AIML Data Operations, Senior Vendor Manager

Summary

Behind every groundbreaking AI innovation at Apple is a foundation of high-quality annotated data—and behind that foundation are the vendor partnerships and production operations that make it possible at scale.

We're looking for a Senior Manager to own the end-to-end vendor lifecycle, from sourcing and contracting through quality, delivery, and compliance, while leading the team that serves as the critical link between Apple's annotation needs and our external vendor workforce. You will develop your team's capabilities in vendor management, production operations, and quality oversight while establishing the frameworks and processes that enable consistent, scalable execution. Imagine leading the team that keeps Apple's AI data engine running, ensuring our machine learning models are trained with the highest quality data produced by a global workforce operating at peak efficiency.

Description

As Senior Vendor Manager you will oversee and lead a high-impact team supporting Data Annotations. You will guide a group of Demand Planners, Vendor Engagement Specialists, and Crowd Managers who collaborate directly with engineering teams and data requestors to deploy scalable data pipelines through our global vendor workforce.

Your team manages the full production lifecycle—from relationship management,, project requirement definition, vendor selection,, SOW creation, and onboarding through delivery tracking, quality assurance, performance monitoring, issue resolution, and invoice validation. This role requires hands-on support, strategic leadership, and the ability to drive deeper efficiency, insights, and evaluations. You will remain hands-on when complex vendor challenges or production escalations require your direct involvement.

Your work will directly contribute to the success of the next generation of Apple products and features.

Responsibilities

• Team Leadership
• Lead and develop a distributed team of Vendor Managers and Crowd Managers across multiple time zones.
• Foster professional growth in vendor management, production operations, and stakeholder communication.
• Set strategic direction for vendor-facing production operations.
• Establish scalable frameworks and implement industry best practices.
• Foster a collaborative culture that proactively tackles production problems.
• Build strong trust with, engineering partners, procurement and vendor organizations.
• Workforce & Vendor Strategy
• Source and onboard global annotation vendors, crowdsourced networks, and specialized subject-matter BPOs.
• Scale global pipelines to meet fluctuating dataset demands.
• Drive capacity planning and resource management across all vendor partners.
• Execute volume forecasting and strategic workforce allocation.
• Build strong relationships directly with vendor leadership teams.
• Ensure alignment on organizational quality and operational standards.
• Budget, Contracts & SLA Ownership
• Partner with Procurement on high-value contract negotiations with major data labeling providers.
• Optimize price-per-task costs to maximize budget efficiency.
• Secure robust SLAs to protect data timelines and quality.
• Manage budget allocation, financial forecasting, and ongoing vendor cost optimization.
• Oversee vendor performance to guarantee SLAs are met across concurrent programs.
• Track production throughput against delivery timelines.
• Quality Assurance
• Build and enforce comprehensive quality control pipelines.
• Track vendor performance across accuracy, alignment, and throughput metrics.
• Establish key performance metrics for all vendor operations.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives based on operational data.
• Partner with QA, training, spec/process engineering, and data analytics teams.
• Maintain dataset quality at a massive operational scale.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
• Bridge the gap between internal engineering teams and external vendor operations.
• Translate complex annotation requirements into actionable production plans.
• Risk & Compliance
• Maintain strict compliance with global data privacy frameworks (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA).
• Enforce secure handling protocols for all sensitive datasets.
• Reporting & Executive Communication
• Prepare executive reports detailing production status and vendor health.
• Communicate operational risks and mitigation strategies directly to senior leadership.

Minimum Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience managing and developing teams in operational or vendor-facing roles
• 5+ years of experience in program/project management, production operations, or vendor management in data operations or related fields
• BS degree required
• Strong understanding of production operations including capacity planning, quality assurance frameworks, and delivery management
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate complex concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Proven ability to manage multiple concurrent programs with competing priorities in a fast-paced environment
• Self-motivated and proactive leader who thrives in ambiguous environments and is able to establish diligent processes for global teams
• Demonstrated ability to navigate ambiguity and rapidly shifting priorities, crafting creative, pragmatic near-term vendor support solutions that keep programs on track while maintaining focus on longer-term vendor strategy and scalable operational goals
• Experience leading a dispersed global team

Preferred Qualifications

• Annotation operations, data operations, or crowd-sourcing programs at scale
• Vendor/supplier management including performance management and relationship development
• Budget management and financial forecasting for vendor-delivered work
• Data quality issue tracking and resolution (impact analysis, root cause analysis, data analysis)
• Background managing geographically distributed teams or vendor workforces
• Understanding of machine learning concepts, data annotation methodologies, and quality assurance processes
• Advanced degree in a relevant field