Executive Director, IT Vendor Management

Executive Director, IT Vendor Management

This role has been designed as 'Hybrid' with an expectation that you will work on average 2 days per week from an HPE office.

Primary Responsibilities

Software Spend Audit and Cost Takeout

• Own a comprehensive audit of HPE’s global IT software portfolio across all SaaS subscriptions, on‑premises licenses, maintenance agreements, and acquired‑entity software obligations, establishing a total cost of ownership baseline within 90 days
• Identify and quantify all redundancy: overlapping tools serving identical functions, duplicate licenses across business units, shelfware, and orphaned subscriptions from prior M&A activity
• Build and sustain a consumption and utilization analysis capability to match actual usage to contracted entitlements and surface overpayment on a continuous basis
• Execute a multi‑year portfolio rationalization plan that consolidates the software vendor landscape and structurally reduces the cost base

Labor and Professional Services Cost Management

• Establish commercial governance over all IT‑managed labor spend including managed service agreements, staff augmentation contracts, and third‑party consulting and professional services engagements
• Implement utilization controls and performance accountability frameworks across all managed service and staff augmentation relationships to eliminate cost creep and ensure value delivery
• Benchmark labor rates against market and renegotiate agreements where HPE is paying above competitive levels
• Build a consolidated view of total IT labor spend across internal and external sources to enable fact‑based workforce and vendor mix decisions

Telecommunications Cost Rationalization

• Own commercial oversight of all HPE enterprise telecommunications obligations including network services, voice and data contracts, carrier agreements, colocation, and connectivity at the enterprise and site level
• Conduct a comprehensive telecommunications audit to identify rate optimization opportunities, underutilized services, redundant circuits, and contracts renewing at uncompetitive pricing
• Renegotiate carrier and network service agreements using benchmarked market rates and consolidated spend leverage
• Build a forward‑looking telco contract pipeline with full visibility to every renewal and expiry, eliminating auto‑renewal exposure across the carrier portfolio

Vendor Commercial Management

• Own all major IT vendor relationships across software, labor, and telecommunications, negotiating renewals, renegotiating pricing on existing agreements, and challenging incumbents with competitive alternatives
• Implement a contract lifecycle management discipline that treats every renewal as a commercial renegotiation opportunity with full preparation, benchmarking, and leverage strategy
• Develop and enforce standard commercial terms, pricing benchmarks, and total‑cost‑of‑ownership models across all three spend categories and vendor tiers
• Establish a vendor performance management program with SLA frameworks, quarterly business reviews, and executive scorecards for all Strategic and Preferred tier vendors

M&A Integration

• Create and own HPE’s standard playbook for assessing and rationalizing software, labor, and telecommunications obligations from acquired entities, preventing inherited complexity from compounding over time
• Partner with Corporate Development and IT Architecture to conduct commercial due diligence on future transactions, quantifying integration cost and rationalization opportunity prior to close
• Actively manage the post‑acquisition rationalization backlog across all three spend categories, prioritizing consolidation based on cost impact, integration complexity, and business continuity risk

Governance, Policy and Vendor Management Office

• Design and implement HPE’s IT Vendor Management Office including decision rights, approval workflows, procurement policies, and executive escalation paths for all technology purchasing decisions across software, labor, and telecommunications
• Establish and enforce an enterprise‑wide IT procurement policy ensuring no new software, managed service, or telecommunications commitment is approved without VMO review, redundancy check, and commercial benchmarking
• Build a Technology Business Management or IT FinOps capability that creates a transparent, business‑visible view of IT cost by category, function, product line, and cost center
• Lead, hire, and develop a high‑performing team of 3 to 5 professionals; build the capability and culture that sustains commercial discipline at enterprise scale

Executive Partnership and Reporting

• Serve as the CIO’s primary advisor on IT vendor cost strategy across software, labor, and telecommunications, translating commercial complexity into clear narratives that connect vendor decisions to P&L impact
• Partner with the CFO and IT Finance to integrate multi‑category vendor cost management into HPE’s annual planning and budgeting cycle
• Report monthly on portfolio health, savings delivered, renewal pipeline status, and rationalization milestones across all three spend categories with clear variance analysis and forward‑looking risk visibility
• Build trusted relationships across IT, Finance, Legal, Procurement, and Business Unit leadership to ensure the VMO is seen as a strategic enabler

Experience and Skills

Required

• 12+ years of experience in IT vendor management, technology procurement, or IT finance, with 4+ years in a Director or VP‑level leadership role
• Demonstrated, quantifiable track record of extracting cost savings across at least two of the following spend categories: software, labor, or telecommunications. Must be able to cite specific examples with dollar impact, timeline, and commercial approach
• Direct experience negotiating with Tier‑1 enterprise software vendors at scale including Microsoft, SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Workday, or equivalent
• Experience managing enterprise telecommunications contracts including carrier renegotiations, network services optimization, and site‑level connectivity cost reduction
• Experience governing managed services and staff augmentation spend including utilization controls, rate benchmarking, and performance accountability frameworks
• Proven experience leading vendor portfolio rationalization across multiple spend categories including identifying redundancy, managing stakeholder resistance, and executing consolidation
• Experience managing the commercial dimension of M&A integration across software, labor, and telecommunications categories
• Demonstrated ability to build a Vendor Management Office or IT procurement governance capability from early‑stage to operating maturity
• Familiarity with FinOps, Technology Business Management (TBM), or IT cost transparency frameworks
• Executive presence and communication skills with the ability to operate credibly at the CIO and CFO level

Preferred

• Experience with Contract Lifecycle Management platforms including Ironclad, Icertis, Coupa, or equivalent
• Exposure to IT Asset Management or Software Asset Management tools including Flexera, Snow Software, or ServiceNow SAM
• Prior experience in a large‑cap technology or enterprise infrastructure company with significant M&A activity
• Telecommunications industry knowledge including carrier pricing models, network services commercial structures, and colocation market dynamics
• FinOps Certified Practitioner or ITAM certification
• First level university degree in business, finance, or a related field; MBA or advanced degree preferred

What We Can Offer You

Health & Wellbeing: A comprehensive suite of benefits that supports physical, financial and emotional wellbeing.

Personal & Professional Development: Career growth programs and training opportunities to help you reach your goals.

Unconditional Inclusion: A culture that celebrates individual uniqueness and embraces diversity at all levels.