Manager, Vendor Partnerships

<h3><span style="color: rgb(18, 152, 138);"><strong>A little about us…&nbsp;</strong></span></h3> <p><a href="https://goknit.com/"><strong>Knit</strong></a> is the AI-native consumer research platform helping brands automate and accelerate primary research. With our Researcher-Driven AI, we’ve condensed the entire quant + qual research process from weeks into days (sometimes hours!) for 50+ enterprise brands — including Amazon, T-Mobile, Mars, NASCAR, and more. We’re on a mission to scale and democratize world-class research. From survey generation to stakeholder-ready reports, our platform is redefining how insights teams operate — and we need your help to push the limits of what’s possible.</p> <h3><span style="color: rgb(18, 152, 138);"><strong>Overview</strong></span></h3> <p>We are seeking a detail-oriented and analytically strong <strong>Vendor Partnerships Manager</strong> to lead and optimize relationships with external research partners, including panel providers, fieldwork agencies, and data partners. This role sits at the intersection of <strong>market research operations, commercial negotiations, and data-driven performance management</strong>, ensuring that vendor decisions are objective, scalable, and aligned with business outcomes.</p> <p>The ideal candidate will help create and use <strong>quantitative metrics, dashboards, and insights</strong> to evaluate vendor performance, drive continuous improvement, and inform strategic sourcing decisions.</p> <h3><span style="color: rgb(45, 194, 107);"><strong><span style="color: rgb(18, 152, 138);">Responsibilities | What you will own...</span><br></strong></span></h3> <h4><strong>Vendor Strategy &amp; Governance</strong></h4> <ul> <li>With support from the Senior Research Operations, own the relationships with market research vendors, including outreach,&nbsp; selection, onboarding, contracting, performance management, and renewal decisions.</li> <li>Develop and maintain a structured vendor governance framework with clearly defined SLAs, KPIs, and escalation paths.</li> <li>Act as the primary point of contact between internal stakeholders (research, insights, operations, legal and procurement) and external research vendors.</li> </ul> <h4><strong>Data-Driven Vendor Performance Management</strong></h4> <ul> <li>Define, track, and analyze vendor performance metrics such as data quality, sample feasibility and reach, turnaround time, cost efficiency, fraud rates, and respondent experience.</li> <li>Work with Product and Engineering to build and maintain data connections, dashboards and scorecards to enable objective, data-backed vendor evaluations.&nbsp;</li> <li>Run regular discussions with partners to ensure that feedback is transmitted promptly and objectively.</li> <li>Use historical data and trend analysis to inform vendor selection, volume allocation, and consolidation decisions.</li> <li>Proactively identify performance risks and optimization opportunities using quantitative insights.</li> </ul> <h4><strong>Commercial &amp; Financial Management</strong></h4> <ul> <li>Support in pricing discussions and contract negotiations using benchmarking, historical spend analysis, and ROI evaluation.</li> <li>Monitor vendor spend, forecast costs, and identify savings opportunities through data-led optimization.</li> <li>Ensure financial transparency, accurate invoicing, and adherence to contractual terms.</li> <li>Standardize the reconciliation process across vendors to the best degree possible and maintain records to measure the cost of bad data.</li> </ul> <h4><strong>Market Research Operations Support</strong></h4> <ul> <li>Partner closely with research and operations teams to match vendors to project requirements based on performance data and past outcomes.</li> <li>Support feasibility assessments and fieldwork planning using vendor-level and market-level data.</li> <li>Ensure vendors comply with research methodologies, quality standards, and data privacy regulations.</li> </ul> <h4><strong>Continuous Improvement &amp; Process Excellence</strong></h4> <ul> <li>Drive continuous improvement initiatives by translating vendor performance data into actionable recommendations.</li> <li>Work closely with the Research Operations and Product &amp; Engineering teams to build scalable systems for Vendor management and creating a feasibility engine to establish IR, Max feasibility and time in field for a particular product set of inputs</li> <li>Standardize vendor evaluation processes, reporting frameworks, and decision criteria.</li> <li>Stay current on panel industry trends, new vendors, and emerging data quality practices.</li> </ul> <h3><span style="color: rgb(18, 152, 138);"><strong>Required Skills &amp; Experiences</strong></span></h3> <p><strong>Required:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Bachelor’s/Masters degree in Business, Economics, Statistics, or a related field.</li> <li>5+ years of experience in panel management, procurement, or operations within <strong>market research, insights, or data services</strong>.</li> <li>Proven experience using <strong>data and metrics</strong> to drive vendor decisions and operational improvements.</li> <li>Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret complex datasets and translate insights into decisions.</li> <li>Experience working with research vendors such as panel providers, fieldwork agencies, or data suppliers.</li> <li>Experience with survey platforms, panel management tools, and research quality frameworks.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Nice to Haves</strong></p> <ul> <li>Proficiency in Excel/Google Sheets; experience with BI tools (Tableau, Power BI, Looker) is a strong plus.</li> <li>Strong negotiation, stakeholder management, and communication skills.</li> <li>Ability to balance qualitative judgment with quantitative evidence in decision making.</li> </ul> <p><strong>What Success Looks Like</strong></p> <ul> <li>Vendor decisions are consistently backed by clear data and performance metrics.</li> <li>Improved data quality, audience reach, faster turnaround times, and optimized research costs.</li> <li>Transparent, scalable vendor processes that support business growth.</li> <li>Strong, accountable vendor partnerships driven by measurable outcomes.</li> </ul> <h3><span style="color: rgb(18, 152, 138);"><strong>Benefits</strong></span></h3> <p>Upon joining the Knit team, you will receive a competitive salary + Equity Options if applicable to role, Healthcare Coverage, a company-issued laptop, contributions to the Employee Provident Fund (EPF), holiday time-off, and more!</p> <h3><span style="color: rgb(18, 152, 138);"><strong>Our Company Values</strong></span></h3> <p><strong>We are the Championship Team. This means we:</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Are 1% better every day: </strong>We approach situations with a growth mindset and ask, “How can we make the business better?” and “What would it take?”&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Play to win: </strong>We set audacious goals and push ourselves to achieve them with a bias towards action&nbsp; (When we see a need, we take initiative, and hold ourselves accountable to seeing it through).</li> <li><strong>Keep the main thing the main thing:</strong> Identify what has the biggest impact and prioritize to focus on it.</li> </ul><div class="content-conclusion"><p>Knit Privacy Policy <a href="https://goknit.com/privacy-policy" target="_blank">here.</a></p> <p>CCPA disclosure <a href="https://goknit.com/notice-at-collection" target="_blank">here</a>.&nbsp;</p></div>