AIML Data Operations, Senior Vendor Manager

Behind every groundbreaking AI innovation at Apple is a foundation of high-quality annotated dataand behind that foundation are the vendor partnerships and production operations that make it possible at scale. nnWere looking for a Senior Manager to own the end-to-end vendor lifecycle from sourcing and contracting through quality delivery and compliance while leading the team that serves as the critical link between Apples annotation needs and our external vendor workforce. You will develop your teams capabilities in vendor management production operations and quality oversight while establishing the frameworks and processes that enable consistent scalable execution. Imagine leading the team that keeps Apples AI data engine running ensuring our machine learning models are trained with the highest quality data produced by a global workforce operating at peak efficiency.

As Senior Vendor Manager you will oversee and lead a high-impact team supporting Data Annotations. You will guide a group of Demand Planners Vendor Engagement Specialists and Crowd Managers who collaborate directly with engineering teams and data requestors to deploy scalable data pipelines through our global vendor team manages the full production lifecyclefrom relationship management project requirement definition vendor selection SOW creation and onboarding through delivery tracking quality assurance performance monitoring issue resolution and invoice validation. This role requires hands-on support strategic leadership and the ability to drive deeper efficiency insights and evaluations. You will remain hands-on when complex vendor challenges or production escalations require your direct work will directly contribute to the success of the next generation of Apple products and features.n

Team LeadershipnLead and develop a distributed team of Vendor Managers and Crowd Managers across multiple time professional growth in vendor management production operations and stakeholder strategic direction for vendor-facing production scalable frameworks and implement industry best a collaborative culture that proactively tackles production strong trust with engineering partners procurement and vendor u0026 Vendor StrategynSource and onboard global annotation vendors crowdsourced networks and specialized subject-matter global pipelines to meet fluctuating dataset capacity planning and resource management across all vendor volume forecasting and strategic workforce strong relationships directly with vendor leadership alignment on organizational quality and operational Contracts u0026 SLA OwnershipnPartner with Procurement on high-value contract negotiations with major data labeling price-per-task costs to maximize budget robust SLAs to protect data timelines and budget allocation financial forecasting and ongoing vendor cost vendor performance to guarantee SLAs are met across concurrent production throughput against delivery AssurancenBuild and enforce comprehensive quality control vendor performance across accuracy alignment and throughput key performance metrics for all vendor continuous improvement initiatives based on operational with QA training spec/process engineering and data analytics dataset quality at a massive operational -Functional CollaborationnBridge the gap between internal engineering teams and external vendor complex annotation requirements into actionable production u0026 CompliancenMaintain strict compliance with global data privacy frameworks (e.g. GDPR HIPAA).nEnforce secure handling protocols for all sensitive u0026 Executive CommunicationnPrepare executive reports detailing production status and vendor operational risks and mitigation strategies directly to senior leadership.

10 years of experience managing and developing teams in operational or vendor-facing rolesn5 years of experience in program/project management production operations or vendor management in data operations or related fieldsnBS degree requirednStrong understanding of production operations including capacity planning quality assurance frameworks and delivery managementnExcellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate complex concepts to both technical and non-technical audiencesnProven ability to manage multiple concurrent programs with competing priorities in a fast-paced environmentnSelf-motivated and proactive leader who thrives in ambiguous environments and is able to establish diligent processes for global teamsnDemonstrated ability to navigate ambiguity and rapidly shifting priorities crafting creative pragmatic near-term vendor support solutions that keep programs on track while maintaining focus on longer-term vendor strategy and scalable operational goalsnExperience leading a dispersed global team

Annotation operations data operations or crowd-sourcing programs at scalenVendor/supplier management including performance management and relationship developmentnBudget management and financial forecasting for vendor-delivered worknData quality issue tracking and resolution (impact analysis root cause analysis data analysis)nBackground managing geographically distributed teams or vendor workforcesnUnderstanding of machine learning concepts data annotation methodologies and quality assurance processesnAdvanced degree in a relevant field