Director, Strategic Sourcing Enterprise Third-party Risk Process & Governance

Vertex Inc. • Boston, MA

109d • $175,200 - $262,800

About The Position

As a key Team Manager and leader in the Strategic Sourcing function, the Director, Strategic Sourcing Enterprise Third-party Risk Process & Governance leader is responsible for leading the operational execution of the end-to-end third party risk process as a key member of the Central Risk Management team. This role is responsible for shaping, driving and managing central third-party risk management processes, supporting cross-functional teams, and ensuring consistent application of risk policies and procedures across the third-party/supplier life cycle. The Director will collaborate closely with business owners, risk SMEs, sourcing teams and the rest of the Central Risk Management team to assess, monitor, and mitigate third-party risks, while driving process efficiency and compliance. The leader will play a key role in expanding the current risk processes and implementing the new processes, including driving change management, for more holistic third-party risk management practices across the company. The leader will work collaboratively with internal Stakeholders, develop sound third party risk approaches, utilize knowledge and expertise of processes, leverage best practices and drive risk visibility and ultimately risk management actions and a transparent enterprise governance process for managing and underwriting risks. The ideal candidate is a forward-thinking leader with a deep understanding of pragmatic third party risk processes, tools and technology, change management, and user-centric design principles. This role reports to the Senior Director of Strategic Sourcing Enterprise Third-Party Risk Management and will serve as a key contributor to the enterprise third-party risk management strategy, with a focus on execution, governance and reporting, and continuous improvement.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Risk Management, or related field.
• Professional certifications (e.g., CRMA, CTPRP, CISM) preferred.
• 8–12 years of experience in risk management, sourcing, or compliance, preferably in a biopharma or regulated industry.
• Experience managing third-party risk programs or supplier risk assessments.
• Strong analytical and project management skills.
• Exceptional leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• Familiarity with third-party risk assessment tools, dashboards, and governance frameworks.
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams and drive operational excellence.
• Track record of delivering measurable outcomes through process transformation, automation, and user experience redesign.
• Thoughtful and active listener; able to think quickly and effectively articulate points of view.
• Ability to work in collaborative, team environment; ability to cultivate and maintain effective business partner relationships through earned respect and trust.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities while ensuring deliverables are fully met, including more complex and involved projects.
• Knowledge of regulatory requirements and industry best practices in third-party risk.

Responsibilities

• Lead initiatives to implement the expanded third-party risk management processes, including change management.
• Manage day-to-day operations of the holistic centralized third-party risk management process.
• Oversee supplier criticality assessments and ensure consistent application of risk evaluation tools.
• Maintain and update the supplier risk repository, including tracking mitigation actions and ownership.
• Support and coordinate risk assessments for critical suppliers in partnership with business leads and risk SMEs.
• Support the development and automation of risk metrics and dashboards for visibility and reporting.
• Assist in maintaining enterprise third-party risk management tools such as the risk appetite matrix and risk mitigation playbooks and ensure alignment with business inputs.
• Support governance forums and escalation processes for individual third-party risks as well as risk themes by coordinating inputs and developing fit for purpose material including reporting, key metrics, and executive summaries.
• Ensure compliance with and continue to evolve internal processes, policies, and understanding of regulatory requirements, and industry standards.
• Pro-actively engage risk SMEs and external risk and industry forums and sources to understand potential changes in regulations and laws that could implicate our third-party/supply base and/or risk processes.
• Partner with internal audit, compliance, legal teams and other risk owners across the company to align and continue to evolve risk practices.
• Work with strategic sourcing and business owners to integrate third-party/supplier landscape insights into risk strategy.
• Collaborate with HR, Communications and business teams to support training and awareness initiatives.
• Serve as a liaison between risk SMEs and business units to ensure effective execution of risk practices.
• Identify opportunities for process optimization and automation.
• Benchmark practices against industry standards and contribute to ongoing enhancements of the TPRM framework.
• Partner with senior executives, business leaders, DTE, and suppliers to realize the tools and technology evolution to effectively expand and support risk processes.
• Align risk processes with overall business objectives and collaborate with key stakeholders to understand evolving risks; own, develop and embed tools and processes to enable consistency, simplification, and sustainability of pragmatic third-party risk management across the business.
• Foster strong partnerships and a culture of continuous and balanced third-party risk mindset and decision-making across the company.

Benefits

• Medical, dental and vision benefits.
• Generous paid time off including a week-long company shutdown in the Summer and the Winter.
• Educational assistance programs including student loan repayment.
• Generous commuting subsidy.
• Matching charitable donations.
• 401(k) and more.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree