Talent Acquisition Vendor Manager, NA

Vantage Data Centers powers, cools, protects and connects the technology of the world's well-known hyperscalers, cloud providers and large enterprises. Developing and operating across North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific, Vantage has evolved data center design in innovative ways to deliver dramatic gains in reliability, efficiency and sustainability in flexible environments that can scale as quickly as the market demands.

People & Culture Department

The People & Culture (P&C) Team at Vantage is lean, effective, well-respected, and growing, with the vision of designing and ensuring an exceptional employee experience from application to alumnus. The team is distinguished by its innovative and strategic approach, working in close partnership with business leaders to develop practical and business-minded solutions that keep the development and growth of our people at the center. Each member of our P&C team plays a pivotal role on the team and in the business. Trust, Agility, Respect, and Accountability are the Vantage core values-and we seek to live every value, every day, while thinking creatively to make Vantage the employer of choice and power our people.

Position Overview

This role will be based at our site in Shackelford County, Texas or Port Washington, Wisconsin.

Vantage is seeking a highly skilled Talent Acquisition Vendor Manager to oversee and optimize our external recruitment partnerships and talent acquisition technology stack. This individual will be responsible for managing our RPO provider, staffing agency relationships, and technology vendor ecosystem to ensure best-in-class delivery, cost-effectiveness, and strategic alignment with our hiring needs. The ideal candidate will bring strong vendor management expertise, contract negotiation skills, and an ability to evaluate vendor performance against business goals.

Essential Job Functions

Vendor & Partner Management

• Oversee the relationship, governance, and performance management of our RPO provider.
• Manage a portfolio of staffing agency partners, including contract negotiations, fee structures, performance scorecards, and capability evaluations.
• Introduce and onboard new agency partners in alignment with business needs across all Vantage departments where prompted.
• Lead vendor business reviews, ensuring alignment on SLAs, KPIs, diversity goals, and delivery standards.
• Move with agility on vendor engagements to support hiring at scale, while maintaining the highest emphasis on identifying quality talent.
• Ensure correct and accurate processing for invoices submitted upon successful placements.
• Partner with Legal and Procurement to review agreements, pricing, contract renewals, risk mitigation, and budget allocations.
• Benchmark market pricing for agencies, RPOs, and tech vendors to ensure competitive rates.
• Assist internal team in ensuring vendors complete third-party risk management prior to business partnership commencing.
• Monitor a vendor inbox to field, respond, and direct inquiries/submittals where necessary.
• Assess agency and RPO candidate submissions to ensure alignment with hiring requirements, redirecting efforts where needed.
• Provide guidance to recruiters and vendors on the types of candidates most likely to succeed, ensuring the team's time is focused on high-value pipelines.
• Monitor vendors to ensure alignment in working directly through Vantage Talent Acquisition to streamline staffing engagements.
• Establish and maintain a Preferred Supplier List (PSL) for permanent-placement agencies, including entry/exit criteria, performance scorecards, and corrective-action plans.
• Negotiate direct-hire agency agreements-fee structures, candidate ownership terms, and replacement guarantees-to ensure cost-effective, high-quality hires.
• Integrate agency partners into the ATS for requisition routing, candidate submittals, and invoicing automation.

Strategic & Operational Leadership

• Provide data-driven recommendations to optimize partner mix, spend, and delivery.
• Collaborate with TA leadership and business stakeholders to forecast hiring demand and align vendor capacity.
• Ensure compliance with company policies, data privacy, and legal requirements in all vendor engagements.
• Own the annual agency spend budget for permanent placements; track cost-per-hire, time-to-fill, and quality-of-hire to drive continuous improvement and cost savings.

Stakeholder Partnership

• Partner closely with TA, HR, and business leaders to understand hiring needs and translate them into vendor strategies.
• Act as escalation point between recruiters/hiring managers and external vendors.
• Train TA team members on best practices for engaging with external vendors.
• Train recruiters and hiring managers on use of the Preferred Supplier List and best practices for engaging direct-hire agencies.

Reporting & Analytics

• Provide regular reporting to TA and HR leadership on vendor performance, cost savings, ROI, and pipeline delivery.
• Share data-driven recommendations to optimize partner mix, delivery, and spend.
• Analyze market trends and external candidate flow data to provide insights to the business (comp, availability, sourcing challenges).
• Identify gaps in coverage (markets, roles, skill sets) and propose vendor or tech solutions to drive efficiency gains.
• Produce monthly reports on agency ROI (hires per vendor, spend vs. benchmark, quality-of-hire metrics) to inform executive decision-making.
• Monitor and report on market trends in direct-hire search fees and candidate availability to ensure competitive positioning.

Job Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in Talent Acquisition, Vendor Management, or Procurement, with experiences in RPO/MSP or staffing agency environments preferred.
• Familiarity with specialized industries (Construction, Engineering, EH&S, Energy, Operations) preferred.
• Experience with ATS/HRIS and sourcing tools required.
• Strong knowledge of recruiting lifecycles, trends, and experience working in a scaling businesses.
• Proven experience negotiating contracts, pricing models, and service agreements.
• Exceptional relationship management, communication, and influencing skills.
• Data-driven mindset with ability to analyze vendor performance metrics and present insights.
• Proactive, resourceful, and able to thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth, environment.
• Demonstrated ability to manage co-employment risk, worker classification, and other reporting requirements
• Proven success negotiating permanent-placement agreements and driving measurable reductions in agency spend while maintaining quality.
• Familiarity with data-privacy and compliance considerations for agency-submitted candidate information

Physical Demands and Special Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to handle, or feel objects; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; balance; stoop or kneel; talk and hear. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.

Additional Details

• This position is eligible for company benefits including but not limited to medical, dental, and vision coverage, life and AD&D, short and long-term disability coverage, paid time off, employee assistance, participation in a 401k program that includes company match, and many other additional voluntary benefits.
• Compensation for the role will depend on a number of factors, including your qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience and may fall outside of the range shown.

#LI-CC1

We operate with No Ego and No Arrogance. We work to build each other up and support one another, appreciating each other's strengths and respecting each other's weaknesses. We find joy in our work and each other, actively seeking opportunities to inject fun into what we do. Our hard and efficient work is rewarded with an above market total compensation package. We offer a comprehensive suite of health and welfare, retirement, and paid leave benefits exceeding local expectations.

Throughout the year, the advantage of being part of the Vantage team is evident with an array of benefits, recognition, training and development, and the knowledge that your contribution adds value to the company and our community.

Don't meet all the requirements? Please still apply if you think you are the right person for the position. We are always keen to speak to people who connect with our mission and values.

Vantage Data Centers is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Vantage Data Centers does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firm agencies. Fees will not be paid in the event a candidate submitted by a recruiter without an agreement in place is hired; such resumes will be deemed the sole property of Vantage Data Centers.

We'll be accepting applications for at least one week from the date this role is posted. If you're interested, we encourage you to apply soon-we're excited to find the right person and will keep the role open until we do!