Principal Analyst, Vendor & Contract Management

FINRA • Rockville, MD

23h • Hybrid

About The Position

Step into a pivotal role where contract expertise meets strategic partnership. As Principal Analyst in Transparency Services Vendor and Contract Management, you'll serve as the central liaison orchestrating complex agreements that power FINRA's market transparency operations. This isn't just contract administration—it's strategic relationship management across the complete contract lifecycle. You'll negotiate with vendors, collaborate with legal and senior leadership, ensure service delivery excellence, and protect FINRA's interests while maintaining the vendor partnerships that support our transparency mission. If you thrive at the intersection of contracts, relationships, and operational excellence, this is your opportunity to drive impact in a critical regulatory function.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Business Management, Finance, or related field
• 7 years of relevant experience in contract management, vendor management, procurement, or related functions
• Relationship building expertise: Proven ability to build and maintain productive relationships with vendors, clients, and internal stakeholders through strong communication, problem-solving, flexibility, and collaboration
• Analytical excellence: Strong analytical capabilities across technical, organizational, and business process domains with ability to interpret complex requirements
• Detail-oriented precision: Meticulous approach to reading, analyzing, and interpreting contract requirements and terms
• Exceptional communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills for diverse audiences from vendors to senior executives
• Multi-tasking capability: Demonstrated ability to manage several concurrent assignments and priorities effectively
• Contract lifecycle knowledge: Understanding of contract fundamentals including terms, conditions, SLAs, and compliance requirements

Nice To Haves

• Experience working with business and industry leaders to craft solutions for contract-related challenges
• Background in financial services, regulatory environments, or market data/transparency operations
• Familiarity with procurement systems and contract management platforms
• Experience managing complex technology or data service vendor relationships
• Knowledge of regulatory compliance considerations in vendor contracts

Responsibilities

• Orchestrate the Contract Lifecycle: Lead all phases of contract management from initial negotiation through renewal or termination, serving as the central point of coordination between Legal, Procurement, senior management, and business stakeholders
• Drive Strategic Negotiations: Participate in discussions and drive contract preparation for agreements with third-party providers, ensuring terms align with Transparency Services objectives and protect FINRA's interests
• Analyze and Synthesize: Collaborate with business subject matter experts and vendors to gather and analyze complex data, providing clear contract updates and status information to stakeholders at all organizational levels
• Ensure Financial Accuracy: Review and validate that vendor invoices align with contractual terms, partnering with Finance to ensure timely and accurate payment processing
• Monitor Vendor Performance: Lead periodic vendor review meetings to assess service delivery against SLAs, identify opportunities for improvement, and ensure contractual obligations are consistently met
• Proactively Manage Risk: Identify and address issues, challenges, or risks associated with service delivery, escalating non-routine matters to leadership with recommended solutions
• Support Exit Strategies: Collaborate with leadership to develop contingency and exit plans for contracts approaching natural expiration or facing premature termination
• Champion Process Excellence: Follow and help refine established procedures for contracting, invoicing, and vendor management, surfacing process improvement opportunities

Benefits

• Employees may be eligible for a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay.
• Non-exempt employees are also eligible for overtime pay in accordance with federal, state, or local law.
• As part of its dedication to employee wellness, FINRA provides comprehensive health, dental and vision insurance.
• Additional insurance includes basic life, accidental death and dismemberment, supplemental life, spouse/domestic partner and dependent life, and spouse/domestic partner and dependent accidental death and dismemberment, short- and long-term disability, long-term care, business travel accident, disability and legal.
• FINRA offers immediate participation and vesting in a 401(k) plan with company match and eligibility for participation in an additional FINRA-funded retirement contribution, tuition reimbursement, commuter benefits, and other benefits that support employee wellness, such as adoption assistance, backup family care, surrogacy benefits, employee assistance, and wellness programs.
• Time Off and Paid Leave FINRA encourages its employees to focus on their health and wellness in many ways, including through a generous time-off program of 15 days of paid time off, 5 personal days and 9 sick days, unless otherwise required by law (all pro-rated in the first year).
• Additionally, we are proud to support our communities by providing two volunteer service days (based on full-time schedule).
• Other paid leave includes military leave, jury duty leave, bereavement leave, voting and election official leave for federal, state or local primary and general elections, care of a family member leave (available after 90 days of employment); and childbirth and parental leave (available after 90 days of employment).
• Full-time employees receive nine paid holidays.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees