IT Vendor Management and Contracts Lead

Rockwell Automation is a global technology leader focused on helping the world’s manufacturers be more productive, sustainable, and agile. With more than 28,000 employees who make the world better every day, we know we have something special. Behind our customers - amazing companies that help feed the world, provide life-saving medicine on a global scale, and focus on clean water and green mobility - our people are energized problem solvers that take pride in how the work we do changes the world for the better.

We welcome all makers, forward thinkers, and problem solvers who are looking for a place to do their best work. And if that’s you we would love to have you join us!

Job Description The IT Vendor Management and Contracts Lead will establish and lead an enterprise capability responsible for maximizing the value and performance of strategic technology vendor relationships. You will develop the IT Vendor Management strategy and operating model. The leader will establish and receive executive-level agreement of governance and performance standards. The leader will lead strategic vendor reviews and escalations.

The leader will align partners across multiple departments, including IT and non-IT partners, Procurement, Finance, Legal, Enterprise Architecture, Cybersecurity, Risk, and IT Asset Management.

We are looking for commercial judgment, technology experience, and leadership. You will manage vendors holistically across contracts, costs, performance, relationships, risk, and outcomes while serving as a necessary intermediary among our organization, technology vendors, and company partners.

You will report to the Director of IT Business Operations and Results Delivery Office and is a hybrid position based in either Milwaukee, WI or Cleveland, OH office location.

Your Responsibilities:

Develop and implement the IT Vendor Management strategy, charter, operating model, governance framework, and performance standards.

Establish vendor segmentation based on business criticality, relationship potential, spend, risk, performance, and strategic relevance.

Develop vendor strategies aligned with IT, business-unit, and enterprise technology roadmaps.

Lead executive business reviews, strategic vendor reviews, commercial reviews, performance reviews, and escalation meetings.

Partner with IT Strategic Sourcing on sourcing strategies, negotiations with strategic vendors of spending threshold, renewals, pricing, statements of work, service levels, and contract changes.

Establish the IT vendor contract-governance process. Operate it to ensure new agreements, renewals, statements of work, and material contract changes are assessed against CIO-approved Vendor Contract Standards and applicable Design Authority requirements before approval.

Ensure that software, SaaS, cloud, managed-service, technology-service, and developer agreements receive a documented assessment of conformity. This assessment should also document deviations from Design Authority principles and detailed design. You/applicant/employee must document, review, escalate, and approve material deviations through the appropriate governance process.

Establish controls, reporting, and evidence demonstrating compliance with Vendor Contract Standards, including contract-clause adoption, Design Authority assessments, approved deviations or exceptions, remediation actions, and upcoming renewals.

The Essentials

- You Will Have:

Bachelor's Degree or equivalent relevant experience

Legal authorization to work in the U.S. We will not sponsor individuals for employment visas, now or in the future, for this job opening.

The Preferred
- You Might Also Have:

Bachelor's degree in business, supply chain, finance, information technology, engineering, or a related field.

Typic…