Head of Vendor Management

ROLE PROFILE

Job Title: Head of Vendor Management

Level: L4B

Location: Bangalore/Budapest

Reports To:PPC Director

Department: Digital & Technology

Context/Scope:

Diageo has outsourced a significant proportion of IT services across the Digital & Technology (D&T) portfolio. Historically, vendor management was decentralized across individual Value Streams, resulting in fragmented processes, inconsistent governance, and limited visibility of overall vendor performance.

With the current drive to streamline the number of IT Outsourced Service providers, Diageo is seeking to re-establish a centralized Vendor Management capability. This role will play a pivotal part in defining the strategy, establishing governance frameworks, and ensuring that Diageo achieves maximum value from its vendor relationships, while fostering collaborative, mutually beneficial partnerships.

Role Purpose:

The IT Vendor Manager is responsible for re-establishing and leading a centralized Vendor Management Office (VMO) within D&T. The role ensures that Diageos outsourcing strategy delivers its intended benefits by aligning vendors with business objectives, monitoring vendor performance, and ensuring consistent, high-quality service delivery.

This role is critical to:

- Drive accountability and transparency in vendor relationships.

- Enable value realization from outsourcing agreements.

- Ensure consistent, standardized vendor management practices across the portfolio.

- Support Diageo’s strategic objectives by building trusted, performance-driven partnerships with IT vendors.

Core Responsibilities:

Vendor Management Strategy & Governance

- Define, establish, and maintain Diageo’s Vendor Management strategy, roadmap, and governance model.

- Develop standardized processes, tools, and reporting mechanisms for vendor management across D&T.

- Drive adoption of centralized vendor management practices across all Value Streams.

Performance & Relationship Management

- Oversee vendor performance management, including KPIs, SLAs, and continuous improvement.

- Conduct regular vendor reviews, escalating and resolving issues to maintain service quality.

- Develop vendor scorecards and dashboards to provide a single, consistent view of vendor performance.

- Build strategic partnerships with vendors to foster collaboration, innovation, and long-term value.

Contract & Financial Oversight

- Support contract negotiations, renewals, and compliance management.

- Ensure commercial terms are monitored and enforced to maximize value delivery and cost efficiency.

- Collaborate with Procurement, Legal, and Finance to align vendor arrangements with Diageo’s policies and financial objectives.

Risk Management & Compliance

- Identify, assess, and mitigate vendor-related risks (operational, financial, regulatory, reputational).

- Ensure adherence to regulatory, data protection, and security requirements.

- Monitor vendor exit strategies and business continuity plans.

Stakeholder Engagement & Influence

- Act as the central point of contact for all vendor management activities within D&T.

- Collaborate with Value Stream leaders to ensure vendor alignment with business priorities.

- Provide senior leadership with clear insights and recommendations on vendor performance and strategy.

Qualifications and Experience Required

Knowledge

- Strong understanding of IT outsourcing models, service delivery frameworks, and vendor lifecycle management.

- Knowledge of contract management, commercial models, and IT financial management.

- Familiarity with risk management, compliance requirements, and regulatory frameworks affecting IT services.

Skills

- Excellent negotiation, influencing, and relationship-building skills with senior stakeholders and external vendors.

- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to interpret vendor performance data.

- Strategic planning and execution skills to define and implement the Vendor Management roadmap.

- Ability to design and implement standardized governance frameworks and processes.

Abilities

- Build and sustain trust-based, collaborative partnerships with vendors.

- Drive cultural change towards centralized vendor management across a large, complex organization.

- Balance commercial, operational, and strategic considerations to deliver value.

- Communicate effectively at all levels, including presenting to senior executives.

Barriers to Success in Role

- Inability to build relationships rapidly with and lead mixed business & partner teams

- Lack of Credibility with internal and external stakeholders

- Lack of business situational awareness

- Lack of ability to work through wider teams to deliver outcomes