Advanced Specialist - Vendor Operations
Role Purpose
The Advanced Specialist, Vendor Operations plays a critical role in supporting vendor operational management, financial reconciliation, reporting, rate card governance, and administrative processes across Pearson's Content Services Center (CSC).
This role is responsible for maintaining accurate supplier operational and financial records, managing reconciliations across multiple systems, administering vendor data and rate cards, supporting governance activities, and ensuring the integrity of reporting and operational processes.
The successful candidate will partner closely with CSC Leadership, Procurement, Finance, Technology teams, Business stakeholders, and Suppliers to ensure operational excellence, compliance and reporting accuracy,
Key Responsibilities
Vendor Operations & Administration
- Support day-to-day operational management of CSC suppliers and vendor engagements.
- Maintain supplier information, operational records, and governance documentation.
- Administer vendor-related processes, ensuring compliance with established policies and procedures.
- Support supplier onboarding, offboarding, access management, and operational governance activities.
- Coordinate and track operational requests, approvals, and vendor-related actions.
- Maintain accurate records of supplier contracts, rate cards, and supporting documentation.
R&P Financial Reconciliation & Reporting
- Perform financial and operational reconciliations across supplier spend, purchase orders, invoices, commitments, and operational activity.
- Validate supplier financial data and ensure alignment between contracts, systems, and reporting.
- Investigate and resolve discrepancies through structured problem solving and stakeholder collaboration.
- Produce recurring reports and dashboards to support CSC operational management.
- Participate as an active stakeholder in the weekly R&P reconciliation cadence.
- Co-ordinate with Business stakeholders to get Project accounting codes on mis-aligned asset transactions
Rate Card & Commercial Governance
- Support administration and governance of supplier rate cards and pricing information.
- Coordinate rate changes through established approval processes.
- Ensure pricing information remains aligned across contracts, systems, and operational reporting.
- Support preparation and validation of data required for system and ERP updates.
- Assist with supplier commercial reconciliations and pricing maintenance activities.
Process Improvement & Data Quality
- Identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency and reduce manual effort.
- Support reporting automation and data quality improvement initiatives.
- Create and maintain SOPs, process maps, user guides, and operational documentation.
- Promote consistent data standards and governance practices across CSC processes.
- Support implementation of new tools, workflows, and operational enhancements.
Stakeholder & Supplier Support
- Build effective working relationships across Finance, Procurement, Technology, Operations, Business teams, and Suppliers.
- Serve as a key operational point of contact for vendor-related processes and inquiries.
- Clearly communicate issues, risks, recommendations, and status updates to stakeholders.
- Support resolution of operational, commercial, and financial issues requiring cross-functional collaboration.
Required Knowledge & Experience
Essential
- Experience in Vendor Operations, Business Operations, Procurement Operations, Financial Administration, or a similar operational support role.
- Strong reconciliation experience involving financial, operational, or supplier data.
- Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including Pivot Tables, XLOOKUP, Power Query, and data validation techniques.
- Experience working with large datasets and multiple information sources.
- Experience producing operational reports, dashboards, and KPI reporting.
- Strong attention to detail and data accuracy.
- Experience investigating and resolving discrepancies.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
- Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
- Demonstrated ability to learn new systems, processes, and technologies quickly.
Preferred
- Vendor or supplier management experience.
- Procurement, PO, and invoice management knowledge.
- Experience with Power BI, OBIA, OBIEE, or equivalent reporting tools.
- Experience supporting rate card administration and commercial governance.
- Experience creating SOPs and operational documentation.
- Experience supporting process improvement or automation initiatives.
Technical Skills
Advanced Skills
- Microsoft Excel (Advanced)
- Data reconciliation and validation
- Reporting and dashboard administration
- Financial record management
- Data cleansing and quality control
- Process documentation
- Operational reporting
- Root-cause investigation
- SharePoint and Microsoft 365 applications
Exposure To or Willingness to Learn
- Oracle (TEP)
- OBIA / OBIEE
- Power BI
- LiveOps / Axis
- Vendor management platforms
- Procurement and supplier governance systems
Skills & Competencies
Operational Excellence
Consistently delivers accurate, timely, and compliant operational support while maintaining strong attention to detail.
Reconciliation & Data Integrity
Maintains high-quality financial and operational records through effective validation, reconciliation, and issue resolution.
Problem Solving
Identifies root causes and implements practical, sustainable solutions.
Stakeholder Management
Builds productive relationships with internal teams and external suppliers to support effective operational delivery.
Communication
Communicates operational and financial information clearly to a variety of audiences.
Ownership & Accountability
Takes responsibility for outcomes and follows issues through to completion.
Continuous Improvement
Actively seeks opportunities to streamline processes, improve reporting, and enhance operational efficiency.
Adaptability
Learns new tools, systems, and processes quickly while supporting changes across the organization.
What Success Looks Like
In this role, you will:
- Deliver accurate and timely operational, financial, and supplier reporting.
- Maintain high levels of supplier data quality and reconciliation accuracy.
- Ensure effective governance of supplier records, rate cards, and operational processes.
- Support compliant onboarding, offboarding, and supplier administration activities.
- Drive efficiencies through process standardization and automation.
- Build trusted relationships with stakeholders and suppliers.
- Support data-driven decision-making through reliable reporting and operational insights.
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