Director, Vendor Management

Director, Vendor Performance Management

LU Service Corp. Litchfield Park, AZ, US, 85340 Londonderry, NH, US, 03053 Pine Bluff, AR, US, 71601 South Lake Tahoe, CA, US, 96150 Manchester, NH, US, 03101 Bryson, TX, US, 76427 Tyler, TX, US, 75703 Downey, CA, US, 90241 Tahoe Vista, CA, US, 96148 Gainesville, GA, US, 30501 Merrick, NY, US, 11566 Fall River, MA, US, 02724 Jackson, MO, US,  Joplin, MO, US, 64801 Goodyear, AZ, US, 85395 Our purpose is sustaining energy and water for life, and it is demonstrated in everything we do as a business, and as an employee team.

At Liberty, we hire passionate people who care about doing the right thing for our customers. We are entrepreneurial, creative, and outcome-focused. Here, your natural talent and achievements will flourish in an inclusive environment of teamwork, trust and continuous learning. We are always pursuing excellence to exceed our ambitions goals, rewarding both the goal outcome and how we achieve it.

Purpose The Director, Vendor Management & Strategic Technology Partnerships is responsible for leading Liberty Utilities' enterprise IT vendor governance function across managed services providers, strategic technology suppliers, software partners, cloud providers, and outsourced service relationships. This role reports to the Vice President, IT Operations and establishes and matures a world-class supplier governance and service integration capability that ensures technology partners deliver measurable business outcomes aligned to operational reliability, customer experience, cybersecurity, regulatory expectations, and financial performance.

The Director partners closely with IT Operations, IT Business Partners, Enterprise Architecture, Cybersecurity, Finance, Procurement, Legal, and business leadership to drive accountability, operational excellence, service quality, cost optimization, and continuous improvement across the vendor ecosystem, while managing operational risk, resolving escalations, and aligning vendor contributions with business priorities.

Accountabilities Lead enterprise governance for strategic IT vendors, managed service providers, and major cloud, SaaS, and platform partners across infrastructure, application, and security services Establish and own executive governance frameworks and operating rhythms, including Daily Operational Reviews (DOR), Weekly Operational Reviews (WOR), Monthly Service Reviews (MSR), and Quarterly Business Reviews (Q ) Develop and maintain vendor scorecards, SLA/KPI reporting, risk dashboards, and executive-level service performance reporting that align with IT leadership's guidance Drive vendor accountability for service delivery, operational stability, cybersecurity, resiliency, and customer-impacting outcomes Partner with IT Operations and Service Management teams to ensure service levels align to business priorities and operational commitments, defining and monitoring SLAs, OLAs, XLAs, service credits, and penalties Ensure vendor reporting accurately reflects customer and business experience, not just technical uptime metrics, in coordination with ITSM leads Lead escalation management and root cause accountability for chronic service delivery issues and operational risks, driving continuous improvement commitments Manage vendor financial performance, budgeting alignment, contract compliance, invoicing validation, and cost optimization initiatives Identify opportunities for standardization, automation, tool rationalization, license optimization, cloud cost reduction, and operational efficiency Support enterprise technology sourcing strategies and renewal negotiations in partnership with Procurement, Finance, and Legal Build strategic relationships with key vendor executives and delivery leaders, ensuring technology partners align with Liberty's digital utility strategy, modernization roadmap, and Enterprise Architecture standards Drive innovation initiatives leveraging automation, AI, observability, and operational analytics capabilities Ensure vendors comply with cybersecurity, regulatory, audit, disaster recovery, and operational resiliency requirements, partnering with Cybersecurity and Risk teams to validate controls and remediation plans Establish vendor risk management processes including operational risk reviews, business continuity validation, DR testing

Education and Experience 10+ years of progressive IT leadership experience with strong exposure to vendor management, managed services, infrastructure operations, enterprise applications, or technology operations 5+ years leading strategic vendor governance or MSP relationships in large enterprise environments Experience managing large-scale outsourced technology providers and developing executive-level operational governance and performance reporting Strong understanding of ITIL, service management, SLA governance, and operational support models Experience in regulated industries preferred, especially utilities, energy, or critical infrastructure sectors…