IT Vendor Manager #59884

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) is wholly focused on ensuring that great ideas are turned into reality. With seven million users, it's not surprising that 100% of Fortune 100 firms are Autodesk customers. For the eleventh consecutive year, Autodesk clients have won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Autodesk is the world's leading software and services company for the manufacturing, infrastructure, building, media and entertainment, and wireless data services fields. Autodesk's solutions help customers create, manage, and share their digital assets more effectively. As a result, customers turn ideas into competitive advantage by becoming more productive, streamlining project efficiency, and maximizing profits.
Founded in 1982, Autodesk is headquartered in San Rafael, California. For additional information about Autodesk, please visit http://www.autodesk.com.

Title: IT Vendor Manager #59884
Location: San Rafael, CA

General Summary
This position will support the IT department as a single point of contact for a subset of our tier 1 vendors. The role will act as the principal liaison between the vendor and internal groups including Development, Operational Managers, Service Managers and Project Management. The Vendor Manager is responsible for ensuring that the vendor partner provides contracted activities, measures performance against operational SLA and coordinates vendor activity to meet current and future operational requirements and project needs.

This position reports to the director of IT Sourcing and Vendor Management, a newly-established organization within IT. In addition to the specific vendor management function, this position is expected to contribute to the maturity of the overall function. This includes creating and refining processes, tools and templates that can be applied to a broader set of vendors.

Operational Responsibilities
Measure vendor performance against contract SLAs and expectations. Initiate corrective actions in the event of missed expectations.
Coordinate change requests as well as the forecast for licensing and support needs
Coordinate, maintain, and test appropriate business continuity plans with vendor(s)
Coordinate life cycle management activities between Vendor & IT Functional Manager (such as point software and application upgrades)
Perform a regular operations meeting comprised of operational and vendor teams. The meeting agenda will include reviewing data for service levels, Incident management, application performance and status of service requests, dependent on nature of vendor and its services to IT.
Coordinate compliance activities, audits and other corporate onsite activities
Work with Functional Manager(s) and Vendor Partner to update/change service level agreements as needs change

Contract Responsibilities
Establish and maintain a service level agreement (SLA) with vendor which clearly defines services provided, realistic expected levels of service, and methods of measurement of those service levels.
Support the processing of new contract changes, renewals and terminations for vendor partner.
Partner with Procurement and requesting IT Manager to write statements of work (SOW) for new projects.
Keep contract up to date and reflective of Autodesk needs. Drive contract and new service requests and supports Procurement with any contract related amendments.
Review and approve vendor invoices. Ensure performance-related credits as reported from finance team are realized.
Continually seek and implement opportunities for cost reduction.

Relationship Responsibilities
In conjunction with management, develop and maintain effective relationships with the vendor partner with a goal to increase the flexibility and productivity of the vendor, reduce the risks and costs of the vendor, and ensure that the vendor partner and staff clearly understand the need for the services provided.
Lead the Quarterly Management Review (QMR) with vendor and internal senior management.

Requirements
Minimum of 8+ years of experience within Information Technology industry
Minimum of 5 years experience of managing vendors and related contracts
Minimum of 2 years experience of negotiating vendor contracts
Bachelor's Degree required
Strong technical knowledge of IT applications, licensing scenarios and support models
Excellent organization and analytical skills
Proven ability to work in collaboration with external service providers, building and developing effective service provider relationships
Excellent interpersonal skills with a proven ability to communicate at various levels within the organization and with external parties
Ability to establish and document processes, guidelines and policies
Ability to prioritize and work on multiple tasks delivering high quality results

Desired Knowledge Skills
Post-graduate degree or equivalent experience preferred; finance experience a plus
SAP and Siebel experience a plus
Experience in a global and high-growth organization

Autodesk provides one of the most exceptional compensation and benefit packages, including stock options for all employees, 401k matching, six week sabbatical after four years of employment, domestic partner policy, on going employee training and development, flexible work hours and more!

If you are an extraordinary person who strives for excellence, please apply at http://www.autodesk.com/careers - Job #59884. Autodesk is proud to be an equal opportunity employer that is committed to a diverse workforce.
REQUIREMENTS
Please see job description.