Manager, Technology Vendor Management (Chicago/Hybrid)
Description
Work. Serve. Thrive.
Imagine a place where your talent can make a meaningful difference in peoples' lives. Working at Feeding America is a uniquely rewarding experience in which our employees work together as vital parts of a much larger mission. We are innovative, mission-focused, diverse, collaborative, values-driven and focused on results.
Feeding America is the nation’s largest charity and the leading domestic hunger-relief charity in the United States. Our mission is to feed America's hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks and engage our country in the fight to end hunger.
This is a hybrid position based out of Feeding America’s Chicago office location. At Feeding America, we believe in offering a flexible work environment. Employees can be in the office an average of 2 days a week (when not travelling for work) and work from home on other days. Employees also have access to a 30-day “work anywhere” program during the course of each calendar year that can be combined with PTO and/or holidays.
Learn more about Feeding America here.
The Opportunity
The Manager, Technology Vendor Management will build and lead Feeding America's technology vendor management function, shaping how we engage, govern, and maximize value from a growing portfolio of strategic technology partners. This role serves as a key connector between Technology, Finance, Legal, Procurement, and business leaders, ensuring vendor relationships support Feeding America's mission, technology strategy, and operational priorities. The incumbent will establish scalable vendor management practices, drive negotiations and performance accountability, improve visibility into technology investments, and help the organization make smarter sourcing and partnership decisions. Beyond contract management, this role will influence technology strategy by identifying opportunities to improve vendor performance, reduce risk, optimize spend, strengthen service delivery, and create long-term value across the enterprise and network.
Compensation
Here at Feeding America national organization, equality is central to our mission and is an integral part of our compensation policies and structures. As such, we maintain transparent salary ranges and clearly defined practices for how our team, including new hire salary offers, moves through these ranges. You can expect us to offer the best salary up front based on these clearly defined pay practices with little room for negotiation. We make exceptions for highly experienced (multiple years of at-level experience) new hires in accordance with our pay practices. Once hired, employees have the opportunity to progress through salary ranges via regular merit increases and step promotions.
Salary Range: $111,000 - $116,000 Based on Experience.
Salary Range: $111,000 - $116,000 Based on Experience.
Benefits: A comprehensive list of benefits available to full-time employees can be found here.
Responsibilities:
- Cultivates and manages productive relationships with key and strategic technology vendors to support service delivery, accountability, innovation, and long-term partnership value.
- Serves as a primary relationship point for strategic vendors, facilitating regular business reviews, performance discussions, escalation management, and alignment on organizational priorities.
- Evaluates vendor relationship health by monitoring responsiveness, service quality, partnership effectiveness, risk indicators, and ability to meet evolving business and technology needs.
- Defines strategies for vendor partnerships, including strategic, operational, tactical, and commodity vendor relationships.
- Manages the vendor engagement lifecycle, including sourcing, selection, contract negotiation, onboarding, governance, termination, and billing.
- Defines, implements, and manages core vendor governance processes, including scorecarding, risk management, performance reporting, and performance improvement.
- Reports quarterly to the Technology Leadership Team on the status, performance, risks, and value of key and strategic supplier relationships.
- Creates and incorporates contract amendments, including renegotiated terms and scope changes.
- Proactively identifies sourcing synergies across business entities and executes value opportunities.
- Works with Technology leadership and business partners to understand, define, and prioritize vendor and technology requirements.
- Builds and maintains institutional knowledge of vendor collaboration practices, governance expectations, relationship history, and lessons learned.
- Monitors the financial viability and management stability of key vendors.
- Monitors and analyzes spending trends to recommend future actions and identify savings opportunities.
- Assists business partners with the development of business cases and return on investment calculations for new technology investment initiatives.
- Provides training and coaching to business partners on vendor management practices.
- Analyzes problem areas and helps resolve vendor-related issues, escalations, and disputes.
Required Competencies, Experience and Certifications:
- 8+ years of technology experience, including at least 5 years of direct vendor management, operations management, or vendor oversight experience.
- Proven ability to lead vendor management practices across sourcing, Request for x (RFx) processes, contract negotiation, onboarding, governance, performance management, and issue resolution.
- Strong understanding of the technology services landscape, including technology architecture and planning, technical requirements, development methodologies, outsourcing models, service offerings, pricing, and delivery structures.
- Experience with financial management, spend analysis, business case development, return on investment calculations, and identification of savings or value opportunities.
- Demonstrated ability to create, modify, and improve processes, procedures, reporting, and governance practices.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, attention-to-detail, and decision-making skills.
- Strong stakeholder partnership skills, including the ability to communicate clearly, mentor others, and work collaboratively with Technology, business, Finance, Procurement, Legal, and vendor partners.
Preferred Competencies, Experience, and Certifications:
- Software engineering, system administration, or related technical background.
- Experience developing technical documentation, use cases, road maps, or vendor performance reporting.
- Experience scoping, scheduling, and managing technology projects.
- Fosters an Enterprise Mindset
- Fosters an Open and Supportive Environment
- Leads with Accountability
- Collaborates Internally and Externally
- Focuses on People and Teams
- Manages Organization and Business Complexity
- Communicates with Impact and Influence
Feeding America’s goal is to attract, develop, retain, and promote a talented diverse workforce where all employees feel a sense of belonging and contribute to a culture that values differences, ideas, and experiences. We intentionally seek out diverse perspectives and skills on our teams, knowing that it makes us stronger as an organization and better equipped to serve our neighbors in need. We encourage all individuals, including those from historically under-represented communities and individuals with lived experience of hunger, to apply.
Feeding America participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. If E-Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, this employer is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before the employer can take any action against you, including terminating your employment. Employers can only use E-Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the Form I-9.