VP, Technology Vendor Relationship Manager, Financial Markets & Trading Platforms

What if you could build a career where ambition meets innovation? At LPL Financial, we empower professionals to shape their success while helping clients pursue their financial goals with confidence. What if you could have access to cutting-edge resources, a collaborative environment, and the freedom to make an impact? If you're ready to take the next step, discover what’s possible with LPL Financial.

Job Overview:

The IT Vendor Manager will serve as the primary relationship lead and contract strategist for a portfolio of high‑impact technology vendors supporting trading, brokerage, and market‑operations platforms. This role requires deep expertise in capital markets technology, strong commercial acumen, and the ability to drive vendor performance, negotiate complex agreements, and ensure technology partners meet regulatory, operational, and performance standards across the trade lifecycle.

Responsibilities:

• Strategic Vendor Leadership

• Serve as the vendor relationship manager for critical technology vendors supporting trading platforms, capital markets systems, and market‑operations environments.

• Lead vendor governance activities, including performance management, service reviews, and vendor‑driven innovation.

• Minimize value leakage and ensure the organization captures the full value of vendor investments.

• Commercial & Contract Management

• Act as a subject matter expert on contract structures, usage, commercial levers, and pricing models specific to market‑technology vendors.

• Partner with Procurement on benchmarking, pricing negotiations, and commercial strategy for large‑scale, multi‑service agreements.

• Lead technology’s engagement in RFI/RFP processes to ensure requirements reflect trading‑platform needs, regulatory obligations, and operational dependencies.

• Technology & Market Expertise

• Advise on emerging technologies, market‑structure shifts, regulatory impacts, and evolving vendor capabilities.

• Evaluate vendor offerings and industry trends across equities, fixed income, derivatives, FX, execution, OMS/EMS, and other trading‑technology domains.

• Support technology leaders with insights influencing platform strategy, vendor selection, budgeting, and forecasting.

• Operational & Risk Management

• Monitor vendor performance, SLAs, operational stability, incident support, and delivery quality to ensure alignment with trading‑environment expectations.

• Identify, escalate, and mitigate operational, compliance, regulatory, cybersecurity, and third‑party risks.

• Collaborate with Technology, Operations, Risk, Legal, and Compliance partners to ensure vendors meet all regulatory and control standards.

• Support issue resolution for escalated vendor incidents and oversee vendor offboarding where appropriate.

What are we looking for?

We’re looking for strong collaborators who deliver exceptional client experiences and thrive in fast-paced, team-oriented environments. Our ideal candidates pursue greatness, act with integrity, and are driven to help our clients succeed. We value those who embrace creativity, continuous improvement, and contribute to a culture where we win together and create and share joy in our work.

Requirements:

• 12+ years of experience managing complex technology vendors, contracts, or strategic partnerships.

• 10+ years of financial‑services experience with direct exposure to capital markets, trading systems, market data, OMS/EMS, or trade‑lifecycle technology.

• Demonstrated experience working with major industry vendors (e.g., trading platforms, execution systems, clearing/settlement vendors).

• Strong analytical, negotiation, and commercial skills.

• Experience developing and analyzing RFPs, SLAs, and complex commercial agreements.

Core Competencies:

• Strategic thinking and commercial acumen

• Market‑technology fluency

• Stakeholder influence and executive communication

• Vendor‑performance governance and operational rigor

• Risk management and regulatory awareness

Preferences:

• Expertise across trading‑platform verticals

• Experience managing vendors supporting regulated trading environments

• Ability to drive operational excellence and continuous improvement

• Strong enterprise mindset capable of influencing senior technology and business leaders

• An individual contributor who thrives with autonomy and owns outcomes end‑to‑end