Research Operations Manager (Contract – 3 Months) – Remote Job at OGC Global | Find My Remote

OGC is a boutique research and consulting agency specializing in data-driven strategy, market research, and Customer Experience (CX). We work with some of the world’s leading brands across various industries, including Telecommunications, Financial Services, Specialty Retail, Hospitality, and Software. We help our clients better understand their customers, develop actionable insights, and improve business processes.

We are seeking a Research Operations Manager to work closely with a Fortune 500 Telecommunications company. This role will focus on ensuring vendors are onboarded efficiently, meet compliance requirements, and can operate effectively within our systems and processes. The position will work closely with procurement, analytics leadership, IT security, and external partners to streamline vendor operations and maintain governance standards.

Role Type: 3–6 Month Contract

Location: Remote - US East Coast

What You'll Support:

This role will play a key role across four primary areas:

Vendor & Contract Operations: Supporting the full lifecycle of vendor onboarding, contract administration, compliance tracking, and vendor performance management.
Budget & Financial Operations: Managing budget tracking, forecasting support, invoice reconciliation, reporting visibility, and financial process optimization.
Governance, Compliance & Risk Management: Maintaining audit-ready documentation, supporting compliance programs, and ensuring adherence to company policies and regulatory requirements.
Systems, Process Optimization & Documentation: Supporting operational systems, workflow improvements, automation opportunities, documentation development, and scalable process design.

Key Responsibilities:

Vendor Management & Compliance:

Lead the end-to-end lifecycle of research vendors, including onboarding, contracting, renewals, offboarding, and ongoing relationship management.
Serve as the primary liaison between internal stakeholders and external research vendors, coordinating across Legal, Privacy, Procurement, Cybersecurity, Finance, and other partner groups to facilitate vendor onboarding, approvals, compliance reviews, contract execution, and governance requirements.
Coordinate the creation, review, execution, and administration of vendor agreements, including SOWs, MSAs, NDAs, amendments, renewals, and related contractual processes.
Establish, maintain, and oversee centralized vendor management documentation, tracking, and governance frameworks, including vendor records, contracts, compliance status, risk assessments, privacy and security reviews, audit documentation, and other required records to ensure operational transparency, regulatory compliance, and audit readiness.
Monitor vendor performance through scorecards, KPIs, service-level metrics, and compliance tracking, identifying and escalating operational, contractual, privacy, security, or performance risks as needed.
Develop, document, and continuously improve vendor management processes, standards, and governance practices that drive consistency, accountability, transparency, and scalability across the organization.
Partner with internal stakeholders and external vendors to resolve operational issues, mitigate risk, and improve overall vendor effectiveness, compliance, and business partnership outcomes.

Budget & Financial Operations:

Manage vendor budgets, forecasts, purchase orders, invoices, accruals, and financial tracking processes across research initiatives and vendor engagements.
Develop, maintain, and enhance budget trackers, dashboards, reporting tools, and operational metrics using Smartsheet and other platforms to provide visibility into budget performance, spending trends, and financial health.
Monitor budget utilization, forecast accuracy, and financial performance, proactively identifying variances, risks, and opportunities for improvement while recommending appropriate mitigation strategies.
Partner with leadership to support annual planning, forecasting, budget reviews, and financial reporting activities.
Collaborate with Finance and Procurement to ensure accurate budget allocation, timely invoice processing, payment reconciliation, and compliance with financial controls.
Reconcile invoices against contracts, purchase orders, project budgets, and approved expenditures to ensure financial accuracy and accountability.
Establish, maintain, and continuously improve documentation, operating procedures, and governance frameworks that support budget oversight, approval workflows, financial management, and expense controls.
Drive improvements in financial transparency, operational efficiency, and audit readiness through process standardization, workflow optimization, and the implementation of scalable and automated financial management solutions.

Governance, Compliance & Risk Management:

Partner with Vendor Management teams to ensure vendors and research activities meet corporate security, privacy, legal, and compliance requirements.
Create and maintain governance documentation, policies, procedures, and audit-ready records.
Support vendor compliance reviews and ongoing monitoring activities, ensuring adherence to contractual obligations, company policies, and regulatory requirements.
Monitor departmental workflow and operational processes for compliance risks and recommend mitigation strategies.
Drive consistency in operational controls and governance practices across the department.
Assist in developing compliance training materials, documentation, and process guidance.
Support audit preparation, evidence collection, and compliance reporting activities.
Promote awareness and understanding of compliance requirements across internal stakeholders and department members.

Systems, Process Optimization & Documentation:

Own and administer operational systems and platforms, including Smartsheet and related tools, that support vendor management, budget governance, compliance oversight, reporting, and associated workflow execution.
Design, document, and optimize vendor management, budget management, compliance, and governance workflows to improve operational efficiency, transparency, consistency, and scalability.
Identify and implement opportunities to automate manual processes, streamline cross-functional coordination, and strengthen operational controls related to vendor onboarding, contract administration, budget tracking, compliance reviews, and governance activities.
Develop and maintain documentation, SOPs, governance standards, training materials, operational playbooks, and user guidance supporting vendor management, budget administration, compliance requirements, and governance processes.
Develop and enhance dashboards, reporting frameworks, budget trackers, compliance monitoring tools, and operational metrics that improve visibility into vendor performance, financial management, compliance status, and governance activities.
Research, evaluate, and recommend technologies, tools, and process improvements that strengthen vendor management, budget oversight, compliance monitoring, and operational governance capabilities.
Drive continuous improvement initiatives that reduce operational complexity, increase process maturity, and ensure vendor, budget, compliance, and governance processes remain measurable, repeatable, audit-ready, and aligned with organizational objectives.