Manager, Vendor & Workforce Management (Utility)

Purpose

This role is accountable for optimizing the performance of both internal and outsourced contact center operations serving gas and electric customers. This role ensures service delivery excellence through effective vendor governance, forecasting, staffing optimization, and operational analytics.

The position drives the balance between customer experience, reliability, and cost to serve—ensuring that customers are supported 365/24/7 across voice, chat, and digital channels.

Accountabilities

• Serve as the primary relationship owner for all third-party vendor partners supporting the contact center.
• Establish and manage performance scorecards with clear SLAs, KPIs, and compliance standards aligned with regulatory requirements and internal expectations (ASA, FCR, CSAT, Quality, Safety, and Cost per Contact).
• Lead structured governance routines (weekly operational reviews, monthly business reviews, quarterly performance reviews).
• Ensure vendors adhere to company policies, data privacy, and customer protection protocols.
• Partner with Procurement, IT, and Legal to manage vendor contracts, renewals, and performance incentives.
• Identify improvement opportunities in call routing, digital deflection, automation, and agent enablement.
•  Support vendor onboarding, training readiness, and technology integration for new lines of business or storm response capacity.
• Lead forecasting, capacity planning, and staffing models across internal and vendor sites to meet service level, regulatory, and cost targets.
• Oversee scheduling, real-time management, and adherence to ensure consistent coverage and performance.
• Collaborate with Operations, HR, and Finance to align headcount, shrinkage, and overtime budgets.
• Use workforce data to anticipate demand impacts due to seasonality, rate cases, weather events, or system outages.
• Maintain and enhance workforce systems (e.g., NICE IEX, Verint, Aspect) to improve forecast accuracy and intraday efficiency.
• Provide visibility to daily, weekly, and monthly performance trends and take proactive steps to optimize staffing and service delivery.
• Develop executive dashboards and insights to inform operational decisions and leadership storytelling.
• Perform root cause analysis on SLA misses or cost variances and lead resolution action plans.
• Drive Lean and continuous improvement principles across vendor and internal teams.
• Monitor operational health indicators such as occupancy, utilization, and shrinkage to improve productivity and service reliability.
• Partner with Quality Assurance and Training teams to ensure workforce readiness and skill alignment with evolving customer needs.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Operations, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• 5+years of experience in a large-scale utility or regulated industry contact center environment.
• Proven experience managing outsourced vendor relationships and workforce operations.
• Strong analytical and technical skills, including proficiency in Excel, Power BI/Tableau, and WFM platforms.
• Understanding of contact center metrics and their impact on regulatory compliance, affordability, and reliability.
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills with ability to influence cross-functionally.
• Demonstrated success implementing governance frameworks and process standardization across multiple locations.
• This position requires travel to locations in the United States and occassionally to the head office in Canada.  A valid passport is required for international travel.

Preferred Attributes

• Utility industry experience in electric, gas, or combination operations.
• Knowledge of regulatory reporting, call quality compliance, and customer satisfaction drivers.
• Lean Six Sigma, PMP, or equivalent process improvement certification.
• Passion for creating a unified culture across internal and vendor teams—“One Vision. One Team. One Voice.”
• Strategic thinker with a hands-on approach to daily performance execution.