Senior Associate, Technology Investment and Vendor Management at Rainforest Alliance

Position summary:

The Technology department is responsible for the Development, Realization and Implementation of the  strategic Digital Product Roadmap for Rainforest Alliance (including all supporting Technology processes), for all Global Business Initiatives and Assurance programs. “Information Office’’ is one of the four teams under Technology Department.

It’s responsible for planning and leading implementation of leading technology ecosystem that will enable achievement of the 2030 strategy. Ensure alignment of technology investment and initiatives with the business goals, requirements and expectations and ensure optimal utilization of investments in technology and delivery of services by the technology vendors across the organization.

Within the Information Office is the role, Senior Associate, Technology Investment and Vendor Management. This role is responsible for ensuring investment in technology is driven by realistic business case/benefit and vendors engaged to provide technology services and tools are delivering value to RA. You will be expected to work closely with the legal and compliance teams to ensure that technology related contracts are completed as per RA’s policies and procedures. You will be expected to support the entire data and technology function on sourcing of services, solution vendors, suppliers of equipment and consultants. You will also be responsible for review and approval of technology related invoices before forwarding to finance for processing.

Responsibilities: 

• Develop and lead adoption of best practices in technology vendors/suppliers management at Rainforest Alliance
• Participate on contract discussions for technology vendors.
• Lead supplier relationships through the whole lifecycle and actively monitor suppliers’ performances
• Builds strong relationships with suppliers, particularly the strategic suppliers across the organisation to meet requirements of the sourcing strategy
• Ensures fulfilment of results / commitments as per the contract
• Responsible for vendor financial management, including invoice management and supporting budgeting, reconciliation, etc
• Creates and leads a supplier risk approach throughout the whole supplier lifecycle at both individual supplier and supplier portfolio levels
• Ensure every vendor contract is accompanied by relevant Key Performance Indicators and vendors are evaluated against those Key Performance Indicators during contract execution and at the end
• Defines the scope and level of service via Master Service Agreement (MSA) or individual agreement with vendors
• Maintain the relationship with internal legal experts and Compliance
• Monitor and control of contractual changes post-award contract in a measured and transparent way to build trust between parties. Analysis of operational and financial impact of changes.
• Track and handle contractual deliverables (i.e. supplier responsibilities) and obligations (i.e. technology org.’s responsibilities)
• Follow change control procedures for all amendments to contracts and Terms and Conditions
• Conducts regular compliance reviews of contracts
• Lead selection of vendors working with the rest of managers in Data and Technology
• Day-to-day management of suppliers and interaction with prospective vendors
• Maintain close links with the Procurement, Legal, Compliance, Third Party Risk functions
• Management of vendor issues from identification and analysis through to execution. Dispute management is performed when required through defined escalation channels and appropriate governance forums

Qualifications:

• Bachelor degree in technology or business field such as Computer Science, Software Engineering, Business Administration/Commerce/Finance, etc
• At least 5 years experience in technology related services/equipment/solutions, vendor environments
• Experience in contract management processes
• Experience in contract negotiations
• Qualification/knowledge/experience in leading systems development frameworks such as PMP, Agile, Scrum, etc
• Experience in business process analysis and modeling
• Experience in risk management processes
• Experience in software licenses management (reviewing compliance, usage optimization, etc)
• Knowledge/experience in costs management
• Demonstrate ability to think strategically and identify opportunities for improvement