Purpose of Job
This role is responsible for the oversight of all vendors in the Technology organization, from the lens of risk, cost management and performance. He or she will be the primary resource responsible for a combination of IT vendor contract management, performance monitoring, relationship and risk management activities. He or she must understand contractual, commercial and operational working relationships with vendors to ensure effective delivery of committed products, services and solutions.
The incumbent will define and enforce policy and processes associated with vendor management functions, including collaboration with internal stakeholders who may be responsible for adherence to or execution for policy and process (eg Technology application teams, or Finance). They will also be responsible for forecasting opportunities to drive organizational savings and efficiencies and streamlining the purchasing process and coordinating activities.
This role supports a greater emphasis on governance and risk management programs, and sets outcomes-focused, principles-based expectations for the bank on the management of third-party risk.
The incumbent will ensure exceptional performance of technology vendors by defining and monitoring key performance indicators. Establishing close communication and partnership with internal Finance and Procurement teams is required to ensure expectations and activities are aligned.
This position plays a critical leadership role in the sourcing and purchasing of technology goods and services, including ongoing oversight of suppliers throughout the contract life cycle. The incumbent will be responsible for developing and leading a strategic framework for technology and partnering with internal stakeholders to understand and deliver against their needs.
Main Activities:
- Establish baseline technology vendor view (who, what, contracts, SLOs/SLAs, contract renewal dates, etc)
- Lead the review and reworking of Technology supplier contracts (likely fix forward approach), to ensure consistency with a high standard for security, risk and compliance standards
- Support Operational Risk and assess out of Canada arrangements as well as vendor Exit Strategies and Planning and build management for technology vendors
- Support Security and Risk with TPRM processes and governance as required
- Support remediation of Audit and Regulatory issues and findings relating to the Third-Party Risk Management policies, standards, frameworks, and requirements
- Develop criteria and best practices for vendor selection
- Support the bank’s Procurement team to optimize the cost-effectiveness of negotiations and ensure compliance of negotiated agreements to established vendor management policies and practices (such as articulation of service levels and deliverables, etc.)
- Develop and institutionalize vendor management processes where none existed before
- Vendor relationship management: govern operations with respect to contracts, SLAs/SLOs, design consistent tracking and reporting, manage and escalate areas of non-compliance
- Establish and/or approve internal and external policies, standards and processes for vendor interaction
- Manage the maintenance and enhancement of tools for use in vendor management, including vendor tracking, analytics and performance management tools
- Manage the collection, consolidation and communication of reporting and data on vendor contracts, performance, risk and relationships to key stakeholders and vendors
- Performance management: measure and report on vendor performance, and manage delivery of performance feedback to vendor organizations; oversee action plans and corrective measures which may arise from the performance management process
- Risk management: maintain vendor risk assessments or risk registers in cooperation with risk, privacy, and security teams
- Contribute to functional strategic initiatives and process improvement
- Develop and maintain relationships with key stakeholders by collaborating with business sponsors, risk management group, operations, information technology, legal and other groups to meet the Bank’s objectives
- Maintain positive relationships with vendors to ensure a high level of service is provided, vendor obligations are met, problems are investigated and resolved and continuous improvement opportunities are fostered
- Maintaining, influencing and deepening relationships to achieve business objectives, savings goals and vendor cost management strategies
- Deliver timely, accurate, and informative vendor management reporting and analysis to support compliance and business decisions by identifying, developing and implementing innovative metrics, tools and processes to assess, track and drive performance
- Proactively monitoring, managing and reporting on the portfolio of vendors to ensure that they are performing all their contracted responsibilities
- Identifying potential risk situations/impacts, and make recommendations or escalate to the senior management and ensure contingency plans exist, as per guidelines
- Maintaining productive and collaborative relationships with internal and external sources, colleagues and others to obtain, provide, verify and discuss information and best practice
Knowledge/Skill Requirements:
- 10+ years experience in vendor management at a Canadian financial institution
- Experience with creating, implementing and maturing a vendor management program would be considered an asset
- Exposure to oversight of Vendor, Cyber and Technology Risk is required
- Post secondary education, preferably in the areas of Business Administration, Vendor Management or Information Technology and/or equivalent experience Business domain knowledge in Canadian Online and/or Retail Banking is mandatory
- Some understanding of Software Development Life Cycle concepts, and experience with both waterfall and agile methodologies
- Good understanding of Compliance (FCAC) Regulatory (OSFI, CDIC) regulations and policies
- Experience with business intelligence tools e.g. Microsoft BI is an asset
- Proficient user of all Microsoft tools; Knowledgeable with Atlassian suite (JIRA & Confluence).
- Leadership, organization, and planning ability
- Strong relationship management, communication and presentation skills
- Strong ability to influence others
- Strong ability to produce exceptional quality output and manage competing deadlines, priorities, accountabilities and constraints.
- Excellent execution skills and change management capabilities.
- Ability to identify and effect appropriate risk governance and control mechanisms
