Vendor Relationship Manager

About the role

This position involves managing and strengthening Oyster's global network of vendors, serving as a crucial link between internal teams, customers, and external service providers. You will cultivate strong relationships with vendors to ensure they deliver reliable, high-quality services that align with our goal of simplifying global employment. Your primary focus will be on Health & Safety and Compliance vendors, ensuring consistent and compliant support worldwide.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Oversee daily interactions with key operational vendors, particularly those providing Health & Safety and Compliance services.
• Develop a deep understanding of vendor capabilities, service models, geographic reach, and operational procedures.
• Act as a primary contact point between Oyster and its external partners.
• Ensure vendors are equipped to deliver excellent experiences for customers and team members.
• Manage the entire vendor lifecycle, from onboarding to ongoing relationship management, performance tracking, and offboarding.
• Monitor vendor performance against agreed metrics, service level agreements, and expectations.
• Track trends, risks, and recurring issues, suggesting improvements proactively.
• Support regular vendor reviews and performance discussions.
• Prepare reports and insights on vendor performance for internal stakeholders.
• Maintain accurate vendor documentation, processes, and governance frameworks.
• Conduct operational reviews and audits to confirm vendors meet Oyster's quality and compliance standards.
• Become an expert in Oyster's Health & Safety and Compliance vendor landscape.
• Collaborate with vendors to ensure services meet regulatory, compliance, and customer requirements across various countries.
• Monitor vendor adherence to established standards and service commitments.
• Assist in resolving compliance-related queries, risks, and escalations.
• Partner with internal teams like Legal, Operations, Customer Teams, and Product to enhance vendor-supported processes.
• Identify opportunities to improve consistency, scalability, and customer experience in Health & Safety and Compliance services.
• Serve as a point of contact for vendor-related operational issues and escalations.
• Coordinate with internal teams and vendors to investigate root causes and ensure timely resolutions.
• Keep stakeholders informed throughout complex issue resolution.
• Identify recurring problems and recommend preventative solutions.
• Participate in internal and external calls with vendors, prospects, and customers to discuss Health & Safety and Compliance vendor matters.
• Identify ways to improve vendor processes, documentation, and working methods.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to refine workflows and reduce operational friction.
• Analyze vendor performance data and feedback to pinpoint trends and improvement areas.
• Contribute to initiatives aimed at enhancing scalability, efficiency, and customer experience.
• Continuously seek to simplify processes and make vendor interactions more effective.
• Support People Services and cross-functional projects that contribute to our mission.
• Take ownership of project workstreams, driving progress, communication, and delivery.

Requirements

• 4+ years of experience in Vendor Management, Partner Management, Operations, Customer Success, Compliance, or a similar field.
• Experience managing external partners or service providers in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong relationship management abilities to build trust with internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience monitoring vendor performance, service level agreements, key performance indicators, or service delivery metrics.
• Excellent organizational skills to manage multiple priorities and stakeholders.
• Strong problem-solving skills with a proactive and solutions-oriented approach.
• Ability to analyze data, identify trends, and translate insights into actionable improvements.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and working in a scaling environment.
• Ability to influence stakeholders and achieve outcomes without direct authority.
• Experience managing operational issues, escalations, and complex stakeholder conversations.
• Collaborative approach with experience partnering across multiple teams.
• Reliable home internet connection.
• Fluent in English.

Nice to have

• Experience managing Health & Safety, Compliance, HR, employment, legal, or risk-related vendors.
• Experience in an Employer of Record (EOR), global employment, HR tech, or international operations setting.
• Experience working with vendors across multiple regions (APAC, EMEA, LATAM, AMER).
• Experience building vendor governance processes, frameworks, or reporting.
• Experience using AI tools or automation to improve operational workflows.
• Experience working in a fast-paced startup or global technology environment.
• Proficiency in additional languages.

Skills & tools

• Vendor relationship management
• Performance monitoring
• Data analysis
• Problem-solving
• Stakeholder communication
• Operational process improvement
• AI tools (optional)
• Automation (optional)

Practical notes

a fully remote position, allowing you to work from home permanently. Oyster offers 40 days of paid time off per year (including holidays and vacation), mental health support through Plumm, a monthly wellbeing allowance, flexible parental leave (at least three months paid), and a home office equipment stipend. Oyster is committed to diversity and inclusion; reasonable accommodations for the recruiting process can be requested by emailing jobs@oysterhr.com. Be aware that Oyster will only contact you from an @oysterhr.com email and will never ask for money as part of the hiring process.