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Program Manager – Telecom Contract & Vendor Lifecycle Management

Location: San-Francisco, Bay Area, CA – Hybrid (3 days On-site) OR Seattle, WA – Hybrid with approximately 50% travel.

Work Model: Preferred Onsite

Employment Type: Long-Term Contract (12–18 Months)

Experience: 8+ Years

Domain: Telecom | Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) | Telecom Expense Management (TEM) | Vendor & Spend Management

Company Overview

Our client is a leading Data, AI, and Enterprise Architecture services organization focused on helping enterprises build the trusted context required to scale modern AI initiatives.

The organization works across modern data foundations, enterprise data architecture, integration, semantic layers, knowledge graphs, GraphRAG, ontologies, metadata, intelligent automation, and production-grade AI systems.

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced Program Manager – Telecom Contract & Vendor Lifecycle Management to support a strategic enterprise engagement.

The ideal candidate will bring strong program management capabilities combined with hands-on expertise in telecom contract lifecycle management, telecom expense management (TEM), vendor management, billing, inventory, and spend optimization.

This role will be responsible for managing telecom contracts, carrier and vendor relationships, billing processes, telecom inventory, service-level performance, and cost optimization across a large and complex enterprise telecom environment.

The successful candidate will work closely with Procurement, Legal, Finance, Technology, and business stakeholders to ensure contractual compliance, operational efficiency, vendor accountability, and optimized telecom spend.

Key Responsibilities

Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM)

• Own the end-to-end lifecycle of telecom vendor and carrier agreements, including drafting, negotiation, execution, amendments, renewals, and closeout.
• Lead commercial negotiations with telecom vendors and carriers to secure favorable pricing, terms, service levels, and contractual commitments.
• Proactively manage contract renewals, key dates, obligations, notice periods, and renegotiation windows to prevent lapses or unfavorable auto-renewals.
• Maintain a centralized and well-governed repository of contracts, amendments, statements of work, and supporting documentation.
• Ensure appropriate documentation, approvals, audit trails, and governance throughout the contract lifecycle.
• Identify contractual risks and opportunities for commercial improvement.

Telecom Expense Management (TEM) & Billing

• Oversee Telecom Expense Management (TEM) processes, including telecom spend tracking, allocation, forecasting, and reporting.
• Manage telecom billing and invoice management workflows across carriers and vendors.
• Validate invoices against contractual rates, services, and usage; identify and resolve billing discrepancies.
• Coordinate with Accounts Payable/Receivable and Finance teams on telecom-related billing and payment activities.
• Conduct regular spend analysis to identify cost trends, anomalies, leakage, and optimization opportunities.
• Drive telecom cost optimization initiatives, including rate negotiations, service consolidation, elimination of unused services, and identification of duplicate or unnecessary charges.
• Develop reporting and dashboards to provide visibility into telecom spend and financial performance.

Telecom Inventory & Vendor Management

• Maintain accurate inventory of telecom assets, services, circuits, lines, and associated vendor/carrier information.
• Manage relationships with telecom carriers, vendors, and service providers across a multi-vendor environment.
• Monitor vendor performance against contractual commitments and Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
• Establish and maintain vendor performance metrics, scorecards, governance routines, and corrective-action processes.
• Serve as a key escalation point for vendor performance issues, service disruptions, billing concerns, and contractual matters.
• Partner with internal technology and operations teams to ensure telecom inventory accurately reflects active services and business requirements.

Dispute Resolution & Governance

• Lead resolution of telecom vendor disputes, including billing discrepancies, service credits, contractual disagreements, and performance issues.
• Establish governance frameworks, reporting cadences, escalation mechanisms, and operating procedures for contract and vendor management.
• Partner with Legal, Procurement, Finance, Technology, and other stakeholders to ensure contractual, financial, operational, and regulatory compliance.
• Identify and mitigate contractual, vendor, financial, and operational risks.
• Provide executive-level reporting and insights on contract status, vendor performance, telecom spend, savings opportunities, and risk exposure.
• Drive continuous improvement across telecom contract, vendor, billing, and expense management processes.

Areas of Knowledge

The candidate should have a strong understanding of:

• Line Provisioning and Order-to-Activate processes
• Line Decommissioning and Reclamation
• Telecom Invoicing, Billing, and Cost Assurance
• Contracting and Commercial Management
• Telecom Vendor and Carrier Management
• Aggregator Management
• Telecom Intake and Request Management
• Policy, Governance, and Compliance
• Telecom Inventory and Service Management
• Telecom Spend Optimization and Cost Controls

Required Experience & Skills

• 8+ years of experience in Program Management, Telecom Contract Management, Telecom Expense Management, Vendor Management, or related disciplines.
• Proven experience managing the end-to-end Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) process, including contract negotiations, renewals, amendments, and closeout.
• Strong experience with Telecom Expense Management (TEM), telecom billing, invoice validation, cost assurance, and spend analysis.
• Hands-on experience managing telecom vendor/carrier relationships within an enterprise environment.
• Experience managing telecom inventory, including assets, services, circuits, lines, and related service information.
• Demonstrated experience managing vendor SLAs, performance metrics, escalations, and corrective actions.
• Proven track record of driving telecom cost optimization and savings initiatives across large and complex telecom portfolios.
• Strong analytical, negotiation, problem-solving, and stakeholder management capabilities.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to present complex financial, contractual, and operational information to senior leadership.
• Ability to work effectively across Legal, Procurement, Finance, Technology, Network Operations, and business teams.
• Strong program governance, documentation, reporting, and organizational skills.

Preferred / Nice-to-Have

• Experience with Telecom Expense Management platforms such as Asignet, Tangoe, Calero, MOBI, Cass Information Systems, or similar tools.
• Familiarity with telecom carrier ecosystems, BSS/OSS platforms, and enterprise network services.
• Experience working in large-scale, multi-vendor telecom environments.
• Experience supporting enterprise telecom transformation, optimization, or consolidation initiatives.
• PMP, CSM, or similar program/project management certification.
• Prior experience supporting Fortune 500, large enterprise, or hyperscale environments.
• Experience working with telecom procurement, sourcing, commercial negotiations, and vendor governance.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a strategic yet hands-on telecom program manager who can operate across contract management, vendor governance, telecom expense management, billing, inventory, and cost optimization.

The individual should be comfortable managing multiple stakeholders and vendors, analyzing telecom spend and contracts, identifying operational and commercial risks, driving resolution of complex issues, and communicating actionable insights to executive leadership.