Senior Program Manager, Vendor Strategy

Microsoft's Intake and Change Management owns priorities of vendor delivery for Operations.  This includes the assessment and implementation of large projects that deliver high value and lower risk to Microsoft.

The Senior Program Manager, Vendor Strategy will be responsible for developing and executing vendor strategy that supports Microsoft Business Operations (MBO) vendor operations. This role will drive new engagements with Procurement through RFx (Request for X - i.e. Request for Proposal [RFP], Request for Information [RFI]) and other functions, such as Legal and Tax to ensure compliance to local regulatory requirements.

This role's key focus areas include:

• Develop and maintain strategic vendor relationships
• Analyze vendor performance and identify areas for improvement
• Large scale outsourcing Contract Design; Negotiate contracts and manage vendor agreements
• Global Business Services (GBS) transformation, especially in leveraging AI (artificial intelligence) to drive radical simplifications
• Monitor market trends and assess the impact on vendor strategies
• Meticulous in designing work back plan, and drive proactive engagements with stakeholders
• Provide strategic input to leaders regarding vendor selection and management

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

Responsibilities

Business Program Planning and Design

• Performs program landscape research and analysis (e.g., internal and/or external market, sales, delivery), forecasting, and examines business trends (e.g., customer feedback and expectations) to identify audience size and program scope. Stays current, agile, dynamic, and contributes to programs impacting the broader unit. Demonstrates thought leadership in contributing to overall business goals, objectives, and strategies, as well as short- and long-term business priorities. Understands and identifies current program risks, impact, and develops mitigation plans impacting the broader unit.
• Identifies and scopes opportunities to develop new programs and improve current ones impacting the broader unit. Leads the identification and resolution of root problems (e.g., root-cause analysis) and the definition of the program strategy. Gathers program requirements, identifies resource needs, creates the project plan and targets, and works across teams to align on the plan of record. Improves the operations of existing programs by applying industry methodology, defining highly complex program issues, assessing various scenarios, and selecting the optimal scenario to resolve issues. Drives clarity in highly complex program issues and strives for simplification.
• Leads others who work with cross-functional (e.g., organizational, product, business) stakeholders (e.g., Engineering) to design highly complex programs from initiation to delivery, independently. Provides proficiency to produce collateral (e.g., proposals, strategy walking deck, internal and external pitch content) to incorporate stakeholder needs and ensure the business objectives are met.
• Leads the defining and tracking of success criteria and performance metrics (e.g., Objectives and Key Results [OKRs] and Key Performance Indicators [KPIs]), such as quality, adoption, usage, impact, and effectiveness for the program.

Business Program Excellence and Execution

• Shares sound practices to define and execute on landing and communication plans, such as the target audience(s) and communication strategy. Leads the rhythm of business (ROB) during plan execution to ensure participants and stakeholders are communicating and responding according to the necessary cadence. Leads others to work across teams (e.g., Landing, Design, Engineering, Supply Chain, Finance, Technical Program Management) to ensure all program requirements are understood and can be met.
• Shares knowledge to evangelize highly complex programs to stakeholders, partners, and customers to gain buy in. Leverages data and performance metrics (e.g., OKRs and KPIs) to demonstrate the value of the program and show business impact. Leads others to adapt communication style and storytelling strategy according to audience and business needs.

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