Vendor Management Specialist
Redwood City, CA - USA
Job Summary
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was founded in 2015 by Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg to harness the power of technology to pursue some of societys most ambitious goals from curing or preventing all disease to transforming how students learn.
At CZI youll join a deeply collaborative mission-driven community where your work helps drive breakthroughs across our flagship nonprofit organizations Biohub and Learning Commons. Whether enabling scientific breakthroughs via open science and AI-powered biology or strengthening the tools teachers and students rely on every day your contributions help turn bold ideas into real-world impact.
Our teams operate at the intersection of innovation and scale building the infrastructure partnerships and capabilities that allow scientists educators and innovators to tackle some of the most complex challenges of our time and to do so with urgency integrity and optimism.
The Team
The Operations team is a key partner in enabling Biohubs pioneering work to combine frontier AI with frontier biology to solve disease and Learning Commons mission to build AI infrastructure that aligns how students learn with the tools that shape their learning experiences.
Operations includes our Central Tech Finance Marketing & Communications People and Real Estate / Workplace / Events / Facilities / Security (REWFS) teams. Together these teams create the systems programs and experiences that empower our partners and colleagues across Biohub and Learning Commons to drive impact.
This work requires strategic and operational rigor creativity and deep collaboration. Whether designing world-class employee experiences safeguarding data and infrastructure or shaping how we communicate our impact Operations plays a critical role in helping deliver meaningful change at scale.
The Opportunity
As CZI continues to mature its Vendor Management Office (VMO) within Central Technology this role Vendor Management Specialist will support high-volume contract execution and operational vendor management across Central Tech. The role is accountable for driving efficient accurate and compliant processing of vendor agreements renewals and amendments in close partnership with Legal Finance Security and business stakeholders.
This is an execution-intensive position requiring strong attention to detail process discipline and the ability to manage a high throughput of concurrent contracts. The role is critical to enabling the organization to operate at scale through reliable high-quality contract execution.
Within a growing function this role helps standardize and scale vendor workflows ensuring contracts progress quickly and compliantly from intake through signature. The position offers meaningful exposure to cross-functional partners and establishes a foundation for progression into higher-complexity vendor management and program ownership over time.
What Youll Do
Contract Execution & Lifecycle Management
- Execute end-to-end contract workflows including intake validation drafting support redlining coordination approvals and signature routing
- Manage a high volume of vendor contracts renewals and amendments while maintaining strong accuracy and adherence to SLAs
- Ensure compliance with internal policies approval thresholds and contracting playbooks
- Track contract status across multiple workflows and proactively follow up to remove blockers and drive timely execution
Operational Excellence
- Maintain clean and accurate contract data across systems (e.g. CLM SaaS management and project management tools)
- Identify and resolve operational bottlenecks in contract workflows
- Support continuous improvement of vendor management processes templates and intake mechanisms
- Contribute to documentation and standardization of repeatable processes
Stakeholder Coordination
- Serve as a point of contact for routine vendor management requests and contract-related inquiries
- Coordinate across Legal Finance Security and business stakeholders to ensure timely execution
- Communicate clearly on status risks and required actions to stakeholders
- Deliver strong internal customer support by ensuring stakeholders receive responsive transparent and service-oriented contract management throughout the engagement lifecycle
Support vendor onboarding and offboarding activities
- Assist in tracking vendor usage renewals and basic spend insights
- Escalate risks or inconsistencies to senior team members when needed
What Youll Bring
- 13 years of experience in vendor management procurement contract operations or a related operational role
- Demonstrated ability to manage high-volume detail-oriented work with strong accuracy and organization
- Familiarity with contract lifecycle processes and systems (e.g. CLM procurement tools)
- Strong task prioritization and time management skills across multiple concurrent workflows
- Clear and effective communication skills when working with cross-functional stakeholders
- Ability to follow structured processes while identifying opportunities for incremental improvements
- Proactive mindset with sound judgment on when to escalate issues or ask for guidance
- Comfort operating in a fast-paced execution-focused environment
- Strong customer service skills and mindset
Compensation
The Redwood City CA base pay range for a new hire in this role is $118000 - $148000. New hires are typically hired into the lower portion of the range enabling employee growth in the range over time. Actual placement in range is based on job-related skills and experience as evaluated throughout the interview process.
This position may be eligible to participate in our discretionary annual performance bonus program. Bonus eligibility and targets are determined in accordance with our total rewards philosophy and may vary by role.
Better Together
As we grow were excited to strengthen in-person connections and cultivate a collaborative team-oriented environment. This role is a hybrid position requiring you to be onsite for at least 60% of the working month approximately 3 days a week with specific in-office days determined by the teams manager. The exact schedule will be at the hiring managers discretion and communicated during the interview process.
Benefits for the Whole You
Were thankful to have an incredible team behind our work. To honor their commitment we offer a wide range of benefits to support the people who make all we do possible.
- Provides a generous employer match on employee 401(k) contributions to support planning for the future.
- Paid time off to volunteer at an organization of your choice.
- Funding for select family-forming benefits.
- Relocation support for employees who need assistance moving
If youre interested in a role but your previous experience doesnt perfectly align with each qualification in the job description we still encourage you to apply as you may be the perfect fit for this or another role.
#LI-Hybrid #LI-Onsite
Required Experience:
IC
About Company
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) is a new kind of philanthropy that’s on a mission to help build a more inclusive, just and healthy future for everyone.