Strategic Vendor, Partner Manager

We Believe In The Power And Joy Of Learning

At Cengage Group, our employees have a direct impact in helping students around the world discover the power and joy of learning. We are bonded by our shared purpose – driving innovation that helps millions of learners improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education.

Our Culture Values Inclusion, Engagement, And Discovery

Our business is driven by our strong culture, and we know that creating an inclusive workplace is absolutely essential to the success of our company and our learners, as well as our individual well-being. We recognize the value of diverse perspectives in everything we do, and strive to ensure employees of all levels and backgrounds feel empowered to voice their ideas and bring their authentic selves to work. We achieve these priorities through programs, benefits, and initiatives that are integrated into the fabric of how we work every day. To learn more, please see https://www.cengagegroup.com/about/inclusion-and-belonging/.

Position Description

The Strategic Partner Manager, a member of Cengage’s Global Procurement (GP) team, negotiates pricing agreements, order forms, and other commercial contracts with third-party vendors, service providers, and outsourcing partners for teams across Cengage. Finally, the role performs analysis that supports decision-making related to the sourcing of services, service provider capabilities and capacity, and the efficient mix of resources needed to support Cengage’s operations.

This position requires working several hours each week that overlap with the United States business day.

In This Engaging Role, You Will:

• Negotiate purchasing agreements with Cengage’s third-party partners
• Prepare both straightforward SOWs and amendments to SOWs and MSAs
• Conduct RFPs, RFQs, and RFIs
• Build reports that support sourcing-related decision-making

Duties And Responsibilities:

• Draft RFP, SOW, SLAs, and price submission documents
• Distribute RFPs to suppliers and answer their questions
• Write summaries of RFP responses
• Negotiate, finalize, and route agreements for signature
• Maintain and update purchasing documentation and trackers
• Initiate renewals with adequate time for decision-making
• Collect, normalize, synthesize, and analyze quantitative, qualitative, and financial data
• Write summaries and reports that draw conclusions from data and support decision-making around operational improvements and sourcing priorities
• Develop and implement recurring and ad hoc reports and data visualizations that facilitate and optimize operational understanding
• Perform basic predictive modeling of the cost impact of alternative sourcing scenarios
• Write targeted, concise, and persuasive solution-focused presentations
• Collaborate with teams in Product Technology & Innovation, Product Management, Finance, and other functional areas to develop Key Performance Indicators and scorecards that measure and validate vendor performance against targets and promote continuous improvement.
• Provide end-user support and education in the creation and approval of purchase orders and the approval of invoices in SAP ERP

Required

• Bachelor’s degree or relevant experience
• Demonstrated ability in publishing, education technology, management consulting, business process outsourcing/procurement, and/or financial analysis
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to report effectively to management
• Shown critical thinking and analytical skills
• Strong communication skills and attention to detail
• Collaboration, facilitation, and consensus-building skills
• Consistent record of handling confidential information in a professional manner
• Experience with survey tools/applications for data collection
• Skilled in the use of proprietary and/or off-the-shelf databases and reporting / dashboarding tools
• Ability to self-manage progress against goals in a virtual work environment with partners around the globe
• Ability to generate results with a high degree of accountability
• Experienced with all Office 365 applications (Word; PowerPoint; Excel; Outlook; Teams)
• Skilled in working with text and numeric data in Microsoft Excel

Preferred

• MBA or equivalent experience in management consulting, procurement, operations management, and/or finance. Knowledge of SAP ERP S4 Hana.
• Experience with developing Smartsheet- and PowerBI-based forms, dashboards, and reports

Cengage Group is committed to working with broad talent pools to attract and hire strong and most qualified individuals. Our job applicants are considered regardless of race, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, disability, age, veteran status, and any other classification protected by applicable federal, state, provincial or local laws.

Cengage is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities including during our job application process. If you are an applicant with a disability and require reasonable accommodation in our job application process, please contact us at accommodations.ta@cengage.com or at +1 (617) 289-7917.

About Cengage Group

Cengage Group, a global education technology company serving millions of learners, provides affordable, quality digital products and services that equip students with the skills and competencies needed to be job ready. For more than 100 years, we have enabled the power and joy of learning with trusted, engaging content, and now, integrated digital platforms. We serve the higher education, workforce skills, secondary education, English language teaching and research markets worldwide. Through our scalable technology, including MindTap and Cengage Unlimited, we support all learners who seek to improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education.

Note: Selected candidates are requested to enter their Official Name exactly as per Aadhar and UAN records (along with last name) during the hiring process. This is essential to ensure accuracy and avoid any discrepancies during onboarding.

Compensation

At Cengage Group, we take great pride in our commitment to providing a comprehensive and rewarding Total Rewards package designed to support and empower our employees. Click here to learn more about our Total Rewards Philosophy.

The full base pay range has been provided for this position. Individual base pay will vary based on work schedule, qualifications, experience, internal equity, and geographic location.  Sales roles often incorporate a significant incentive compensation program beyond this base pay range.