Vendor Manager

This year marks the exciting launch of Appen in Romania. We're looking for a Vendor Manager familiar with the setting of business facilities.

This role plays a key role in shaping our physical presence: supporting new office setup, driving

cross-functional collaboration with Project Management, Legal, and Finance, and making sure

everything runs smoothly across borders.

This is a rare chance to build something from the ground up, shape the team, and leave a real

mark on Appen's growth in the Romanian market.

Responsibilities:

• Overall responsible for the expansion and operation of Appen (BPO resources) in Europe

(with focus on Romania).

• Develop long-term and short-term resource procurement strategies aligned with business

needs and market trends - covering data annotation, collection, translation, and on-site

services

• Own vendor selection, contract management, cost control, and relationship maintenance —

ensuring compliance with Appen's standards across local and adjacent regions

• Evaluate, negotiate with, and develop BPO vendor relationships to support scalable growth

• Collect and analyze procurement data; regularly report on progress, achievements, and risks

to leadership to support strategic decisions

• Support new office establishment across the EU region — from site selection and contracting

to setup and ongoing procurement

• Collaborate closely with Project Management, Legal, and Finance to ensure seamless, compliant business operations

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree or above

• Advanced English (both written and spoken)

• Solid understanding of the data services industry (annotation, collection, translation), or vendor management experience within translation, content review, or customer service.

• Proven experience as a Vendor/Procurement Manager in data collection/annotation/BPO/Customer service

• Nice to have: Experience setting up new offices or operations from scratch

• Strong presentation, communication, and negotiation skills

• Comfortable working under pressure and navigating unexpected challenges with agility

About Appen

Appen has been a leader in AI training data for over 25 years, providing high-quality, diverse

datasets that power the world's leading AI models. Our end-to-end platform, deep expertise,

and scalable human-in-the-loop services enable AI innovators to build and optimize cutting edge

models.

We specialize in creating bespoke, human-generated data to train, fine-tune, and evaluate AI

models across multiple domains, including generative AI, large language models (LLMs),

computer vision, speech recognition, and more. Our solutions support critical AI functions such

as supervised fine-tuning, reinforcement learning with human feedback (RLHF), model

evaluation, and bias mitigation.

Our advanced AI-assisted data annotation platform, combined with a global crowd of more than

1M contributors in over 200 countries, ensures the delivery of accurate and diverse datasets. Our

commitment to quality, scalability, and ethical AI practices makes Appen a trusted partner for

enterprises aiming to develop and deploy effective AI solutions.

At Appen, we foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and excellence. We value curiosity,

accountability, and a commitment to delivering the highest-quality AI solutions. We support

work-life balance with flexible work arrangements and a dynamic, results-driven environment.

Employees have access to competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, and opportunities for

continuous learning and career growth.

Our team works closely with the world’s top technology companies and enterprises, tackling

exciting challenges and shaping the future of artificial intelligence.

Diversity & Equal Opportunity

Appen is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating

an inclusive environment for all employees.