Technical Strategy and Governance Lead, Vendor Enablement

As the Vendor Strategy and Governance Lead, you will be responsible for defining, implementing, and overseeing the strategy and governance framework for our external vendors and extended workforce within Core Product Area. Your primary goal will be to drive vendor efficiencies, achieve cost savings, reduce operational and co-employment risks, and cultivate strong, strategic partnerships with key suppliers. You will play a critical role in ensuring that our vendor engagements are safe, secure, compliant, and deliver maximum value to Google. You will act as a trusted advisor to executive leadership, navigating complex supplier engagements in alignment with Extended Workforce Solutions (xWS) and the Global Procurement Organization (GPO).

At Corp Eng, we build world-leading business solutions that scale a more helpful Google for everyone. As Google’s IT organization, we provide end-to-end solutions for organizations across Google. We deliver the right tools, platforms, and experiences for all Googlers as they create more helpful products and services for everyone. In the simplest terms, we are Google for Googlers.

Responsibilities

• Partner with internal stakeholders to discuss extended workforce needs, engaging closely with them to develop solutions, translate requirements into strategic plans, and drive key outcomes and analyzing industry best practices to develop tailored category strategies that enable stakeholders.
• Build resilient vendor ecosystems through strategic consolidation, optimal location planning, and performance governance, fostering high-performing supplier relationships that are deeply integrated with and accountable to our business goals.
• Design, implement, and maintain vendor governance and communication frameworks, defining rules of engagement between Googlers and vendor teams to ensure disciplined communication protocols and rigorously mitigate co-employment risks.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate risks associated with vendor engagements, including data security, privacy, access management, and regulatory compliance, while ensuing adherence to Google's extended workforce standards and policies.

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Supply Chain Management, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of experience managing operational projects, agreement negotiations and vendor relationships.
• Experience developing and implementing vendor governance, compliance, or risk mitigation frameworks.
• Experience leading cross-functional programs and managing stakeholders without direct authority.

Preferred qualifications:

• MBA or Master's degree in a technical or engineering field.
• Knowledge of product development, manufacturing processes and supply chain management.
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation communication skills, and the ability to maintain good relationships with stakeholders and suppliers.