ITAM Software Licensing Specialist

The Software Licensing Specialist is responsible for managing and optimizing software licenses within an organization to ensure compliance, cost-efficiency, and adherence to legal requirements. They play a crucial role in advising on software procurement, license negotiations, and maintaining an accurate inventory of software assets. The license specialist will actively support software asset management across diverse IT environments, including on-premises, cloud, and hybrid infrastructures.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Data Collection: Collaborate with stakeholders to assist in the data collection process, enabling a smooth and efficient end-to-end review process that meets our client timelines.
Contract Analysis: Analyze software licensing agreements and entitlement documents to extract usage rights and compliance terms. Apply findings to support license validation, usage optimization, and contract negotiations.
License Compliance: Monitor and enforce compliance with software licensing agreements to prevent legal issues and financial penalties. Manage the delivery of multiple software license compliance reviews and generate Effective License Positions (ELPs) to agreed timeframes and budgets.
Maintain documentation of compliance findings and remediation plans.
License Procurement: Collaborate with procurement teams to negotiate and acquire software licenses at the most favorable terms and pricing, ensuring alignment with business and technical requirements.
Inventory & Tool Management: Maintain an accurate inventory of software licenses, leveraging tools such as Flexera and ServiceNow to track usage, renewals, and compliance metrics.
Cost Optimization: Identify opportunities to reduce software licensing costs through usage analysis, license harvesting and reallocation, and contract consolidation while maintaining required functionality.
Contract Lifecycle Support: Support the lifecycle of software contracts from evaluation and acquisition to renewal and termination, ensuring documentation is current and accessible.
Vendor Relations: Build and maintain relationships with software vendors, staying informed about updates, changes in licensing models, and future licensing trends.
Policy Development: Develop and implement software licensing policies and guidelines to ensure consistency and compliance across the organization.
Audits and Reporting: Conduct internal audits, prepare compliance reports, and provide recommendations for license optimization.
Training and Education: Educate internal teams on software licensing compliance and best practices by leveraging internal platforms. Deliver training sessions and develop educational materials to promote consistent understanding of the licensing policies.

Key Skills
Good understanding of different licensing models applicable to at least one Tier 1 vendor (Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, SAP) and at least two Tier 2 vendors (Adobe, Vmware, BMC, Quest, etc.)
Experience with multi-product licensing environments.
1-3 years of experience working with software contracts (End User License Agreements, Framework Agreements, Volume Agreements, Unlimited License Agreements, etc.)
1-3 years of experience building compliance reports for Tier 1 and / or Tier 2 software vendors, following the same methodology as any of these vendors would use during an official license review process.
An understanding of discovery and scanning tools used to manage software and hardware discovery (virtual, on-premise, cloud).
Experience with license harvesting and reallocation strategies.
In-depth knowledge of software licensing models, including proprietary, open source, and cloud-based licensing models
Ability to interpret and apply licensing terms in complex IT environments.
Familiarity with license management tools and software asset management (SAM) practices.
Strong analytical and communication skills.