Company Description

Our Mission
At Palo Alto Networks® everything starts and ends with our mission: 
Being the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life. 

We have the vision of a world where each day is safer and more secure than the one before. These aren’t easy goals to accomplish – but we’re not here for easy. We’re here for better. We are a company built on the foundation of challenging and disrupting the way things are done, and we’re looking for innovators who are as committed to shaping the future of cybersecurity as we are.
 
Disruption is at the core of our technology and on our way of work to meet the needs of our employees now and in the future through FLEXWORK, our approach to how we work. We’re changing the nature of work from benefits to learning, location to leadership, we’ve rethought and recreated every aspect of the employee experience at Palo Alto Networks. And because it FLEXes around each individual employee based on their individual choices, employees are empowered to push boundaries and help us all evolve, together.

Job Description

Your Career

The Global Professional Services Resource Management Organization “RMO” is responsible for capacity planning and assigning the right people to the right projects at the right time. As a Senior Vendor Manager, you’ll play a key role in centralizing our third-party vendor management program. In this role, you will define critical success factors and performance management protocols to measure and analyze partner performance to help the organization reduce costs and mitigate risk. You will bring your experience and collaborate with cross-functional team members and leaders across the globe to ensure standard operating procedures are documented, accessible, and curated. 

You will partner with delivery teams and cross-functional stakeholders ( Contingent Workforce Program, Sourcing, Legal, Talent Acquisition, and Finance) to ensure internal policies and objectives are being cared for. You will understand the strategies of our business and the impact of emerging technology, market shifts, and workforce changes to secure appropriate third-party labor and establish a process to ensure the right mix of third parties is leveraged to drive the financial objectives of the organization. You will guide the organization through change as it pertains to third parties. The Senior Vendor Manager will ensure that all options to deliver work internally have been fully considered prior to the onboarding of any Third Party engagement. The ideal candidate has strong business judgment with a track record of successful negotiations.

Responsibilities:

• Establish the strategy, processes, and rules of engagement for outsourcing project/service work and engaging subcontracted resources.

• Establish and/or approve internal and external policies, standards, and processes for vendor interaction.

• Oversee a vendor management process, including service agreements, scorecards, financial targets, and compliance monitoring of vendors.

• Collaborate cross-functionally with teams (e.g., Operations, Finance, Legal, Contingent Workforce Program, Sourcing, Talent Acquisition, etc.) to ensure coordination and alignment on key initiatives.

• Ensure business partners are educated on program, process, service, and delivery expectations

• Support the execution of projects that accomplish key objectives which may include savings, operational improvement, supplier consolidation or diversification, risk management, or improving spend visibility.

• Lead the maintenance/improvement of tools for use in vendor management, including vendor tracking, analytics, and performance management tools (scorecards and dashboards). Provide thought leadership on the creation of impactful and measurable KPIs.

• Centralizes rate negotiation, contracting, invoicing, and dispute and issue resolution management.

• Onboarding and Management of Subcontractor vendors for Professional Services.

• Assists in the request for proposal/vendor selection process.

• Asses service capabilities, capacity, and financial impact of potential vendor agreements.

• Assist with drafting frontline and executive-level communications summarizing business strategy and progress against business priorities

• Creates and maintains subcontractor onboarding/enablement documents.

• Meets regularly with vendors and internal staff to address any variances, shortfalls, or delays from performance targets and develops contingency plans to get back on track.

• Makes recommendations to leadership on policies, practices, and workflows relating to categories and the vendor management process.

• Identifies opportunities for workflow improvement as they relate to the vendor management process and implements improvements by engaging stakeholders and vendors

• Manages and resolves vended services, quality and compliance issues; complaints, and concerns, in a timely manner.

• Assist in the creation of regular and ad hoc reports 

• Helps to maintain the Skills Matrix in the Professional Services Automation system; adding or removing skills as the business evolves

• Conduct research to identify alternate staffing solutions and/or, alternate processes for improvement

• Conducts Interlock Meetings with subcontracting companies

• Partner with PS Leadership to establish a framework to provide periodic updates on process cadence and address potential compliance issues

• Comfortable with ambiguity and translating operational challenges into structured problem statements that cascade to operational plans.

Qualifications

Requirements

• BS or Business bachelor’s degree or 7+ years of experience in Vendor Operations Management, Extended Workforce Strategy, and/or Contingent Workforce.

• Ability to work independently with minimal guidance. 

• Ability to make assessment and judgment calls quickly and accurately.

• Demonstrated ability to prioritize based on the organization's targets.

• Experience managing change across different organizational functions/boundaries.

• Experience with legal agreements

• Experience with vendor management, extended workforce, and compliance

• Experience using data to influence business decisions.

• Exceptional communication and analytical skills

• Strong presentation, verbal skills, listening, and influencing skills

• Experience working with a contingent workforce program

• Advanced Google Sheet / Excel skills (vlookup, pivot tables, formulas, etc.)

• Ability to embrace, pivot, and shift focus based on changing priorities and/or the business environment and champion innovative ideas

• Professionalism, positivity, and strong work ethic with a high level of integrity and teamwork

• RMCP certification or willingness to obtain RMCP certification within six months of hire

• Requires managing the process worldwide, so must be willing to work outside normal local work hours on occasion

Additional Information

Our Commitment

We’re trailblazers that dream big, take risks, and challenge cybersecurity’s status quo. It’s simple: we can’t accomplish our mission without diverse teams innovating, together.

Palo Alto Networks is evolving and changing the nature of work to meet the needs of our employees now and in the future through FLEXWORK, our approach to how we work. From benefits to learning, location to leadership, we’ve rethought and recreated every aspect of the employee experience at Palo Alto Networks. And because it FLEXes around each individual employee based on their individual choices, employees are empowered to push boundaries and help us all evolve, together.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all qualified individuals with a disability. If you require assistance or accommodation due to a disability or special need, please contact us at [email protected].

Palo Alto Networks is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity in our workplace, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or other legally protected characteristics.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Covid-19 Vaccination Information for Palo Alto Networks Jobs

• Vaccine requirements and disclosure obligations vary by country.
• Unless applicable law requires otherwise, you must be vaccinated for COVID or qualify for a reasonable accommodation if:
  • The job requires accessing a company worksite
  • The job requires in-person customer contact and the customer has implemented such requirements
  • You choose to access a Palo Alto Networks worksite
• If you have questions about the vaccine requirements of this particular position based on your location or job requirements, please inquire with the recruiter.