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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Outsourcing Assistant

💰 $40,000 - $65,000

OperationsVendor ManagementAdministration

🎯 Role Definition

The Outsourcing Assistant supports end-to-end outsourced service delivery by coordinating vendors, monitoring SLAs, managing contracts and onboarding, and ensuring high-quality, cost-effective outcomes. The role requires strong vendor management, operational coordination, data-driven reporting, and cross-functional communication skills to keep outsourcing arrangements aligned with business objectives and compliance requirements.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Administrative Assistant (Operations-focused)
  • Customer Service Representative transitioning to vendor coordination
  • Procurement or Purchasing Assistant

Advancement To:

  • Outsourcing Coordinator / Vendor Coordinator
  • Vendor Manager / Procurement Specialist
  • Service Delivery Manager / Operations Manager

Lateral Moves:

  • Supplier Relationship Analyst
  • Contract Administrator
  • Quality Assurance Coordinator

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Coordinate day-to-day interactions with external vendors and outsourcing partners, serving as the primary operational contact to manage assignments, confirm scope, and follow up on deliverables to ensure timely execution and alignment with business requirements.
  • Assist in vendor selection by supporting RFP/RFQ processes: prepare documentation, collect and analyze supplier responses, compare commercial terms, and provide structured recommendations for vendor shortlisting.
  • Maintain and administer outsourcing contracts and service agreements, including tracking start/end dates, renewal options, statement-of-work amendments, and ensuring contractual obligations are documented and adhered to.
  • Monitor vendor performance against agreed SLAs and KPIs; aggregate performance data, investigate exceptions, prepare root-cause summaries, and propose corrective action plans to improve service delivery and avoid SLA breaches.
  • Manage and execute vendor onboarding and offboarding processes: collect compliance documents (insurance, certifications), set up access in internal systems, coordinate initial training, and ensure a smooth operational transition.
  • Reconcile vendor invoices, validate billable activities against contract terms and timesheets, liaise with finance for approvals, and support month-end accruals and dispute resolution to ensure accurate cost tracking.
  • Prepare operational dashboards, weekly and monthly performance reports, and executive summaries using Excel, Google Sheets, or BI tools for stakeholders to drive data-informed decision-making.
  • Facilitate cross-functional communication between procurement, legal, finance, HR and business units to align outsourcing activities with internal policies, budget constraints and strategic priorities.
  • Track and escalate risks and contractual non-compliance issues to the Outsourcing Manager or Legal team, maintain a risk register, and coordinate mitigation activities to reduce supplier-related business exposure.
  • Support continuous improvement initiatives by documenting process maps, drafting SOPs, facilitating lessons-learned workshops, and implementing small-scale process changes to increase efficiency and reduce vendor costs.
  • Maintain a central repository of vendor documentation, contract artifacts, performance histories and audit trails to support compliance audits and quick retrieval of information during vendor reviews.
  • Conduct regular supplier business reviews (SBRs) preparation and participation: compile operational metrics, present performance trends, and coordinate action items with vendors to drive accountability.
  • Support capacity planning and workforce coordination for outsourced teams, including shift scheduling, surge staffing requests, contractor onboarding, and monitoring resource utilization to meet service requirements.
  • Manage operational tickets or task queues assigned to outsourced teams, prioritize workload in collaboration with business owners, and follow up to ensure closure within agreed response and resolution times.
  • Execute ad-hoc procurement tasks for outsourcing arrangements such as purchasing tools, vendor-provided software licenses or equipment, and ensure procurement requests are tracked and reconciled.
  • Maintain data integrity and confidentiality across vendor systems by enforcing access controls, supporting periodic access reviews, and ensuring outsourcing partners comply with company data protection policies.
  • Assist with vendor dispute resolution and escalation handling by collecting required evidence, coordinating interviews with relevant internal stakeholders, and tracking resolution timelines until closure.
  • Support audits and compliance checks by gathering supplier information, answering auditor queries, and ensuring corrective actions from previous audits are closed and verified.
  • Drive cost optimization by identifying opportunities for volume discounts, consolidated billing, renegotiation of pricing tiers, and suggesting alternative sourcing options to reduce outsourced spend.
  • Facilitate vendor training programs and knowledge transfer sessions, scheduling materials, tracking attendance, and ensuring outsourced teams receive the necessary operational and compliance training.
  • Maintain and update SLA templates, scorecards and performance measurement frameworks to reflect evolving business needs and to standardize performance assessment across vendors.
  • Coordinate technology integrations and data exchanges with vendor platforms, support data mapping activities, and liaise with IT to ensure secure and reliable connectivity for seamless outsourcing operations.
  • Conduct baseline operational audits and process quality checks, document findings, and collaborate with vendors to implement corrective action plans that measurably improve process quality.
  • Support change management activities related to outsourcing, including communications, stakeholder briefings, and helping vendors adapt to new processes, tools, or organizational structures.
  • Track and report on vendor onboarding KPIs such as time-to-live, time-to-productivity, and first-time-right rates, recommending process enhancements to accelerate ramp-up and improve quality.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
  • Assist in preparing business cases or ROI analyses for proposed outsourcing initiatives by gathering cost estimates and operational assumptions.
  • Provide administrative backup for procurement and contract administration activities, including filing, version control, and tracking approval status.
  • Help maintain vendor contact lists, escalation matrices and communication logs to ensure rapid issue resolution and consistent stakeholder engagement.
  • Participate in cross-departmental projects that touch outsourced functions, providing vendor context and coordinating external resource contributions.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Vendor management and supplier coordination: ability to manage day-to-day vendor relationships, hold vendors accountable to SLAs, and run supplier business reviews.
  • Contract administration: track, interpret and enforce commercial terms, SOWs, NDAs and renewal clauses.
  • Invoice reconciliation and basic accounting processes: validate invoices, manage disputes and liaise with finance for accurate payment processing.
  • Strong Excel and spreadsheet modeling: VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, pivot tables, conditional formatting, and data validation for reporting and reconciliation tasks.
  • Familiarity with ERP / procurement systems (e.g., SAP, Oracle, Coupa, Ariba) to create purchase orders, track invoices, and manage supplier data.
  • Reporting and dashboarding: experience building operational reports in Google Sheets, Excel, or BI tools (Power BI, Tableau, Looker) to monitor KPIs.
  • SLA and KPI tracking: design scorecards, calculate compliance metrics, and interpret performance data to drive vendor improvement.
  • Basic data analysis: ability to manipulate datasets, perform trend analysis, and prepare actionable insights for stakeholders.
  • Procurement lifecycle knowledge: understanding of sourcing, RFP/RFQ execution, supplier selection, onboarding and offboarding.
  • Familiarity with data protection and compliance standards (e.g., GDPR, SOC 2) relevant to handling vendor-managed data and systems.
  • Project coordination and multi-stakeholder collaboration using tools like Jira, Trello, or Asana.
  • Document and knowledge management: version control, SOP writing, and maintaining central repositories in SharePoint or Confluence.
  • CRM or ticketing system experience for tracking vendor tasks and escalations (Zendesk, ServiceNow, Freshdesk).
  • Basic negotiation skills: ability to drive small contract adjustments and pricing clarifications with vendors.

