Manager, Vendor Strategy and Operations

RemoFirst is transforming the way businesses hire and manage global teams. Our mission is to enable Freedom of Work by providing an all-in-one global HR platform that simplifies hiring, compliance, payroll, and benefits management. We partner with some of the world’s most innovative companies, including Fortune 500 businesses and leading startups.

We are a small but strong team of 190+ people (and growing) hyper-focused on delivering a world-class platform and unparalleled service with our industry-leading partnerships. To help accelerate our growth and pace of delivery, we are looking for talented Manager, Vendor Strategy and Operations.

About the Role
The Manager, Vendor Strategy and Operations, is a critical management role within the CXG organization, accountable for the end-to-end performance, health, and scalability of our Local Partner (LP) ecosystem, which underpins Remofirst’s EOR offering globally.

This is a hands-on role that blends leadership, operational rigor, and cross-functional partnership. You will lead a globally distributed team responsible for the performance, reliability, and scalability of Remofirst’s global vendor (LP) ecosystem. Your team ensures that partners consistently meet our operational, compliance, and service delivery standards, enabling seamless employee lifecycle management for our customers worldwide.

You will own vendor performance outcomes, and ensure we build and scale a high-performing LP ecosystem and that vendor decisions are aligned with customer experience, risk, and compliance targets. You will also work cross functionally to support escalation resolution, automation and knowledge management initiatives that support retention, margin, and growth.

What you'll be doing (non-exhaustive)::
• Team Leadership & Coaching
• Manage, mentor, and support a team of Vendor Managers responsible for a portfolio of LPs across regions.
• Conduct weekly 1:1s and actively coach your team on vendor sourcing, performance management, negotiation, compliance awareness, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Oversee day-to-day vendor operations, workload balancing, and escalation handling, ensuring consistent execution and accountability.
• Drive adoption of SOPs and consistent execution across the team by setting clear quarterly goals and priorities and ensuring alignment on expectations and performance standards
• Partner with CXG leadership and People team to recruit, onboard, calibrate and develop talent within the Vendor Management team.

• Vendor Performance & Strategy
• Own the sourcing, pricing negotiation strategy, performance, and scalability of Remofirst’s vendor ecosystem.
• Own LP operating margin performance.
• Map the LP journey from sourcing to onboarding and service delivery with clear KPIs for each stage
• Implement LP segmentation strategy
• Design and roll out LP performance scorecard
• Drive partner accountability across SLAs, data quality, platform adoption, and operational responsiveness for knowledge and compliance enhancement
• Ensure vendor sourcing decisions are aligned with agreed service offering, customer experience, risk goals
• Assist your team with vendor escalations, stepping in directly for high-impact or high-risk situations, documenting exception approval ensuring traceability
• Proactively identify vendor-related risks (service quality, compliance, cost, capacity, knowledge freshness) and implement mitigation plans.

• Cross-functional Collaboration & CX Alignment
• Partner closely with CXG teams, Finance, Legal, and Product to ensure vendor operations enable a strong customer and employee experience.
• Act as a key point of coordination between vendors and internal teams during escalations or operational changes.
• Share vendor insights to support process improvements and product roadmap decisions.
• Ensure accurate cost data, pricing logic, and partner master data in platform
• Ensure vendor operations are aligned with CXG priorities, operating model, and customer commitments.
• Assist the resolution of billing-related escalations (invoice disputes, payment delays)
• Partner with with Lifecycle Management, Strategic Programs, and Product teams to support tooling, knowledge, automation, Data accuracy in platform, and AI initiatives that improve scalability and customer experience

• Operational Excellence
• Establish and maintain a clear operating cadence and reporting for your team
• Daily / weekly/ Monthly SLA, platform adoption and escalation review
• Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) for strategic LPs (ideally in person)
• Enforce governance standards for LP usage of platform and timely communication of regulatory updates and knowledge changes.
• Drive standardization of workflows, SOPs, and playbooks to ensure consistency and scalability.
• Be accountable for vendor-related performance metrics, including:
• SLA adherence
• Escalation volume and deflection
• Data accuracy and platform adoption
• Vendor contribution margin
• LPs QBR completion and outcomes
• Country knowledge accuracy
• Own completion, accuracy, quality and freshness of:
• Country guides
• Cost calculators

Qualifications::
• High agency: you proactively identify gaps and take ownership
• Systems thinker: you understand how product, process, and people connect
• Change-oriented: you enjoy helping teams evolve and grow
• Outcome-focused: you care about results and business growth, not just service delivery

Why Join RemoFirst?:
• Startup Environment: Be part of a scaling startup where your voice matters and your impact is tangible. You take part in shaping the future of RemoFirst.
• Growth Opportunities: Join a fast-growing team with the opportunity to shape the future of our support operations.
• Work for a Market Leader: Support innovative companies like Microsoft, Mastercard, and leading startups as part of your daily role.
• Remote-First: Enjoy the flexibility of working remotely with a team distributed across the globe.
• Perks: Competitive compensation, best-in-class tools, and growth resources to succeed.