Sr. Vendor Mgr. 2, Technology Partner Mgmt - Seattle, WA (Hybrid)

Job Description

The Technology Partner Management team’s mission is to drive lifetime value in relationships with third party technology suppliers and vendor partners. We work with suppliers to ensure successful and cost-effective delivery of products and services key to the delivery of Nordstrom technology strategy, products, and capabilities.   

The responsibility of the Sr. Vendor Manager 2 (Sr. VM2) is to build, maintain and enhance relationships with strategic (high-value and high-dependency) infrastructure technology vendor partners and internal stakeholders. This senior-level individual contributor serves as liaison to the technology business and a facilitator for contract lifecycle and partner management activities. The Sr. VM2 is responsible for managing numerous vendor relationships simultaneously, ensuring technology and business requirements align to specifications and priorities, and leading arbitration and negotiation. They act as a trusted advisor to our technology leaders and a mentor and consultant for junior peers. The Sr. VM2 works with vendors to ensure their successful partnership with Nordstrom technology organization and is accountable for developing and maturing vendor partner relationships.  

A day in the life… 

• Serve as a subject matter expert (SME) in managing vendor relationships for IaaS, cloud, hardware, and software, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and best practices. 

• Mentor and develop junior staff, promoting best practices, policies, and procedures in vendor management, and fostering team growth. 

• Collaborate with technical leaders and business teams to assess infrastructure needs, evaluate vendor solutions, and implement scalable, efficient operations. 

• Monitor and analyze vendor spend, ensuring alignment with budgetary goals and providing insights to leadership on financial performance. 

• Utilize data analytics to monitor vendor performance, drive continuous improvement, and provide insights that influence leadership decisions. 

• Facilitate cross-functional meetings and partnerships, ensuring effective communication and alignment between vendors and internal teams. 

• Lead efforts to implement industry best practices, optimizing vendor management processes and driving operational excellence. 

  You own this if you have… 

• 8+ years of combined experience in IT specializing in third party vendor and contract management of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), cloud technology (AWS, Google), and infrastructure hardware and enterprise software  

• Experience managing large-scale strategic vendor relationships and contracts, deploying supplier performance management mechanisms, and establishing health assessment frameworks including performance analysis ensuring optimal value from vendors. 

• Demonstrated success managing relationships with internal stakeholders and senior leaders  

• Success managing vendor escalations, drive resolution of performa