Vendor Management Lead

HHMI is focused on supporting and moving science forward in a variety of different ways ranging from conducting basic biomedical research, empowering educators, inspiring students, developing the next generation of scientists – even stretching into film and media production.  Our Headquarters is in the greater Washington, DC metro area and is home to over 300 employees with expertise in investments, communications, digital production, biomedical sciences, and everything in between.  The work housed here supports and augments the groundbreaking research conducted in HHMI labs across the nation.  As HHMI scientists continue to push boundaries in laboratories and classrooms, you can be sure that your contributions while working here are making a difference.

This is a role for someone who reads a vendor contract and immediately spots where the leverage sits, and who is comfortable being the person who says no on HHMI's behalf. You are HHMI's advocate with its vendors: in choosing them, in negotiating with them, and in holding them to what they promised.

You will sit in Finance and report to the Director, Procurement, but the vendors you cover span the Institute (from benefits providers to enterprise SaaS vendors). Whichever department owns the day to day relationship, you own whether the vendor is actually delivering.

The job is advocacy and accountability, not account coordination. You help HHMI pick the right vendor in the first place. You negotiate contract terms and renewals to HHMI's advantage, build the service level agreements and terms that define what good looks like for us, and run the compliance reviews that catch it when a vendor falls short. When something breaks, you are the point of escalation, and you drive it to resolution instead of passing it along.

You will work closely with Procurement, the Office of General Counsel, and HHMI's other department leads, and with staff across the Institute who manage these vendors day-to-day. You will report regularly to the executive team, through the COO, on how our vendors are performing. None of the people you work with day-to-day report to you, so getting to the right outcome depends on how well you make your case.

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• Direct experience negotiating or managing benefits contracts or software and IT agreements.

• Exposure to other enterprise service providers, such as cloud platforms, HR or HCM systems, or benefits administration platforms.

• A contract filing job. You are negotiating and enforcing terms, not just tracking renewal dates and storing signed agreements.

• A role for someone who avoids friction. Part of the job is telling a vendor, plainly, that they are not meeting the bar, and staying in that conversation until it is fixed.

This role is based at HHMI Headquarters and reports to the Director, Procurement. It is an individual contributor position with no supervisory or budgetary responsibility. HHMI is looking for five to seven years of experience in vendor management, supplier relationship management, or contract administration, and a bachelor's degree or equivalent experience. #LI-BG1

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