Vendor Relationship Manager
Description
The Position
Do you dream about creating a more sustainable future? At Uplight, we are motivating energy users and providers to accelerate the clean energy ecosystem. Working with over 90 of the world’s leading electric and gas utilities, Uplight provides an end-to-end customer energy experience. Uplight delivers personalized experiences that customers have now come to expect–improving satisfaction, increasing revenue, reducing the cost to serve, and contributing to carbon reduction goals. We are B Corp certified, enabling us to put our values into action by not only making decisions for the benefit of our shareholders, but also for our customers, environment, employees, and community.
We are seeking a Vendor Relationship Manager to join our team and help us achieve our ambitious goals for our business and the planet.
What you will contribute:
What you will contribute:
- You are driven to be precise and have a proven ability to work independently and effectively across a dynamic, fast-paced organization
- You have experience and expertise in vendor management, including the negotiation of vendor agreements, preferably in the energy/utility industry
- You are a committed, detail-oriented, thoughtful individual and bring operational excellence and a creative approach to your work
- You are equally adept at working individually and collaboratively as part of a team, and are not afraid to push back to get the best terms that you can negotiate
- You perform well under pressure and with tight time commitments
What you get to do:
- Responsible for the overall management of vendor contracts, ensuring vendors are performing to established SLAs, processing vendor contracts/quotes, and overall reporting of vendor performance/quality
- Review, redline, and process vendor agreements and order forms according to established company policies and processes
- Negotiate favorable pricing/rates with vendors to maximize cost saving opportunities
- Confirm vendor compliance with all audit requirements and applicable regulations
- Maintain system of vendor agreement tracking and workflows
- Utilize existing and identify new vendor reporting/compliance tools and make recommendations to Uplight management
- Support relationship with new vendors according to established guidelines, creating profiles, gathering documentation, coordinating with the internal risk and security team to obtain and review SOC1/SOC-2 reports as required, and communicating with vendor as necessary
- Assess vendor performance to ensure industry audit, compliance, regulatory requirements and applicable state and federal law requirements are maintained
- Act as liaison between vendor and Uplight teams, provide customer support as needed to vendors, maintain positive relationship with vendors
- Apply vendor governance best practices and the implementation of practical, company-wide vendor management processes and policies
- Engage as part of the Legal team, supporting other incoming legal work and processes as necessary or appropriate (ie, reviewing and negotating NDAs)
What you bring to Uplight:
- A minimum of two years of experience with complete responsibility for vendor management
- Knowledge of and experience with vendor requirements related to software or cloud service provider contracts
- Experience with SOC-1 and/or SOC-2 audit processes
- Excellent vendor negotiation skills and ability to clearly and concisely communicate
- Commitment to maintaining a high standard of confidentiality and ability to work with highly sensitive data and information
- Exceptional communications skills to effectively deal with various levels of customers, colleagues, management, and business partners
- Ability to work efficiently across multiple product platforms and tools (MS Office, Google suite, GRC tools, Slack, etc.)
- Experience working with tools like Ironclad and Vendr
- Ability to multitask and to quickly pivot to evolving priorities
- Demonstrated organizational, detail orientation, prioritization skills, and time management skills to ensure that work-related activities are completed in an accurate and timely manner
Bonus Points:
- Experience working for or with utility companies or related energy companies
- Experience working with vendor management governance risk and controls tools and portals
- Certified Third-Party Risk Management qualifications in vendor management preferred
Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women, marginalized genders and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Uplight we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.
What makes working at Uplight amazing:
We are:
- Proud to be over 500+ purpose-driven individuals helping to create a more sustainable planet.
- Committed to the environment, our employees, and our communities.
- Focused on providing cross-functional work, collaboration, and development.
- Committed to taking our work and mission seriously and….we love to laugh!
We also provide:
- 401k Match
- Medical, vision, and dental insurance
- Monthly wellness stipend
- Peer to peer recognition program
- Management by objectives bonus plan
- Innovative flexible time off policy
- Exceptionally collaborative and cool office spaces
- We offer 8 weeks of paid parental leave, with an extra 2 weeks of full-pay part-time work for a smoother transition for parents.
Salary Range: $55,000 to $70,000
Application Deadline: May 3, 2024
In accordance with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, the approximate annual base compensation range is listed above. The actual offer, reflecting the total compensation package and benefits, will be determined by a number of factors including the applicant's experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity among our team.
Uplight provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race (including hair texture and hairstyles), color, religion (including head coverings), age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.