[Hiring] Senior Vendor Relationship Manager @Oyster

Role Description

In this highly strategic and cross-functional role, you’ll own and evolve Oyster’s global network of external payroll partners and core compliance providers that underpins end-to-end payroll delivery across our markets. Operating with a primary focus (~80%) on core multi-country payroll delivery, vendor accuracy, calendar adherence, and operational controls, alongside secondary oversight (~20%) of specialized Compliance vendors, you’ll ensure our partners deliver scalable, high-quality, and fully compliant solutions that enable our customers to hire anyone, anywhere.

You’ll combine commercial acumen, operational excellence, regulatory monitoring, and strong relationship management to drive vendor performance, execute risk assessments, resolve complex payroll escalations, and continuously strengthen our global partner ecosystem.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives in ambiguity, enjoys solving complex operational challenges, and can confidently influence stakeholders internally and externally. You are commercially minded, data-driven, solutions-oriented, and energized by building strong partnerships that create long-term business impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as the Subject Matter Expert and primary operational and commercial owner for Oyster's strategic multi-country payroll partners worldwide.
• Maintain deep operational mastery of end-to-end payroll delivery workflows, cut-off calendars, variance analysis, Gross-to-Net (GTN) calculations, statutory filings, and failure modes across key markets.
• Partner with internal Pay & Payroll operations teams to monitor partner SLA compliance, data payload delivery, and payroll cut-off adherence.
• Proactively evaluate vendor capacity, operational readiness, and processing controls ahead of peak payroll cycles and expansion into new markets.
• Define partner strategy, governance, scorecards, review cadences, escalation thresholds, and improvement plans.
• Hold partners accountable for payroll accuracy, timeliness, statutory compliance, compliance tracking, responsiveness, controls, and customer outcomes.
• Manage the full vendor relationship lifecycle, from partner selection and onboarding through transition, consolidation, or exit decisions.
• Evaluate partner capabilities, market coverage, operational maturity, security/compliance posture, and scalability.
• Build and maintain expertise in multi-country payroll delivery, regulatory dependencies, and contractual trade-offs.

Vendor Performance & Governance

• Establish baselines and monitor vendor performance through KPIs, SLAs, scorecards, and remediation plans.
• Lead recurring executive business reviews and performance discussions with partner leadership teams.
• Translate payroll-partner performance data into recommendations for Operations, Product, Finance, Legal, Customer teams, and leadership.
• Monitor operational performance and proactively identify service risks or quality concerns.
• Conduct structured vendor compliance audits, risk assessments, and operational reviews across the partner ecosystem.
• Drive consistent governance standards, regulatory alignment, and operational excellence across vendors.
• Lead ongoing regulatory monitoring, risk assessments, and compliance tracking to ensure there are no gaps in compliance across all payroll and compliance vendor operations and local legal standards across all operating regions.

Commercial & Partnership Management

• Build trusted, long-term relationships with external partner leadership teams.
• Lead or materially shape commercial negotiations, contract renewals, pricing, remedies, and service changes.
• Strengthen strategic partnerships to support business growth and customer outcomes.
• Lead complex, multi-market payroll escalations through root-cause analysis, recovery, prevention, and executive communication.
• Collaborate cross-functionally and externally to resolve sensitive operational challenges.
• Support customer and internal stakeholder conversations requiring partner expertise.
• Identify and source new partners to strengthen global coverage and capabilities.

Vendor Ecosystem Development

• Identify operational or geographic gaps within the vendor ecosystem.
• Evaluate and onboard new partners to strengthen Oyster’s global coverage.
• Recommend improvements to ecosystem strategy, scalability, and service quality.
• Partner cross-functionally to evolve how Oyster leverages and manages external vendors.
• Drive initiatives that improve partner consistency, efficiency, and customer experience.

Strategic Business Partnership

• Advise internal teams on vendor capabilities, strengths, and operational considerations.
• Guide partner selection decisions based on customer needs and business priorities.
• Share insights from vendor trends, escalations, and operational performance data.
• Partner with Go-To-Market teams to support deal strategy and customer solutions.
• Enable scalable and commercially sound global employment solutions.
• Proactively partner with internal teams including HRBPs, Employee Lifecycle Teams, and Payroll/Pay teams to align vendor capabilities with employee support and operational workflows.

