures.
- Ensure licensing documentation and operational procedures are maintained in Confluence.
- Assist in identifying unused, redundant, or overlapping licenses to support cost optimization.
Licensing and vendor coordination may involve platforms such as Microsoft, Adobe, Atlassian, Autodesk, National instruments, GitLab, GitHub, Cursor, MathWorks and other enterprise or SaaS vendors.
2. Access & Operational Support (Secondary)
The specialist will assist with operational access management and entitlement changes across the organization's software portfolio.
Responsibilities may include:
- Process access provisioning requests for vendor platforms and SaaS tools.
- Track entitlement changes such as license assignments, seat increases, or feature upgrades.
- Maintain documentation of vendor administrative accounts and access structures.
- Assist with operational requests related to vendor platforms.
- Support application migrations by coordinating licensing or entitlement adjustments.
- Maintain documentation of access policies and entitlement assignments.
Where feasible, the role will support efforts to align and streamline administrative accounts across the organization's software ecosystem (180+ applications).
3. Application Operations & Maintenance Support (Tertiary)
The specialist will support operational coordination related to application maintenance and lifecycle management.
Responsibilities may include:
- Monitor vendor portals for new software releases, security updates, and maintenance notifications.
- Retrieve software updates and patches when available and ensure they are accessible to engineering teams.
- Support engineering teams with application upgrades and maintenance.
- Track application version updates and maintenance coverage.
- Support documentation of maintenance procedures and update histories.
- Assist with tracking post-deployment validation activities where appropriate.
This role supports operational coordination and documentation but does not replace engineering ownership of system administration or infrastructure management.
Documentation & Systems
The role is responsible for maintaining accurate operational records and documentation.
Primary systems include:
- Jira Service Management (JSM) Assets for software inventory and asset relationships
- Confluence for operational documentation
- Vendor licensing portals and contract documentation
- Internal ticketing and procurement systems
Maintaining accurate documentation within these systems is a core responsibility of the role.
Success in this role includes:
- Complete and accurate inventory of all software licenses and subscriptions.
- No unexpected license expirations or service interruptions.
- Vendor renewals initiated proactively ahead of expiration dates.
- Vendor communications handled without requiring engineering involvement.
- Licensing, contract, and operational documentation maintained and easily accessible.
- Administrative access and entitlement ownership clearly documented.
Required Qualifications
- Experience managing software licenses, vendor coordination, or procurement operations.
- Strong organizational skills with the ability to track multiple contracts, vendors, and renewal timelines.
- Experience communicating with vendors and coordinating quotes or renewals.
- Strong documentation and record-keeping skills.
- High attention to detail and operational discipline.
- Strong written English communication.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with software application management, and license management.
- Experience working with Jira Service Management, asset management systems, or ITSM platforms.
- Familiarity with SaaS licensing models including per-user, subscription, and consumption licensing.
- Experience reviewing software licensing agreements and supporting vendor negotiations.
Work Structure
Typical workload distribution:
- 40% license lifecycle and vendor coordination
- 30% access and entitlement management
- 20% procurement coordination and renewals
- 10% maintenance coordination and documentation
Typical Education and Experience
- Bachelors Degree (or equivalent experience) in Information System, Computer Science or Information Technology with 3+ years of related experience.
