The Software Asset Management (SAM) Lead is a strategic role responsible for the end-to-end lifecycle management of the organization's software estate. This position goes beyond administrative license tracking; it requires a process architect who can design governance frameworks, lead commercial negotiations, and maintain strict budgetary control over a diverse portfolio of 20-30+ SaaS applications and traditional on-premise software. As the central authority for software assets, you will collaborate with existing technical teams who manage applications.
Process Engineering & Governance
- Framework Design: Develop, document, and implement the organisation's first comprehensive Software Asset Management (SAM) policy and procedural manual.
- Standardization: Establish standardised workflows for software requests, approvals, procurement, deployment, and eventual retirement.
- Governance Oversight: Act as the primary gatekeeper for software standards, ensuring all departments adhere to established procurement and security protocols.
- Continuous Improvement: Periodically review and refine processes to eliminate bottlenecks, reduce manual intervention, and improve the speed to desk for new software requests.
Budgetary Control & Financial Optimization
- Budget Management: Take full ownership of the software licensing budget. Track actual expenditures against forecasts and provide regular Spend vs. Budget reports to Finance and Executive leadership.
- Demand Forecasting: Conduct regular census communications with business units to determine total license requirements for annual renewals and ad-hoc growth.
- License Harvesting: Implement a proactive harvesting process to identify and reclaim underutilised or zombie licenses before purchasing new seats.
- Cost Allocation: Manage the internal chargeback or show-back models to ensure software costs are accurately attributed to the correct departments or cost centers.
Strategic Negotiations & Vendor Management
- Commercial Leadership: Lead all commercial negotiations for software renewals and new purchases, utilizing usage data to drive favorable pricing, terms, and conditions.
- Stakeholder Collaboration: Partner with business teams and technical leads to understand their functional needs while ensuring they align with the broader company strategy.
- Vendor Consolidation: Identify overlapping toolsets across the organization (e.g., multiple project management or CRM tools) and lead initiatives to consolidate vendors to increase leverage and reduce complexity.
Procurement Approval & Executive Communication
- Justification & Business Cases: Prepare detailed explanations and business cases for senior management to justify software expenditures, renewals, and new tool adoptions.
- Approval Management: Formally raise procurement requests and manage the end-to-end sign-off process, ensuring all necessary stakeholders have reviewed the commercial and operational impact.
- Advisory Support: Serve as the subject matter expert for leadership, answering complex queries regarding licensing models, cost-benefi t analyses, and the strategic necessity of specifi c software purchases.
- Reporting: Create high-level summaries for executive review that simplify technical licensing metrics into actionable business insights.
License Operations & Compliance
- Centralized Inventory: Maintain a Single Source of Truth for all software entitlements, contracts, proof of purchase, and maintenance agreements.
- Allocation & Provisioning: Oversee the distribution of license keys and the allocation of seats via various application administrative consoles (e.g., Google Workspace, Adobe Creative Cloud, SuccessFactors, Zoom, Docusign etc.).
- Compliance Management: Ensure the organization remains 100% compliant with EULAs and SaaS terms of service through regular internal reconciliation of deployments against entitlements.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCES:
- Experience: 5+ years of experience in Software Asset Management, IT Procurement, or IT Operations.
- SaaS Expertise: Deep understanding of SaaS subscription models, True-up processes, and cloud-based licensing metrics.
- CSAM (Certifi ed Software Asset Manager), ITIL Foundation, or equivalent.
R22107887 | Gladys Chang Si Min
