Lead Vendor Management Advisor

Role Overview

• Lead the end-to-end management of critical third-party partnerships
• Serve as the central contact for complex contracts, navigating high-stakes negotiations, improving, and mitigating operational, financial, and reputational risks
• Define sourcing strategy and scope for enterprise events and critical vendor initiatives; identify/qualify opportunities by spend, value, risk, and capacity; align sponsors, approvals, resources, and lead cross-functional delivery
• Establish supplier governance as the primary liaison; facilitate joint business planning and executive business reviews to align supplier roadmaps, capabilities, and performance to strategy and stakeholder needs
• Negotiate Tier 1 contracts/SOWs and complex renewals to optimize commercial terms, payment strategies, incentives, and rebates
• Serve as contract SME: ensure approval/standards compliance and support stakeholders through the full vendor lifecycle (award, management, renewal, termination)
• Promote the value of sourcing/vendor management; provide reporting on spend, pipeline/activity, supplier performance, risks, TCO, and realized value
• Build leadership relationships within assigned business units; act as primary point of contact and translate business goals into supplier requirements
• Lead end-to-end Tier 1 RFx and contract projects; drive process and service improvements, including governance and performance management routines
• Set and manage supplier performance expectations via SLAs, scorecards, and metrics; partner on improvement plans and corrective actions
• Identify and mitigate supplier risk by ensuring regulatory, security, and policy compliance and supporting business continuity planning

Requirements

• Demonstrated experience providing customer-driven solutions, support or service
• Demonstrated experience in project management methodologies, practices, techniques and tools
• Solid knowledge and understanding of processing systems and processes
• Solid knowledge and understanding of the insurance industry and regulatory environment
• Basic knowledge and understanding of contract negotiations
• Preferred skills: Demonstrated experience in strategic sourcing practices including RFxs, contract negotiation and market intelligence
• Experience with supplier performance management techniques, including KPIs, SLAs and scorecards
• Demonstrated experience employing advanced end-to-end strategic sourcing processes, practices and tools to large, complex spend categories
• Demonstrated experience leading medium to large projects
• Demonstrated experience in contract negotiation techniques, including complex commercial terms and SOW structures
• Demonstrated experience in project management practices
• Experience of goods and services contract terms
• Experience preparing reports, charts and presentations, including performance, risk and value reporting

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision and wellbeing benefits
• Competitive 401(k) contribution
• Pension plan
• Annual incentive
• 9 paid holidays
• Paid time off program (23 days accrued annually for full-time employees)
• Student loan repayment program
• Paid-family leave