Escalation Leadership

• Maintain secondary oversight (~20%) of specialized Health & Safety and Compliance vendor relationships, ensuring partner capabilities and SLAs support local statutory requirements.
• Lead high-impact escalations across external partners and internal teams with limited direction.
• Coordinate cross-functional and cross-partner responses to critical operational issues.
• Protect customer experience while balancing operational and commercial priorities.
• Identify root causes and recurring trends across escalations.
• Drive preventative improvements and operational maturity across the partner ecosystem.
• Lead in escalations on calls to get to root cause, find solutions, and manage end-to-end resolution.

Continuous Improvement & High Performance

• Continuously audit and refine workflows and ways of working to reduce response times and elevate service quality.
• Build scalable processes, knowledge, automation, and AI-enabled reporting while protecting payroll and personal data.
• Analyze recurring ticket trends and received queries to identify systemic issues, proactively building preventative resources for internal teams.
• Identify opportunities to improve workflows, documentation, and knowledge management, ensuring Pearls have accurate, accessible self-service resources to reduce dependency and improve operational efficiency.

Core Requirements

• 5+ years of direct experience managing multi-country Payroll Vendors and Compliance/Health & Safety partners in a global environment.
• Strong technical understanding of end-to-end payroll processing cycles, Gross-to-Net (GTN) calculations, statutory filings, and payroll controls.
• Significant experience owning strategic payroll and compliance vendor relationships in a global or multi-country environment.
• Deep understanding of payroll operations, compliance tracking, risk assessments, statutory controls, regulatory monitoring, and global legal standards.
• Evidence of improving vendor performance and regulatory alignment through KPIs, SLAs, vendor compliance audits, governance, remediation, and executive business reviews.
• Commercial negotiation and contract-management capability, including pricing, service levels, remedies, renewals, and trade-offs.
• Highly strategic thinker with the ability to balance operational detail with long-term business goals.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to use data to drive decisions and improvements.
• Commercially minded and solutions-oriented, with a pragmatic approach to operational challenges.
• Exceptional relationship-building and influencing skills across internal and external stakeholders.
• Strong ownership mindset with the ability to operate autonomously in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience managing complex escalations and driving resolution across multiple stakeholders.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, both written and verbal.
• Collaborative and cross-functional by nature, with experience partnering across Operations, Legal, Support, Sales, and Customer-facing teams.
• Process-oriented and continuously looking for ways to improve scalability and operational maturity.
• Comfortable working in ambiguity and helping shape evolving operational functions and frameworks.
• Demonstrated track record of proactive business partnering with internal stakeholders such as HRBPs, Lifecycle Teams, and Pay teams.

[BONUS]

• Experience working with global vendors across multiple regions (APAC, EMEA, LATAM, AMER).
• Experience building or scaling vendor governance programs and operational frameworks.
• Additional languages.
• Have worked in a fast-paced, scaling startup or global tech environment.
• Experience implementing AI tools or automation workflows to improve workflows and vendor management.

You'll also need

• A reliable home internet connection (or be able to get one).
• Fluent English language.

How we work together at Oyster

Our values guide the work we do, the decisions we make, and the culture that makes Oyster what it is. We make it happen—progress is our default setting. We drive change, we build and give trust, and we move as one united team.

Our mission is to create a more equal world of work: helping companies everywhere hire, pay, and care for talent anywhere. Everything we do ladders up to our mission. We embrace asynchronous, collaborative work and share how we operate in the Oyster Public HQ so other global teams can learn from us.

How YOU work

• Work from anywhere: Oyster has no borders or HQ. As long as work is timely, your team is supported, and you're authorized to work where you live, you can work from anywhere.
• Paid time off: Enjoy 40 days off per year (including holidays and vacation), or more if required by your country.
• Mental health support: Access Plumm, our mental well-being service.
• Wellbeing allowance: Each month, receive a wellbeing allowance in your ThanksBen wallet to spend on a wide range of options.
• Flexible parental leave: All new parents are eligible for at least three months’ paid leave, with job protection for up to 12 months or as required locally.
• WFH stipend: Receive a stipend for your laptop and home office equipment to get you set up quickly.

Oyster's Commitment

We embrace diverse perspectives and intentionally build our product and company with an inclusive, global mindset. We encourage you to apply, even if you don’t meet every criterion, and are committed to a trust-based, thriving environment.

Oyster is committed to ensuring equal opportunity of employment for qualified persons with disabilities and actively fosters an inclusive work environment. If you require reasonable accommodations throughout the recruiting process, please email [email protected] with the subject line: Interview Accommodations.

Our available positions are on our careers page. Our team will only contact you from an @oysterhr.com email, and we will never ask for money as part of an interview process or job offer.

If you receive a suspicious email about Oyster jobs or are directed to a site other than www.oysterhr.com/careers, please report it via our Compliance and Ethics Helpline.