Vendor Relationship Manager

Job Description

The Vendor Relationship Manager serves as the liaison between Service Operations and external vendors to meet departmental performance objectives through the establishment and maintenance of sustained relationships, processes, expectations and alignment between segments, service operations and vendor partners for call centers.

• Prepare, lead, and monitor weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, and ad-hoc meetings with vendor, segment and service operations leaders to ensure vendor and internal teams are aligned on strategic direction, workforce planning, consistent collaboration between managers, performance expectations are met, and strategies are being developed to improve performance.
• Develop process and performance improvement plans in collaboration with vendors and partner with assigned vendor managers to ensure plans are appropriately implemented and communicated to vendor teams through development of execution plans, partnering on rollout, measuring success or gaps through performance analysis, remote management as well as site visits, and ensuring effective and mutually respectful interactions between the business and vendor.
• Maintain alignment with other BCBSM Vendor Relationship Managers to ensure a consistent and integrated approach with all our vendor partners, leveraging lessons learned, successes and assessing effectiveness to ensure continuous improvement and adjustments based on business needs.
• Establish and maintain alignment between all BCBSM / BCN Call Center managers and Service Operations leadership on the strategic direction of vendor relationships that impact the lines of business.

Provide updates on process changes and solicit feedback on opportunities to improve, propose solutions and provide guidance to ensure effective and mutually respectful interactions between the business and vendor.

• Effectively coach, mentor, and direct peers, project teams, leaders, and third-party vendor leadership to ensure process effectiveness achievement of contract performance goals utilizing management skills including, but not limited to, relationship and time management, analysis, planning, communication, negotiation, delegation and organizational skills.
• Review vendor performance reports, conduct vendor invoice reviews to reconcile discrepancies and identify issues, propose solutions and escalate issues to senior leadership when necessary.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in related field required.
• Five (5) years of experience in call center or related operations / vendor experience required, with two (2) years of management experience preferred.
• Two (2) years of experience managing project delivery with diverse stakeholders.
• Ability to influence peers and senior leadership on alternative approaches to run the business and new ways of thinking and behaving where no clear reporting relationship exists Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Interfaces effectively with all levels within the organization.
• Demonstrated ability to lead others in roles that have indirect reporting relationships.
• Ability to lead structured problem solving with limited direction in addition to advanced critical thinking skills demonstrated through problem solving for complex business problems.
• Ability to work independently within a team environment.
• Ability to travel up to 10% of time both within and outside of Michigan to vendor sites.

Departmental Preferences

• Knowledge of ISMG processes and systems preferred.
• Knowledge of BCBSM Vendor Management processes preferred.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, among other grounds, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientations, age, gender identity, protected veteran status or status as an individual with a disability.