Company Description
Since we opened our doors in 2009, the world of commerce has evolved immensely, and so has Square. After enabling anyone to take payments and never miss a sale, we saw sellers stymied by disparate, outmoded products and tools that wouldn't work together.
So we expanded into software and started building integrated, omnichannel solutions - to help sellers sell online, manage inventory, offer buy now, pay later functionality through Afterpay, book appointments, engage loyal buyers, and hire and pay staff. Across it all, we've embedded financial services tools at the point of sale, so merchants can access a business loan and manage their cash flow in one place. Afterpay furthers our goal to provide omnichannel tools that unlock meaningful value and growth, enabling sellers to capture the next generation shopper, increase order sizes, and compete at a larger scale.
Today, we are a partner to sellers of all sizes - large, enterprise-scale businesses with complex operations, sellers just starting, as well as merchants who began selling with Square and have grown larger over time. As our sellers grow, so do our solutions. There is a massive opportunity in front of us. We're building a significant, meaningful, and lasting business, and we are helping sellers worldwide do the same.
Job Description
The Vendor Relations Lead is responsible for developing, executing, and ensuring the success of our 3PN (Third Party Network) Vendor strategy. You will play a critical part in redefining and managing our current seller onboarding processes. We are seeking someone with expertise in the On-Site 3PN installation realm, coupled with an understanding of networking and hardware infrastructure. You should possess experience managing vendor relationships, implementing oversight programs, handling multifaceted projects involving multiple stakeholders, optimizing processes, and prioritizing seamless customer onboarding experiences.
You Will:

• Collaborate with Sales and our Global Seller Onboarding team to align and execute our onsite install strategy.
• Oversee the day-to-day performance and operations of our 3PN network, including:
  • Develop new workflows aimed at reducing internal and external SLAs.
  • Monitor third-party Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and implementing remediation plans.
  • Provide ongoing insights and project communications in collaboration with the Sales and Onboarding teams.
  • Partner with the Learning & Development team to create Square hardware training programs for the technician network and ensuring vendor adherence to the necessary training.
• Negotiate, renew, and optimize partner contracts. Manage contract terms, oversee renewals, and conduct periodic reviews.
• Establish success metrics within each market based on vendor capabilities and historical performance.
• Be the primary point of contact for vendor performance-related issues, resolving escalations and providing solutions.
• Stay updated with relevant third-party marketplace trends and competition, making recommendations for new or alternative vendors.
• Produce periodic third-party scorecards, share insights with relevant stakeholders, and utilize these to drive optimal business value from third-party relationships.
• Keep senior management informed on all aspects of third-party oversight, including critical issue escalations, vendor performance results, significant cost changes, and essential metrics.
• Facilitate Square's international expansion efforts by managing the RFP process and IT vendor selection, collaborating with GSO to design and implement success metrics tailored to each market.

Qualifications
You Have:

• 4+ years of work experience managing vendor operations in IT related industries
• Understanding of Networking and Hardware infrastructure
• Experience managing BPO operations
• Prior experience managing vendor relationships - including contract negotiation, SLA performance analysis, and relationship management. Experience using quantitative and qualitative data to represent the voice of our Sales team and other internal stakeholders in managing vendor relationships
• Project Management experience
• Analytics and reporting background, with the ability to build scorecards/dashboards
• Ability to travel both domestically and internationally (20% of the year)

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in contact center forecasting, scheduling and capacity planning
• Previous experience launching and implementing new outsourced operations, ideally in a global - offshore location
• Previous work experience developing and implementing process redesigns transitioning from current-state to future-state on a global delivery model
• Experience negotiating complex contracts, preferably with global BPOs and On-site installation IT Vendors with a track record in outsourcing benchmarking and market analyses

Qualifications
You Have:

• 4+ years of work experience managing vendor operations in IT related industries
• Understanding of Networking and Hardware infrastructure
• Experience managing BPO operations
• Prior experience managing vendor relationships - including contract negotiation, SLA performance analysis, and relationship management. Experience using quantitative and qualitative data to represent the voice of our Sales team and other internal stakeholders in managing vendor relationships
• Project Management experience
• Analytics and reporting background, with the ability to build scorecards/dashboards
• Ability to travel both domestically and internationally (20% of the year)

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in contact center forecasting, scheduling and capacity planning
• Previous experience launching and implementing new outsourced operations, ideally in a global - offshore location
• Previous work experience developing and implementing process redesigns transitioning from current-state to future-state on a global delivery model
• Experience negotiating complex contracts, preferably with global BPOs and On-site installation IT Vendors with a track record in outsourcing benchmarking and market analyses