Associate Director - Vendor Management

Company:MercerDescription:

The goal of your job as an Information Professional is to establish and maintain knowledge of the third-party content and research resources available to meet the information needs of the Mercer communities they serve.Your knowledge extends to all types of sources and media so colleagues have access and use the self-service approach to independently research.You systematically evaluate information resources for potential value and prioritize the acquisition of resources based on your judgment of the value of each resource brings to various Mercer communities and in response to request from Mercer colleagues. You are competent with business case development and ROI calculations, and closely manage the annual subscription budget and procurement process. You monitor the information marketplace and negotiate effectively with information vendors and content providers to secure agreements that are in the best interest of MMC, Mercer and colleagues.You partner across MMC on complex subscriptions and memberships, ensure allocations and approvals are accurately in place.

We will count on you for:

• Strategy alignment: Aligning the strategy for managing information resources to support the strategic goals of both the needs of MMC and Mercer communities. Continuously analyzing the effectiveness of the portfolio of resources, adjusting as needed, to ensure relevancy and provide users with optimum decision-support content.

  
  

• Budget: Establishing and managing a budget for resources and overseeing allocation of funds and charge-backs to resource centers – across Mercer and MMC.

  
  

• Subscription enablement: Managing and delivering relevant resources of all types, media, and formats, including published and unpublished, internal to the organization as well as external, digital, textual, numeric, and visual. Ensure access for individual or group licenses with log-in/passwords.

  
  

• Subscription health checks: Systematically evaluating new or unfamiliar resources by applying analytical frameworks and methods. Systematically evaluating decommissioning resources that no longer fit with Mercer’s needs, no longer show usage/strong ROI and/or due to expense reduction requests. Teaching others to critically evaluate information and information sources. Relying on metrics to make decisions.

  
  

• Education: Delivering adoption/engagement information resources to meet the needs of a particular audience, cover a certain topic, field, or discipline, or serve a particular purpose. Coordinate learning sessions on Mercer Learning Days, various community/team calls as requested to special groups, etc.

  
  

• Customer service: Auditing and mapping information and knowledge assets available within the organization to advise users about resources relevant to various business activities. Respond to time-sensitive requests.

  
  

• External vendor management: Managing day-to-day relationships with vendor contacts for troubleshooting, access, new subscription offerings, etc.

  
  

• Working across MMC: Representing Mercer and MMC when negotiating appropriate pricing and terms and conditions for the licensing or acquisition of information resources.

  
  

• Contract negotiation: Negotiating contracts to assure Mercer and MMC get the best deal, often on a multi-year contract, leveraging the full weight of MMC in the process.

  
  

• Invoicing: Managing invoices and the internal payment process of creating Purchase Orders, working with internal expense Approvers and Finance teams, and following-up on invoice payment status.

  
  

• Copyright compliance: Supporting copyright compliance across the enterprise and informing others of acceptable copyright standards and procedures.

  
  

You will work with:

• KM teammates

  
  

• Colleagues within Practices

  
  

• Practice solution leads (consultants) and subject matter experts (SMEs)

  
  

• IC/Research Leaders

  
  

• MMC Global Sourcing & Procurement team

  
  

• Finance

  
  

• Subscription Management counterparts in the other MMC businesses

  
  

• Functional partners: Marketing, Commercial, Learning, Operations, etc.

  
  

What you need to have:

• Overall more than 8 years of experience

  
  

• Excellent oral and written communication skills (English).

  
  

• Strong collaborative decision-making, comprehensive problem-solving, positive influencing skills, and negotiation skills with colleagues at all levels.

  
  

• Ability to work in a fast-moving, ever-changing environment while managing multiple projects.

  
  

• Ability to work independently and on a virtual, global team.

  
  

• Critical thinking, including qualitative and quantitative reasoning.

  
  

• Professional acumen and business-savviness to represent Mercer and MMC with vendors.

  
  

• Initiative, adaptability, flexibility, creativity, innovation, and problem-solving.

  
  

• Relationship building, networking, and collaboration, including the ability to foster respect, inclusion, and communication among diverse individuals.

  
  

• Experience with basic accounting principles and budget preparation, budget management, forecasting.

  
  

• Leadership, management, and project management.

  
  

• Life-long learning.

  
  

• Teaching, coaching, and mentoring.

  
  

• Business ethics.

  
  

• MLS degree from an accredited institution.

  
  

What makes you stand out?

• Change management: Lead change management that improves desired behavior and effectiveness of research/resource usage, knowledge sharing, engagement, and collaboration within the organization. Prepare campaigns to promote available resources.

  
  

• Complex stakeholder engagement: Drive more complex stakeholder engagement at senior level with more strategic relationship management to make key decisions both within Mercer and MMC

  
  

• Complex project management: Assume more complex project management responsibilities and proactively anticipate the needs of colleagues.

  
  

• Mentoring: Serve as a mentor and coach to colleagues.

  
  

Mercer is a business of Marsh (NYSE: MRSH), a global leader in risk, reinsurance and capital, people and investments, and management consulting, advising clients in 130 countries. With annual revenue of over $27 billion and more than 95,000 colleagues, Marsh helps build the confidence to thrive through the power of perspective. For more information about Mercer, visit mercer.com, or follow us on LinkedIn and X.Marsh is committed to embracing a diverse, inclusive and flexible work environment. We aim to attract and retain the best people and embrace diversity of age, background, caste, disability, ethnic origin, family duties, gender orientation or expression, gender reassignment, marital status, nationality, parental status, personal or social status, political affiliation, race, religion and beliefs, sex/gender, sexual orientation or expression, skin color, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.Marsh is committed to hybrid work, which includes the flexibility of working remotely and the collaboration, connections and professional development benefits of working together in the office. All Marsh colleagues are expected to be in their local office or working onsite with clients at least three days per week. Office-based teams will identify at least one “anchor day” per week on which their full team will be together in person.