Vendor Manager

Job Description

In this exciting opportunity you will be responsible for managing all key local technology suppliers within a specific supplier management category within the Running Great Restaurant Technology (RGRT) team.  There are 3 categories: Customer & Restaurant, Back office & Corporate Services, Infrastructure & Office. 

This role is accountable for product roadmaps and backlog management across locally managed suppliers, and for ensuring that value creation and business outcomes align with OKR (Objectives and Key Results) targets and budgets. They will also contribute to, and play a critical role in, enhancing the framework that ensures McDonald’s suppliers deliver robust, resilient and high quality products and services, along with innovative, service-focused solutions that drive continuous improvement and maximise value.

The Vendor Manager will also hold responsibility for the ongoing strategy, governance and business relationship with McDonald’s tier 1 suppliers within each respective supplier category.

What will my accountabilities be?

• Provide leadership within the RGRT team to foster a high-performing culture aligned with the company values
• Provide ongoing coaching and mentoring to members of your team, ensuring that all individuals have strong development plans, a path for career progression and a succession plan.
• Set standards with our partners/suppliers to ensure they are held accountable for delivering excellent service and change management which focus on the health, hygiene and continuous improvement of their products and services​
• For locally managed suppliers, establish product roadmaps and maintain a prioritised backlog which aligns with business OKR’s and budget
•  Works closely with the Contracts and Commercial Team to ensure all contracts and commercials for existing and new service partners have robust controls in place to offer protection around service availability and continuity, cyber security and change management and that these controls are subject to regular review. 
• Work closely with Service Operations to track trends of performance across all live production services.
• Transform supplier relationships, contracts and ongoing governance to adopt models with great outcomes for our restaurants and Franchisees. 
• Conduct structured and regular service reviews with our supplier partners to ensure value and performance using balance scorecards and tooling to objectively validate performance.  Ensure remedial action plans are in place where required.
• Consult on the design of all new and enhanced supplier services and ensure these are designed with restaurants at the forefront
• Defines, manages and directs product backlogs.  Leverage best practice and techniques in identifying, quantifying and tracking the realisation of expected benefits defined in business cases
• Assess Risk and Compliance aligned with financial services regulations, building these processes into how the framework operates
• Accountable for working closely on new Technology Adoption & Innovation initiatives to ensure restaurants are ready to receive the changes in terms of training, business process enhancements and that sufficient engagement has taken place, particularly where supplier partners are involved, so the full benefits are realised
• Lead a team of subject matter experts to support identification and remediation of root cause of recurring issues
• Accountable for the technology subject matter experts to support the Service Operations team with Problem Management
• Accountable for the tracking and trending of supplier product performance across all live production services. 
• Where partners provide Software as a Service (SaaS) ensure that engagement is timely, strong controls are in place and that value is measurable and continuously improving

What Team will I be a part?

The Vendor Manager will be part of the wider Supplier Management team. 

Who are my customers?

Customers of this role will include:

• Our Franchisees 
• Our partners
• Department Heads and Directors from across the business
• Colleagues in other McDonald’s markets and those working in global and segment functions
• Work very closely with wider McDonald’s Technology teams – Service Operations, NSO (new store openings) and Infrastructure, Deployment & Testing and Tech Innovation & Adoption 

Qualifications

What background do I need to have?

Essential requirements

• Significant experience in managing a diverse and broad range of technology suppliers; setting standards and driving continuous improvement in the availability and performance of their products
• Experience of building product roadmaps
• Extensive knowledge of backlog management and working in an agile environment
• Excellent technical knowledge is preferable, the ability to interact and converse with senior technology stakeholders both internally and externally. Operational Technology experience is beneficial but not essential
• Sound knowledge of the platforms, products, systems and services in your chosen area of technology (Customer & Restaurant, Corporate Services & Back Office and/or Infrastructure & Office)
• Evidence of building a Vendor Management framework in the past, ideally having successfully modernised existing processes and having held suppliers to account for excellent service delivery
• Will possess excellent interpersonal and communication skills and commercial acumen and possess a proven ability to work effectively with all organisational levels
• The role holder will be able to build collaborative working relationships with suppliers and their stakeholders including McDonald’s Franchisees and our partners 
• Experienced in strategic planning, governance, communications, and financial management and have a proven track record of successful team leadership and development
• Individual should be able to manage multiple contracts/ projects and suppliers at the same time with the ability to time manage effectively and deliver to deadlines throughout the year.
• Experienced in negotiating large commercial contracts and tenders and be familiar with related legal constructs
• Individual must be able to create and build relationships with our supplier partners, demonstrating strong communication skills to drive the relationship in the correct direction