Global Head of Hardware & Complex Vendor Management - C16

Role Overview

The Global Head of Hardware & Complex Vendor Management is a senior leader within the Technology Vendor Management Office (VMO) and is accountable for optimizing the enterprise’s hardware and complex vendor ecosystem to maximize business value, manage risk, and drive measurable commercial outcomes. The role ensures contractual commitments are met, vendor performance is governed rigorously, and commercial structures are optimized—while enabling innovation, scalability, and speed.

This role serves as the primary vendor management interface between hardware vendors and internal stakeholders, leading strategic vendor relationships, managing multi-year and multi-vendor agreements.  It is responsible for driving cost optimization opportunities and managing complex commercial arrangements spanning multiple products, services, and providers delivered as an integrated value proposition.

The role is accountable for end-to-end value realization, risk mitigation, and performance delivery across high-value contracts, and serves as the hardware commercial subject matter expert supporting financial planning, contract renewals, and technology asset optimization.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and execute the enterprise vendor management strategy for hardware and complex service providers
• Own end-to-end commercial and performance governance of high-value, multi-year, multi-vendor contracts
• Identify and deliver cost optimization levers, including price benchmarking, volume incentives, configuration rationalization, lifecycle optimization, and consumption efficiency
• Drive material savings through rightsizing, usage analysis, portfolio consolidation, and commercial renegotiation
• Lead performance management against contract baselines, KPIs, SLAs, and financial commitments
• Proactively manage contract lifecycle, including renewals, trigger events, and commercial remediation
• Partner with Procurement, Legal, and Finance on pipeline planning, deal structuring, and contract execution
• Perform financial and transaction analysis, including TCO modelling, validation of commercial assumptions, and financial risk assessment
• Own and optimize a hardware portfolio across multiple OEMs, ensuring alignment with enterprise business and technology strategy
• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on vendor capabilities, risks, trade-offs, and commercial options
• Lead resolution of vendor escalations, including performance shortfalls, delivery issues, and contractual disputes
• Align vendor roadmaps with enterprise technology and business priorities
• Lead and develop a high-performing team across commercial analytics and vendor commercial management
• Monitor industry trends and emerging technologies to inform forward-looking vendor strategy and commercial models

Scope & Accountability

• Accountable for enterprise‑wide commercial outcomes across hardware and complex vendor agreements, including value realization, cost optimization, risk mitigation, and performance delivery
• Holds end‑to‑end commercial accountability for high‑value, multi‑year, and multi‑vendor contracts, from structuring and negotiation through governance, renewal, and exit
• Owns commercial decision‑making related to contract strategy, optimization levers, remediation actions, and renewal recommendations, in partnership with Procurement, Finance, Legal, and Technology
• Responsible for identifying and mitigating commercial, operational, and third‑party risk, including vendor concentration, lock‑in, resilience, and exit readiness
• Accountable for ensuring hardware investments align with business demand, capacity planning, and enterprise technology standards
• Defines and tracks success measures for the portfolio, including savings realized vs. negotiated, contractual compliance, risk reduction, and vendor performance outcomes
• Provides senior leadership with clear, fact‑based recommendations to enable informed decision‑making on vendor strategy, investment trade‑offs, and complex commercial structures

Required Qualifications

• 15+ years’ experience in vendor management, IT commercial management, sourcing, or technology operations
• Highly credible, hands-on vendor leader with the ability to deep-dive into products, commercials, and vendor capabilities
• Demonstrated experience managing vendors in large-scale, regulated, or complex enterprise environments
• Strong track record managing hardware vendors and hardware-centric commercial models
• Proven success negotiating complex, high-value, multi-year contracts
• Demonstrated delivery of material cost savings and value realization initiatives
• Experience with consumption-based and capacity-based hardware models
• Strong partnership experience with Legal, Procurement, Finance, and CISO
• Ability to interpret, structure, and govern complex contractual obligations
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to communicate clearly at executive level

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience transforming or scaling vendor management or commercial governance functions
• Technical knowledge of data center hardware lifecycles, enterprise storage, and network infrastructure
• Background in IT, engineering, or technology leadership
• Relevant certifications (e.g., ITIL, FinOps, cloud or infrastructure certifications)

Education:

• University degree or equivalent experience operating in a similar role

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Job Family Group:

Business Strategy, Management & Administration

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Job Family:

Business Execution & Administration

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Time Type:

Full time

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Primary Location:

New York New York United States

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Primary Location Full Time Salary Range:

$250,000.00 - $500,000.00

In addition to salary, Citi’s offerings may also include, for eligible employees, discretionary and formulaic incentive and retention awards. Citi offers competitive employee benefits, including: medical, dental & vision coverage; 401(k); life, accident, and disability insurance; and wellness programs. Citi also offers paid time off packages, including planned time off (vacation), unplanned time off (sick leave), and paid holidays. For additional information regarding Citi employee benefits, please visit citibenefits.com. Available offerings may vary by jurisdiction, job level, and date of hire.

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Most Relevant Skills

Please see the requirements listed above.

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Other Relevant Skills

For complementary skills, please see above and/or contact the recruiter.

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Anticipated Posting Close Date:

Aug 04, 2026

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Automated Processing and AI

We use automated processing, including artificial intelligence, for our legitimate business interests (or our reasonable and appropriate business purposes) to identify and align the candidate's skills and abilities with a specific job opening. Additionally, if you so choose, or consent, we can match your skills and abilities to other suitable roles at Citi.

 

Importantly, all our hiring processes and decisions, including determining your suitability for a role, are conducted, checked, and decided by individuals. Our automated processing and AI do not involve relying on automatic or autonomous decision-making. Please refer to any Jurisdictional Considerations, with specific provisions for your country (where relevant) for further details.

 

Illinois residents – AI Notice and Right

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Citi is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified candidates will receive consideration without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.

 

If you are a person with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation to use our search tools and/or apply for a career opportunity review Accessibility at Citi.

View Citi’s EEO Policy Statement and the Know Your Rights poster.