VP, Tech & Ops Supplier Management

Job Description:

Role Summary/Purpose:

Responsible for the end-to-end Supplier Lifecycle Management, including supplier adherence to Synchrony’s Supplier Management Center of Excellence (SMCoE) program, Contracts Management, and support of the Technology Supplier Management Strategy for a predefined supplier base. Manage and cultivate supplier relationships aligned to the Information Security, Data Management, Infrastructure, Cloud, Network, and Technology Services teams.  This role will facilitate extensive interaction and partnership with Technology leadership, Sourcing, Supplier Management, Legal, and Risk Management teams. The ideal candidate has a strong technology background, self-motivated, and can deliver on the core competences of Technology Supplier Management through influence, analytics, and good decision making.  It’s essential that your suppliers are performing to their contracted SLA’s, meet or exceed business expectations, and your able to identify any associated risks, then take the necessary actions to remediate.

Our Way of Working

We’re proud to offer you choice and flexibility. At Synchrony, our way of working allows you to have the option to work from home, near one of our Hubs or come into one of our offices. Occasionally you may be required to commute to our nearest office for in person engagement activities such as business or team meetings, training and culture events.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Must have an in-depth understanding of technology supplier capabilities and competencies in the areas of: Cyber Security, Cloud Service Providers, AI, Data Analytics, Network, Compute, Infrastructure, SaaS, PaaS, IaaS and associated KPI’s.

• Must have strong Contracts Management background and experience to ensure we secure the best possible terms and conditions, including SLAs.

• Engage with SM CoE function to understand your suppliers monitoring activities, testing schedules, audits, and gather evidence within strict timelines.

• Partner with Sourcing and business stakeholders to develop business requirements for RFP/RFI/POC and sourcing strategies that meet the expected ROI and SLAs.

• Plan, track, and drive sourcing activities; highlight any risks identified in the process.

• Adopt best practices / ways of working within the current Technology SM team.

• Collaborate closely with your suppliers to ensure conformance to Synchrony required monitoring activities, requirements, and expectations for engagement.

• Ensure the proper agenda, data requirements, attendees, templates, and required materials are included in the supplier performance reviews you’ll be leading.

• Effective and timely completion of supplier monitoring activities to ensure an “audit ready” posture. Provides support for audits, special projects, and other assessments as needed.

• Gather insights from technology leaders to help identify supplier performance requirements and document any gaps to help drive improvements and implement needed changes. 

• Identify and implement additional supplier monitoring activities to help mitigate risk and drive supplier performance.

• Support ongoing strategy and deliverables related to Contingent Worker utilization, as it relates to your supplier base.

• Perform other duties and/or special projects as assigned

Qualifications/Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree with minimum 7 years of Tech experience or in lieu of degree, High School Diploma/GED and 10 years of IT experience

• Minimum 5 years of experience as a Supplier Manager in a Financial Services, Insurance/Reinsurance or other highly regulatory industry

• Minimum 5 years or Program and/or Project Management experience

• Minimum 5 years of Contracts Management experience

Desired Characteristics:

• Experience working in / with Financial Institutions

• Strong knowledge and experience working with or for Technology Vendors 

• Experience managing large multi-million dollar Technology Contracts

• Deep understanding of general IT controls, application controls, and change audit methodologies, as well as industry accepted standards (CobIT, ITIL)

• Strong analytical and negotiation skills with a proven ability to proactively manage dozens of contract renewals with foresight that provides the business with enough time to react to unfavorable terms and pivot to another solution if necessary.

• Strong oral and written communication, presentation, interpersonal, and facilitation skills

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