Vendor Management Specialist

**Overview**

The Vendor Management Specialist is responsible for identifying and procure third-party suppliers of assets and services to enable Technology and Data Solutions roadmap, partnering across all Syneos Health disciplines (Procurement, Legal, Data Privacy, etc.). Ensures activities are carried out in accordance with global policies, industry regulations and customers’ expectations.

**Responsibilities**

**Identify and procure third-party suppliers of assets and services to enable TDS roadmap**
- Proactively identify new suppliers to enable the evolving TDS product map and introduce them to the relevant TDS teams
- Acts as a primary point of contact for the Vendor during the onboarding process, liaises with relevant stakeholders to respond to questions relating to the requirements and ensures completion of requests to time and quality
- Contributes to contract negotiations and the development and execution of Vendor contracts. Critically reviews Vendor budgets and agreements to ensure Vendor obligations, commercial and contractual terms are met
- Develop and maintain a detailed library of suppliers’ offerings (meeting notes, features, capabilities, data dictionaries); familiarize TDS teams with up-to-date offerings through periodic updates
- Partner with cross-functional Syneos Health teams (legal, IT, Data Quality, Privacy, etc.) for synergies of tech stack and architecture and work towards securing organizational approvals and funding.
- Partner with other relevant Syneos entities to manage vendor RFP, selection, and contracting
- Completes tasks required to support end users with the selection, onboarding, oversight and offboarding of Vendors/Vendor services used in support of TDS
- Develops knowledge and builds proficiency to support the continual evaluation of Vendor usage, spend and strategic fit.
- May support evaluation of risks and opportunities, and provide recommendations for sourcing strategies, Vendor usage and status changes to leadership.
- Builds understanding of current and emerging industry trends and identifies scientific benefits, improved efficiencies, cost savings, and alignment with strategic goals
- Provides regular and timely status updates to customers regarding the progress of their requests and Vendor onboarding activities. Ensures accurate tracking and documentation of the end-to-end process

**Increase value to TDS of contracted products and services**
- Facilitate suppliers’ onboarding and education of TDS users; manage user access
- Create and maintain a library of user manuals and usage guidelines
- Facilitate development of new features relevant to TDS by the contracted partners
- Develop and maintain a scorecard of each partners’ contribution to the organization’s business success
- Contributes to regular quality metrics trend analyses, and supports customers and stakeholders with the resolution of quality issues and closure of corrective and preventive actions relating to clinical Vendors as required
- Assists with collection of periodic metrics on the status of the Vendor Management services
- May participate in Sponsor, internal, or agency audits and inspections as required
- Contributes to the definition and documentation of the Vendor Management lifecycle and ensures compliance with industry requirements and expectations

**Manage effective integration of suppliers’ offerings into TDS production**
- Solicit and negotiate supplier proposals for purchases based on provided specifications; maintain records of received proposals
- Manage accurate completion of third-party agreements and other paperwork required for integrating third-party supplier data into client projects
- Facilitate supplier contracting process with Syneos Legal, Finance, Data Governance, BT and other stakeholders
- Develop and provide TDS teams with clear, documented guidelines on third-party data implementation and usage
- Develop and maintain a library of Syneos guidelines and processes relevant to TDS business activities (data privacy, BT, legal, procurement, etc)
- Contributes to the development and implementation of training to support end users with their understanding of the Vendor Management lifecycle
- May train and mentor other Vendor Management team members
- Tracks the progress of each new Vendor/Vendor service going through the onboarding process, follows-up with Vendors and stakeholders as required. Identifies and resolves issues affecting completion of services to time and quality (e.g. non-responsive Vendors or stakeholders, incomplete information etc.). Communicates and requests assistance with issue resolution as required

**Job Requirements**
- BA/BS preferred in the sciences, information technology or related disciplines in the natural science/health care field or equivalent combination of education and experience
- Minimum of 3 years of vendor management experience
- Strong analytical, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills
- Excellent communication sk