Strategic Sourcing Specialist - Technology

Northern Trust • Chicago, IL

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

Northern Trust, a Fortune 500 company, is a globally recognized, award-winning financial institution that has been in continuous operation since 1889. Northern Trust is proud to provide innovative financial services and guidance to the world’s most successful individuals, families, and institutions by remaining true to our enduring principles of service, expertise, and integrity. With more than 130 years of financial experience and over 22,000 partners, we serve the world’s most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.

Requirements

• 10+ years in technology sourcing with demonstrated strength in security/risk contracting and/or channel economics (resellers/telecom/optimization platforms)
• Master’s preferred; advanced negotiation or conflict management specialization a plus
• Proven track record of building governance models, leading difficult negotiations, and operating credibly with CISO/Risk/Compliance leaders

Nice To Haves

• Security + Risk Commercial Acumen (Role-Specific)
• Security contracting patterns: audit rights, breach notification, SLAs for protective services, cyber indemnity constructs (in partnership with Legal/Risk)
• Understanding of identity/security architectures at a conceptual level (IAM, WAF/CDN, posture mgmt, monitoring/telemetry) to align commercials to real usage and coverage
• Channel / Reseller Economics (Role-Specific)
• Discount structures, rebates, MDF-like programs, services attach, margin controls, price protection, and governance models for large resellers/telecom/optimization providers
• Optimization / Value-Realization Mindset
• Strong orientation to utilization, leakage reduction, and measurable outcomes; ability to build executive-ready value narratives

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain the multi-vendor strategy across identity/security controls, risk tooling, and protective service layers, aligned to enterprise risk posture and resiliency goals.
• Drive vendor rationalization/substitution strategies and contract runway planning to avoid surprise renewals and unmanaged risk exposure.
• Lead commercial design for security tooling where value is measured by adoption, coverage, and risk reduction outcomes (not shelfware).
• Own strategy and controls for reseller/channel economics: discount governance, rebate programs, pass-through requirements, fee structures, and price protection.
• Establish playbooks and guardrails that prevent margin leakage, duplicative purchases, and fragmented sourcing across channels.
• Drive demand management opportunities (standardization, preferred channel routing, catalog discipline) in partnership with Procurement Ops.
• Support Category Managers on renewals/RFx and step in as escalation for impasses or highly complex negotiations (security terms, audit rights, incident-related clauses, regulatory addenda, channel price disputes).
• Ensure negotiation posture and outcomes align to enterprise standards for security, privacy, resiliency, and regulatory requirements.
• Develop scorecards and value realization frameworks for security and optimization vendors (license utilization, coverage metrics, outcome validation, unit-cost curves).
• Establish periodic strategic reviews with Security/Risk leadership and IT Finance to confirm roadmap alignment and quantify delivered value.
• Ensure sourcing decisions reinforce a sustainable risk culture and reduce operational/compliance surprises.

Benefits

• retirement benefits (401k and pension)
• health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, spending accounts and disability)
• paid time off
• parental and caregiver leave
• life & accident insurance
• other voluntary and well-being benefits
• discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component

What This Job Offers

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