Soft Skills

  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills for cross-functional stakeholder engagement and vendor correspondence.
  • Strong organizational skills and attention to detail to manage multiple vendor accounts, contracts and reporting deadlines.
  • Problem-solving orientation and proactive escalation management when vendors fall short of expectations.
  • Time management and prioritization skills to balance routine operational tasks with project-based work and ad-hoc requests.
  • Relationship-building and diplomacy to maintain productive vendor partnerships while advocating for the company's interests.
  • Analytical mindset with the ability to synthesize operational data into clear recommendations.
  • Adaptability and resilience in a fast-paced environment with changing priorities and urgent escalations.
  • Customer-centric service orientation focused on delivering consistent, high-quality outsourced outcomes.
  • Collaboration and teamwork across procurement, legal, finance and business owner groups.
  • Initiative and ownership: willingness to identify process gaps and drive improvements with minimal supervision.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • High school diploma or equivalent; vocational certificate in business administration, procurement, or operations preferred.

Preferred Education:

  • Associate or Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, Finance, Procurement, Operations Management, or related field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Supply Chain / Logistics
  • Procurement / Sourcing
  • Finance / Accounting
  • Information Systems / Operations Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 1–4 years of experience in operations, vendor coordination, procurement support, customer service with outsourced teams, or administrative roles supporting supplier relationships.

Preferred:

  • 2–5 years working directly with third-party vendors or in a procurement/outsourcing environment, with demonstrable experience in SLA monitoring, invoice reconciliation, and vendor onboarding.
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