The Senior Planner, Vendor Partnerships role is essential to the successful delivery of Gartner’s conference services sourcing strategy. This role involves collaborating with internal conference team members to determine scope requirements, negotiate cost effective solutions and project manage vendor sourcing activities. The focus is on securing favorable contract terms, building foundational vendor relationships and contributing to the successful delivery of conference services.Primary Responsiblities:Partner cross-functionally with internal stakeholders i.e. logistics, exhibitor operations, financial management and procurement stakeholders to understand business needs. Take the time to understand the business context, market dynamics, and vendor landscape before helping define complex requirements and identify vendors with the scale to support Gartner’s Conferences strategy. Support the analysis to aid in the management and selection of the best vendors for our conferences by assessing capabilities, commercial models, service quality, pricing, risks, and strategic fit. Abide by Gartner’s contract processes and policies, negotiate vendor pricing and business terms that minimize the risk, improve value, and reflect the operational realities of the relevant market while delivering increased value to the business. Coordinate the end-to-end contract management process, driving timelines, deliverables, and approvals to support timely contract execution. Develop strong relationships with contacts to ensure high-quality standards are maintained, company expectations are met, and lines of communication are open by listening patiently to different perspectives, and building trust both internally and externally. Support global conference services vendor consolidation initiatives by helping streamline the vendor base and identify opportunities to better leverage Gartner’s spend, purchasing power, and vendor relationships. Contribute to continuous improvement t
