Data Vendor Analyst

**About Columbia Threadneedle Investments**
What working at Columbia Threadneedle offers....
Working at Columbia Threadneedle Investments you'll find the promise we make to our clients is the same one we make to our employees**:Your success is our priority.**
Here, you'll find growth and career opportunities across all of our businesses. We're intentionally built to help you succeed. Our reach is expansive with a global team of 2,000 people working together. Our expertise is diverse with more than 450 investmentprofessionals sharing global perspectives across all major asset classes and markets. Our clients have access to a broad array of investment strategies, and we have the capability to create bespoke solutions matched to clients' specific requirements.
**Job Purpose Statement**
Where you'll fit in & what our team goals are...
Working as part of a global team to oversee and provide high-quality, cost effective market data vendor management for multiple internal teams across EMEA and APAC. Maintain all aspects of assigned Market Data contracts and services in MDM (Market Data Servicesoftware) including renewals, financial reporting, monitoring usage and licensing requirements.
**Role Responsibilities**
How you'll spend your time...
Provide vendor management services across over 60 suppliers as detailed below:
**Cost Control**:

- Manage an inventory of services and associated costs
- Provide regular and ad-hoc analysis of actual, planned and budgeted expenditure
- Independently lead budgetary management process; including periodic forecasting, analysis of actual, planned, and budgeted expenditure and detailed level financial reporting
- Identify and execute cost savings and cost avoidance through the contract renewal cycle

**Quality Control**:

- Maintain working relationships with suppliers
- Own and manage all aspects of Operations and Investments Vendor contracts and services in MDM including new requests, contract renewals, contract cancellations, reporting, and usage management
- Develop new reporting requirements and identifies enhancements to existing reporting practices
- Maintain information on service measures, issue logs and contribute to an ongoing process of evaluating service quality
- Plan, arrange, attend, and chair meetings with vendors
- Work with legal and finance to ensure effective controls over key documentation (contracts, Service Level Agreement [SLA] etc)
- Participate in Vendor Risk Assessment (VRA) calls and manage all subsequent actions with vendors through to completion in a timely fashion

**User Support**:

- Maintain relationships with service owners in the business, understanding current perceptions of supplier services and priorities for change
- Ensure information on supplier issues or changes are communicated appropriately within the business
- Manage individual interactions with business partners and collaborate with the internal peers to drive process enhancements, participation on audits, installations, service removals, and system improvements
- Manage the delivery of services to end users via co-ordination of training and the roll-out of new services
- Advise users on information/data resources available to them through existing and possible licences
- Liaise with Technology to ensure upgrades and enhancements are rolled out effectively

**Licence management**:

- Maintain a catalogue of data licences, permitted and non permitted use
- Provide support on queries on standard contractual terms and conditions
- Provide advice on permitted usage of data and communication to users to ensure any constraints are understood and adhered to

**Service changes and procurement**:

- Manage change request process, ensuring policies and processes for service change requests and procurement are followed
- Participate and lead project activities that require 3rd party data, these can vary from leading small initiatives to being part of global transformation projects

**Key Capabilities**
To be successful in this role you will have...- Proven track record of achievement in a supplier management role, ideally dealing with Market Data services to a financial services organisation
- Commercial skills (experience in contract negotiation, contract content, SLA structure and general procurement process)
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both verbal and written
- Strong communication and influencing skills across varying leadership levels
- Tenacious self-starter able to work to a demanding schedule and deliver to specific deadlines
- Industry knowledge of data vendors, products and services is required
- Proven ability to create meaningful data analysis and metrics to support business needs.
- Strong Excel skills (including the use of formulas and functions)
- Graduate calibre (2:1 preferred)

**Desired Capabilities**
If you also had this, it would be great...- Previous experience of MDSL (Market Data Service Ltd) or similar market data management tools