Sr Manager, Technology VMO Strategic Operations

Job ID 10112293 Location Burbank, California, United States Business The Walt Disney Company (Corporate) Date posted Feb. 14, 2025

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Job Summary:

At Disney, we’re storytellers. We make the impossible, possible. The Walt Disney Company is a world-class entertainment and technological leader. Walt’s passion was to continuously envision new ways to move audiences around the world—a passion that remains our touchstone in an enterprise that stretches from theme parks, resorts and a cruise line to sports, news, movies and a variety of other businesses. Uniting each endeavor is a commitment to creating and delivering unforgettable experiences — and we’re constantly looking for new ways to enhance these exciting experiences.

The Enterprise Technology mission is to deliver technology solutions that align to business strategies while enabling enterprise efficiency and promoting cross-company collaborative innovation. Our group drives competitive advantage by enhancing our consumer experiences, enabling business growth, and advancing operational excellence.

The Technology Process and Performance organization partners across all organizations to drive process efficiencies and effectiveness by measuring the organization's performance and driving excellence. As part of the TP&P team, the Vendor Management Office (VMO) is dedicated to enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of vendor-related processes across our organization. As part of this mission, the VMO aims to leverage data-driven insights to optimize vendor management, streamline operations, and support informed decision-making. The Data Product Analyst will play a critical role in this vision by supporting the development and maintenance of data products, ensuring accurate and timely data integration, and helping to deliver valuable insights to key stakeholders.

The Senior Manager, Strategic Operations is responsible for thought partnership, strategy development and execution, and key program ownership of complex large-scale VMO strategies and programs across a diverse portfolio of technology domains with a focus on vendor optimization supporting all aspects of Enterprise Technology and in partnership with Segments including:

Align strategic vendor agreements (modernize rate cards, services, reporting needs, etc.)
Drive outsourcing optimization and managing the change across Enterprise Technology
Identifying and activating efforts to eliminate small vendors, shift to MOSA partners, and offshoring.
Stakeholder management and strategic vendor relationship management

Key Areas of Responsibilities

Collaborates across teams and stakeholders to create the holistic vendor sourcing and resource optimization strategy that defines business objectives / outcomes, success measurements, and aligns with the Enterprise Technology/Corporate objectives.
Participate in and drive effective strategy and program execution, ensure planning, value assessment, negotiation tactics, quality assessment, and technical fit with complete transparency and communication of direction, change, risks, and issues with the goal of removing blockers for teams to be successful. Escalates promptly to drive deliverables.
Collaborates with technology teams, sourcing, finance and leadership to analyze and manage strategies, efficiencies, and impacts.
Provide leadership and guidance, evaluating vendor strategies and measurement. Collaborates with teams to assess risks and create mitigation plans.
Identifies and executes deliverables by working with teams to drive defined outcomes, assess impact and communicate with leadership, and appropriate stakeholders.
Collaborates with and enables functional teams through high-priority, complex vendor management, which often require high levels of organizational savvy, negotiation skills, financial acumen, and deep technical knowledge.
Work with VMO Leadership to develop and execute VMO strategies, plans and deliverables with cross discipline teams.
Collaborate alignment on processes and/or tools.

Required Skills

10+ years of relevant work experience in technology, including experience in vendor negotiations and management.
Have extensive previous and proven technology expertise, vendor and sourcing knowledge, and proven leadership experience, to align and motivate teams to develop and produce quality outcomes driving business value.
Deep understanding of vendor management, sourcing and legal domain components, including ecosystems of tools/vendors, architecture, technology landscape, and deployment practices.
Experience in managing large and complex strategic vendors contracts. Brings deep understanding of different types of vendor operating models.
Highly effective at collaboration and interaction with technology teams, corporate business units, segments, finance, and sourcing, including senior leadership.
Successfully operate in a highly matrix organizational system where partnership and influence are key drivers of success.
Experience operating within large scale complex transformation programs.
Demonstrate ability to successfully drive change and transformation in our engagement with key strategic vendors to improve customer experience while driving optimization and efficiencies.
Demonstrates an ability to employ critical thinking to manage issues to optimize delivery.
Proven experience as a functional leader who provides guidance and recommendations with at least 5-8 years of experience in leading large, multidisciplinary efforts across a large-scale matrix organization.
Proven facilitator that can lead meetings and workshops driving commitments, accountability, and deliverables.
Demonstrated exceptional critical thinking, strategic planning, and process management skills.
Demonstrated strong financial, analytic, and problem-solving skills to achieve business results.
Strong interpersonal, organizational, and communication skills and the ability to work effectively across a wide range of constituencies.
Ability to communicate effectively to executive leadership in both business and technology roles.
Excellent organizational, communication and time management skills.

Preferred Skills

Experience with leading or managing complex vendor services transition.
Experience with complex contract billing structures (Fixed vs. Variables and Resource Units measurement), and deep expertise in process and tools leveraged for vendor reporting and invoicing.

Education

BA/BS in technology management, business, computer science, other tech field or equivalent work experience.
Preferred, MBA or equivalent advance degree and/or experience

#DISNEYTECH

The hiring range for this position in California is $167,700.00 - $224,900.00 per year. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.

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About The Walt Disney Company (Corporate):

At Disney Corporate you can see how the businesses behind the Company’s powerful brands come together to create the most innovative, far-reaching and admired entertainment company in the world. As a member of a corporate team, you’ll work with world-class leaders driving the strategies that keep The Walt Disney Company at the leading edge of entertainment. See and be seen by other innovative thinkers as you enable the greatest storytellers in the world to create memories for millions of families around the globe.

About The Walt Disney Company:

The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise that includes three core business segments: Disney Entertainment, ESPN, and Disney Experiences. From humble beginnings as a cartoon studio in the 1920s to its preeminent name in the entertainment industry today, Disney proudly continues its legacy of creating world-class stories and experiences for every member of the family. Disney’s stories, characters and experiences reach consumers and guests from every corner of the globe. With operations in more than 40 countries, our employees and cast members work together to create entertainment experiences that are both universally and locally cherished.

This position is with Disney Worldwide Services, Inc., which is part of a business we call The Walt Disney Company (Corporate).

Disney Worldwide Services, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, military or veteran status, medical condition, genetic information or disability, or any other basis prohibited by federal, state or local law. Disney champions a business environment where ideas and decisions from all people help us grow, innovate, create the best stories and be relevant in a constantly evolving world.

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Hiring Process

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Explore this Location Burbank, CA

Billed as the "Media Capital of the World," Burbank boasts more than 1,000 media and entertainment companies, including the main headquarters for The Walt Disney Company.