Vendor Management Office Lead
About this role
Vendor Management Office (VMO) Lead
Location: Newham / Hybrid
Day Rate: £650 per day
IR35 Status: Outside IR35
Contract Length: Initial 6 months (with opportunity to extend)
Industry: Education / Public Sector
Discipline: Change and Transformation / Vendor Management
About Us
We are Bridge Staffing Agency, a dedicated recruitment partner committed to connecting exceptional talent with organizations where they can make a lasting impact. We take pride in building collaborative relationships and tailoring our search solutions to your professional goals, your pace, and your people.
The Opportunity
We are partnering with a well-known university to recruit an experienced Vendor Management Office (VMO) Lead on an initial 6-month contract as part of a large-scale institutional transformation programme.
This is a hands-on, build-focused assignment rather than a steady-state run role. You will be responsible for designing, building, and mobilizing the VMO from scratch to govern the university’s relationship with its strategic Managed Service Provider (MSP). Your primary mandate is to establish robust governance frameworks, commercial routines, and retained operating structures, ultimately handing over a fully documented, operational function to permanent leadership.
Key Responsibilities
Design the VMO target operating model, defining service boundaries, governance structures, and interfaces across Procurement, Finance, Legal, Technology, and HR.
Establish the contract management framework covering obligations management, variations, change control, charging model validation, and exit provisions.
Build comprehensive performance management frameworks, including SLAs, KPIs, XLAs, reporting scorecards, and service credit remediation processes.
Design the governance calendar and forum structure ranging from operational reviews to executive relationship boards.
Establish vendor risk, compliance, due diligence, and audit routines across security, data protection, and financial controls.
Govern MSP delivery against transition plans, providing independent readiness assurance at each transition gate.
Produce a complete VMO handbook, playbooks, and template library, running the function in shadow mode before delivering a structured handover to permanent leadership.
What We’re Looking For
Essential: Demonstrable, hands-on experience designing and standing up a VMO, SIAM, or equivalent retained governance function from scratch.
Strong background in MSP or BPO contract mobilisation, transition governance, and service acceptance.
Advanced contract and commercial capability, including obligations management, charging model validation, and SLA/XLA framework design.
Proven experience in vendor risk, compliance, assurance, and audit routines.
Excellent stakeholder management skills with the executive presence to hold major suppliers to account on evidence.
Ability to work at pace and produce fully documented, transferable artefacts suitable for immediate operational use.
Desirable: Prior experience within Higher Education or the wider public sector, multi-vendor SIAM environments, or relevant professional certifications (WorldCC/IACCM, CIPS, ITIL).