Director, Quality Assurance

Sallie Mae • New Castle, DE

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Vendor Quality Assurance will be responsible for leading end-to-end governance, risk management, and performance oversight of third-party vendor relationships. This role serves as a critical function, ensuring vendors operate in alignment with regulatory requirements, internal policies, and organizational standards while delivering consistent, high-quality outcomes that support broader business objectives. This role will ensure effective analysis and measurements of key risks are established, measured, and monitored. Additionally, leads identification and remediation of findings from other internal/external reviews. Additional responsibilities at the direction of the Senior Leadership pertaining to operational risk may be assigned. The Director will engage with business and process owners on a detailed and daily basis.

Requirements

• Experience in the development and implementation of quality systems and processes
• Deep knowledge of third-party risk frameworks and vendor governance models.
• Experience overseeing collections, recovery, or debt settlement vendors.
• Experience with risk-based quality assurance frameworks and monitoring methodologies.
• Demonstrated experience managing regulatory exams, audits, or compliance reviews.
• Strong knowledge of regulatory requirements and standards.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and leadership skills
• Ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills
• Demonstrated ability to drive continuous improvement in quality processes and systems

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field (e.g., Quality Management, Vendor Oversight)
• 10+ years of experience in quality assurance, vendor management, and/or compliance/risk, with a minimum of 5 years in a leadership role
• Experience building or scaling a first line of defense or oversight function.
• Advanced degree or relevant certification (e.g., compliance, risk, quality, vendor management)

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the vendor quality assurance strategy for the organization
• Establish and maintain vendor quality standards, policies, and procedures that meet or exceed industry standards and customer expectations
• Ensure vendor adherence to collections-specific regulatory requirements, including appropriate handling of borrower communications and third-party disclosures.
• Establish controls to monitor customer interactions, settlement practices, and recovery activities to prevent regulatory violations.
• Oversee quality review frameworks for call monitoring, correspondence, and account handling activities aligned to risk criteria.
• Build and lead a team of quality assurance professionals
• Develop and implement quality metrics and reporting to measure the effectiveness of quality assurance initiatives.
• Deliver executive-level reporting on vendor quality/compliance performance, and risk exposure.
• Work closely with cross-functional teams to ensure quality practices are implemented across the organization
• Drive continuous improvement in quality processes and systems
• Identify and address quality issues and risks proactively
• Conduct quality audits on-site at vendor locations to assess performance, compliance, and control effectiveness.
• Lead end-to-end vendor lifecycle governance, including due diligence, onboarding, ongoing monitoring, and termination strategies from a quality/compliance perspective.
• Partner with the business, Vendor Management Office (VMO), Legal, and Compliance on risk tiering and vendor segmentation.
• Oversee third-party due diligence and ongoing monitoring programs to mitigate operational, compliance, reputational, and strategic risk
• Provide leadership and guidance to the organization on quality-related matters

Benefits

• Competitive base salaries
• Bonus incentives
• Generous PTO, Floating Holidays and 12 Federal Holidays observed
• Support for financial-well-being and retirement
• 401k with employer match
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, hospital indemnity, critical illness, pet insurance and more
• Employer paid short-term/long-term disability and basic life insurance
• Flexible hybrid working arrangements.
• Paid parental leave and adoption reimbursement programs
• Free access to on-site staffed fitness centers (in Delaware) and gym subsidy (for locations outside Delaware)
• Confidential counseling support (EAP), Health Advocacy services and Wellness program with financial incentives
• Tuition Reimbursement and Family Scholarship Programs
• Career development and training opportunities

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director