UpperEdge is a leading IT sourcing and commercial advisory firm that specializes in helping our clients successfully source and deliver transformational programs while maximizing the value they receive from their key information technology relationships. We do this by empowering clients with sourcing and negotiation best practices, market and vendor intelligence, targeted insights, and project execution strategies to successfully enable their most strategic transformation initiatives.
As a leading IT sourcing and negotiation advisory firm, we engage at the highest executive levels within Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies to support the sourcing and negotiation of the relationships required to enable enterprise-wide business transformations. Our full suite of strategic advisory services spans the full transformation lifecycle from project conception and business case development to sourcing and negotiation support to project transformation execution optimization. Our advisors maintain a wealth of experience and utilize a robust set of proprietary analyzers and tools linked to a deep database of market intelligence to provide recommendations and insights to our clients.
Founded in 2010, UpperEdge has been growing at approximately twenty five percent per year and has been profitable every year since its founding. We take great pride in the entrepreneurial culture of our company which is grounded in mutual respect, professionalism, work life balance, team morale, welfare, and giving back to the community through volunteer and philanthropic endeavors.
Our client base includes a significant number of Fortune 500 companies that are the dominant leaders in their respective industries. 100 percent of UpperEdge’s customers are referenceable, and for the past 13 years our client satisfaction scores have averaged 4.5 out of 5.
Awards and Accolades:
- 2024 Best Workplaces
- Boston’s Best and Brightest Companies to Work For five years a row
- 5000’s Fastest Growing Companies in 2020
Job Description
UpperEdge is currently looking for a professional, high-energy individual to join its growing team of experts in an IT Sourcing and Negotiation Practice Manager role within our SAP Practice. This individual will focus on transformational sourcing engagements, with a particular emphasis on SAP solutions and services along with related scope such as adjacent Software providers, System Integrators, Hyperscalers and Managed Services. The ideal candidate will play a central role leading sourcing initiatives and contract negotiations required to support Business and IT Transformations for Fortune 500 executives. This individual must have the ability to lead a team of Delivery members, manage multiple tasks efficiently, exercise superior judgment, and maintain the drive to work productively in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment while maintaining a positive demeanor.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Leads, or assists in leading and managing, client Sourcing, Negotiation and Supplier Management engagements for multi-national, Fortune 500 companies within the SAP Practice Area
- On an Engagement basis, manages and leads a group of Delivery Team members comprised of Analysts and Advisors by providing continuous direction, guidance, and training
- Prioritizes activities that are occurring in a simultaneous manner and communicates priorities to the team so there is a clear understanding of the work to be done, while seeking assistance to address and resolve conflicting priorities if required
- Capable of working independently, with limited direction, to develop strategies, objectives and the associated planning to execute and deliver multiple client engagements
- Provides clients with strategic advice to improve their technology supplier relationships and achieve best in class commercial constructs
- Works with clients to establish the engagement meeting cadences as well as the key delivery milestones for UE services
- Assesses and documents the negotiation variables and levers and how those will affect the strategy and potential outcomes
- Identifies and addresses critical business, financial, and commercial issues within IT vendor proposals, agreements, Statements of Work and related contractual documentation
- Develops strategies, in collaboration with clients, to create effective, efficient, timely and outcome-driven bi-directional communications, either written or orally, between the client and vendors
- Identifies issues and opportunities to ensure continuity and predictability in delivering services across multiple client engagements
- Oversees the development and maintenance of the SAP Practice infrastructure including the vendor intelligence databases and supporting client delivery templates
- Understands and maintains fluency and up to date knowledge of SAP’s go to market strategies, business, financial and contractual practices and applies that knowledge on a deal-by-deal basis for each
- Partners with the Marketing Team to produce relevant IT vendor and market intelligence content including blogs, podcasts, whitepapers, and webinars on a quarterly basis
- Ensures overall client satisfaction by continuously validating the quality and delivery of UpperEdge’s services
Qualifications
- 6+ years of relevant experience comprised of IT Sourcing, Contracting, and Vendor Management Experience
- Diverse industry background comprised of buy side, sell side and advisory experience
- Proven experience working with and supporting c-level executives including CIOs, CTOs and CFOs
- Technical understanding of various license models (perpetual, term, flex, subscription, etc.) and how they may be applied and/or blended to meet a diverse set of requirements
- Demonstrated understanding of the current state of the supply market including increasing niche providers and consolidation driven by market stalwarts such as Oracle, SAP, and Microsoft
- Demonstrated understanding of critical T’s & C’s related to software to ensure the balance of risk, value, cost
- Experience soliciting (e.g. RFP) and negotiating systems implementation services for software generally or SAP software specifically
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Strong analytical skills to include data comparison and financial analysis/modeling
- Strong experience with Microsoft tools (e.g. Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook)
- Excellent leadership and decision-making skills
- Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to effectively communicate and build relationships with team members and clients across all levels of the organization
- Ability to multitask and meet multiple deadlines in a timely fashion
- Bachelors’ degree or higher in a related field
Benefits & Compensation
- Salary levels are competitive and commensurate with experience
- Company Sponsored Health and Dental insurance, Flexible Spending Accounts, Holiday and PTO, 401K, Hybrid / Remote Work Options, a Great Work-Life Balance, and other exciting benefits
