Third Party/Vendor Management Senior Advisor - IT Infrastructure & Telecom Software - Hybrid

Third Party Management Senior Advisor

The Third Party Manager must have experience in dealing with dynamic business requirements that are tied to strategic level business objectives.  In order to effectively engage, this resource must have experience dealing with various levels of management to achieve desired outcomes. The resource must be able to deal with ambiguity as business objectives evolve, and must be able to identify and mitigate Cigna’s risk as necessary.

MAJOR OBJECTIVES:

• Supplier Governance & Contract Management
  • Set and ensure adherence to a consistent governance process for our largest and/or higher risk IT Hardware, Software and Services suppliers
  • Monitor overall performance of assigned suppliers against agreed upon service level agreements and/or other measurement criteria
  • Understand, compile, manage, and communicate required information for supplier performance reviews on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis including profiles, reports and scorecards as necessary.
  • Perform recurring Enterprise Business Review sessions with business/matrix partners and suppliers on a quarterly or semi-annual basis in order to provide strategic guidance to suppliers
  • Review and revise Enterprise Agreements, Service Level Agreements, Change Orders and Statements of Work with suppliers to optimize benefit and minimize risk to Cigna
  • Conduct or oversee reconciliation of invoices for adherence with contract terms

• Portfolio Strategy & Reporting
  • Support the delivery of a portfolio plan that will drive business needs with improved quality as well as reduced costs
  • Deliver a reporting strategy for TPM and Global Procurement that includes action-oriented reporting to support management decision making in the domain of Global Procurement & Third Party Management
  • Directly or indirectly (through business and matrix partners) manage key supplier relationships in assigned portfolio using Cigna's Global Procurement & Third Party Management best practices
  • Work with Global Procurement counterparts and business/matrix partners to define and execute negotiation strategies with Suppliers
  • Function as the subject matter expert related to contract terms, conditions, and financials for key suppliers in assigned portfolio
  • Understands industry cost structures and drivers and implications for strategic position

• Matrix Partner Coordination
  • Facilitate partnerships throughout Legal, CIP, IT, and many other internal teams to ensure both Cigna and GP&TPM best practices are followed in regards to competitive activity, in addition to mitigating risk.
  • Provide guidance on process and streamline interaction among matrix partners in regards to approval and contract process, especially in regards to large enterprise deals.
  • Assist with the constructive handling or resolution of conflict both internally and externally with suppliers, business and matrix partners. 
  • Influence internal customers and Global Procurement team to ensure contract inclusion of proper metrics to measure supplier performance
  • Support international TPM team activities as applicable

KEY COMPETENCIES AND ATTRIBUTES:

• Minimum of 4 years’ experience in global procurement, third party management, Information Technology with an emphasis in Telecom strongly preferred
• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Supply Chain Management or a related field strongly preferred
• SME with IT network infrastructure, landline and mobile telecom providers, contact center services and collaboration solutions
• Financial acumen
• Competence with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint with strong emphasis on Excel
• Able to facilitate
• Familiarity with Source to pay and Risk Management tools such as Ariba, Tableau and ICertis
• Experience in drafting, revising and reviewing contracts, SLAs, Master Service Agreements and Statements of Work
• Experience in measuring and improving supplier operational performance 
• Experience with healthcare industry rules around protection of PHI/PII and security framework
• Able to define and establish new, efficient processes with appropriate controls
• Strong leadership skills; inspires confidence and respect with associates and suppliers
• Strong decision making/problem solving skills; can identify issues, recommend and implement solutions
• Strong organizational, consultative and collaboration skills - builds relationships and is able to effectively influence both internal and external business partner
• Demonstrates negotiation and third party management skills with proven success; able to negotiate directly