Software Asset Management (SAM) Lead
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Job Location:
Monthly Salary:
Experience Required:
Posted on:
Yesterday
Vacancies:
1 Vacancy
Job Summary
JOB OVERVIEW:
The Software Asset Management (SAM) Lead is a strategic role responsible for the end-to-end lifecycle management of the organizations software estate. This position goes beyond administrative license tracking; it requires a process architect who can design governance frameworks lead commercial negotiations and maintain strict budgetary control over a diverse portfolio of 20-30 SaaS applications and traditional on-premise software. As the central authority for software assets you will collaborate with existing technical teams who manage specific applications to ensure that technical requirements align with commercial efficiency and organizational compliance.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
1. Process Engineering & Governance
Framework Design: Develop document and implement the organizations first comprehensive Software Asset Management (SAM) policy and procedural manual.
Standardization: Establish standardized workflows for software requests approvals procurement deployment and eventual retirement.
Governance Oversight: Act as the primary gatekeeper for software standards ensuring all departments adhere to established procurement and security protocols.
Continuous Improvement: Periodically review and refi ne processes to eliminate bottlenecks reduce manual intervention and improve the "speed to desk" for new software requests.
2. Budgetary Control & Financial Optimization
Budget Management: Take full ownership of the software licensing budget. Track actual expenditures against forecasts and provide regular "Spend vs. Budget" reports to Finance and Executive leadership.
Demand Forecasting: Conduct regular "census" communications with business units to determine total license requirements for annual renewals and ad-hoc growth.
License Harvesting: Implement a proactive "harvesting" process to identify and reclaim underutilized or "zombie" licenses before purchasing new seats.
Cost Allocation: Manage the internal chargeback or show-back models to ensure software costs are accurately attributed to the correct departments or cost centers.
3. Strategic Negotiations & Vendor Management
Commercial Leadership: Lead all commercial negotiations for software renewals and new purchases utilizing usage data to drive favorable pricing terms and conditions.
Stakeholder Collaboration: Partner with business teams and technical leads to understand their functional needs while ensuring they align with the broader company strategy.
Vendor Consolidation: Identify overlapping toolsets across the organization (e.g. multiple project management or CRM tools) and lead initiatives to consolidate vendors to increase leverage and reduce complexity.
4. Procurement Approval & Executive Communication
Justification & Business Cases: Prepare detailed explanations and business cases for senior management to justify software expenditures renewals and new tool adoptions.
Approval Management: Formally raise procurement requests and manage the end-to-end sign-off process ensuring all necessary stakeholders have reviewed the commercial and operational impact.
Advisory Support: Serve as the subject matter expert for leadership answering complex queries regarding licensing models cost-benefit analyses and the strategic necessity of specific software purchases.
Reporting: Create high-level summaries for executive review that simplify technical licensing metrics into actionable business insights.
5. License Operations & Compliance
Centralized Inventory: Maintain a "Single Source of Truth" for all software entitlements contracts proof of purchase and maintenance agreements.
Allocation & Provisioning: Oversee the distribution of license keys and the allocation of seats via various application administrative consoles (e.g. Google Workspace Adobe Creative Cloud SuccessFactors Zoom Docusign etc.).
Compliance Management: Ensure the organization remains 100% compliant with EULAs and SaaS terms of service through regular internal reconciliation of deployments against entitlements.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCES:
Experience: 5 years of experience in Software Asset Management IT Procurement or IT Operations.
Process Development: Proven track record of designing and implementing organizational processes from the ground up.
SaaS Expertise: Deep understanding of SaaS subscription models "True-up" processes and cloud-based licensing metrics.
Financial Literacy: Strong ability to manage budgets perform ROI analysis and present financial data to non-technical stakeholders.
Negotiation Skills: Excellent communication and influence skills with experience leading high-value contract negotiations.
Preferred:
- Certifications: CSAM (Certified Software Asset Manager) ITIL Foundation or equivalent.
- Advanced Data Skills: High proficiency in Excel/Google Sheets (Pivot Tables Lookups) and data visualization tools for manual tracking and reporting.
- Administrative Console Experience: Proven familiarity with allocating and provisioning licenses through various cloud software (SaaS) admin consoles.
Working hours:
Mon to Fri 8:30am to 5:30pm
Required Skills:
Software Asset Management (SAM) Lead
Required Education:
degree / diploma
