Strategic Sourcing Manager - Marketing (Contract).

Job Description

Position Summary:

Manager, Marketing Agency Management & Strategic Sourcing

Vertex Pharmaceuticals | Commercial Organization

Location: Remote – United StatesEmployment Type: W2 ContractContract Duration: 6 months, with potential extensionWork Arrangement: 100% Remote

Position Summary

Vertex Pharmaceuticals is seeking an experienced Marketing Agency Management & Strategic Sourcing Manager to support its Commercial organization. This remote role will focus primarily on managing day-to-day relationships with external marketing agencies, overseeing agency operations, coordinating marketing initiatives, and ensuring effective collaboration between internal marketing teams and external partners.

The ideal candidate will bring a strong background in marketing agency management, marketing operations, or marketing vendor management, with experience working directly with creative, advertising, digital media, public relations, and other marketing service providers.

Approximately 70% of this role will focus on marketing agency relationship management, operational coordination, and stakeholder collaboration, while the remaining 30% will involve strategic sourcing, contract negotiations, vendor selection, and cost management.

Key Responsibilities

Marketing Agency Management & Relationship Development (40%)

• Serve as the primary point of contact for external marketing, creative, advertising, digital media, and public relations agencies.
• Manage day-to-day agency communications, relationships, operational needs, and ongoing business interactions.
• Coordinate with agency partners to ensure marketing initiatives, campaign deliverables, and project timelines align with internal business expectations.
• Oversee multiple agency relationships and ensure accountability for service quality, deliverables, and performance.
• Facilitate regular agency status meetings, business reviews, and performance discussions.
• Proactively identify and resolve agency-related challenges, including project delays, scope changes, budget concerns, and communication gaps.
• Establish and maintain productive relationships with agency account management teams and internal marketing stakeholders.
• Identify opportunities to improve agency collaboration, communication, and operational efficiency.

Marketing Operations & Stakeholder Collaboration (30%)

• Partner closely with internal Marketing, Brand, Commercial, Communications, and other business teams to support marketing initiatives.
• Translate marketing needs into clear agency requirements, scopes of work, and project expectations.
• Coordinate agency involvement in marketing campaigns, creative development, digital marketing, and communications initiatives.
• Support the planning and execution of marketing projects by ensuring agencies have appropriate resources, direction, and expectations.
• Track agency deliverables, project milestones, and operational priorities.
• Manage competing marketing initiatives while maintaining alignment across internal teams and external partners.
• Provide recommendations to improve agency workflows, resource allocation, and overall partnership effectiveness.
• Serve as a trusted partner to marketing stakeholders on agency capabilities, performance, and service delivery.

Strategic Sourcing & Agency Selection (15%)

• Support the identification, evaluation, and selection of external marketing agencies and service providers.
• Coordinate RFPs, RFIs, and competitive agency selection processes when needed.
• Partner with marketing stakeholders to evaluate agency capabilities, proposals, pricing, and service offerings.
• Assist with agency onboarding, supplier transitions, and vendor consolidation initiatives.
• Recommend agency partners based on marketing objectives, capabilities, service quality, and overall value.
• Support sourcing strategies that align with marketing and commercial business needs.

Contract Management & Financial Oversight (15%)

• Support negotiations for agency Statements of Work (SOWs), Master Service Agreements (MSAs), contract amendments, and renewals.
• Review agency fee structures, retainers, project pricing, and contractual commitments.
• Partner with Procurement, Legal, Finance, and Compliance to facilitate contract approvals and execution.
• Monitor agency spending and identify opportunities for cost optimization.
• Support pricing analysis, budget tracking, and vendor benchmarking.
• Ensure agency engagements remain aligned with approved budgets, contractual obligations, and organizational requirements.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Communications, Supply Chain, or a related discipline.
• 5+ years of professional experience in marketing agency management, marketing operations, marketing vendor management, marketing procurement, or a related function.
• Demonstrated experience managing day-to-day relationships with external marketing, advertising, creative, media, or communications agencies.
• Strong understanding of marketing agency operations, workflows, campaign development, and service delivery.
• Experience coordinating multiple marketing initiatives and managing external vendor deliverables.
• Experience working directly with marketing stakeholders and agency account management teams.
• Working knowledge of agency contracts, SOWs, pricing structures, and vendor negotiations.
• Strong relationship management, communication, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to independently manage multiple agency relationships and business priorities in a fast-paced, remote environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare, or life sciences industry.
• Experience supporting commercial marketing, brand marketing, or integrated marketing campaigns.
• Familiarity with creative agency, media buying, digital marketing, and public relations agency structures.
• Experience managing agency retainers, project-based agreements, and marketing budgets.
• Exposure to marketing procurement, strategic sourcing, or supplier management processes.
• Experience collaborating with Legal, Finance, Compliance, and Procurement teams.
• Demonstrated success managing agency relationships and cross-functional projects remotely.

Preferred Agency Experience

• Creative and advertising agencies
• Digital marketing and performance marketing agencies
• Media planning and buying agencies
• Public relations and corporate communications firms
• Brand strategy and integrated marketing agencies
• Healthcare marketing and market access agencies
• Content development and marketing production partners

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a marketing-focused professional who has managed external agency relationships and understands the operational and commercial aspects of agency partnerships.

This individual is comfortable communicating directly with agency account teams, coordinating marketing deliverables, managing stakeholder expectations, addressing agency performance concerns, and supporting contract and budget discussions.

While strategic sourcing and procurement experience are valuable, the primary emphasis is on hands-on marketing agency management and the ability to build effective partnerships between marketing teams and external service providers.

Pay Range

$71.00 - $78.00 Per Hour

Requisition Disclaimer

This job posting is for a temporary role with a third-party agency partner on assignment at Vertex Pharmaceuticals (“Vertex”). The individual selected for this role will be offered the role as an employee of a third- party agency partner; compensation, medical benefits, fringe benefits and other terms and conditions of employment shall be presented by the third-party agency partner upon offer. The pay rate range provided is a reasonable estimate of the anticipated compensation range for this job at the time of posting. The actual pay rate will be based on a number of factors, including skills, competencies, experience, location and/or being pursued and other job-related factors permitted by law. In addition, this role will be eligible for overtime pay, in accordance with federal and state requirements

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