Vendor Management Consultant

Thrivent • Minneapolis, MN

291d • $112,481 - $152,180

About The Position

The Vendor Management Consultant is a strategic partner for our Digital, Data and Technology leaders, and is responsible for managing and maintaining relationships with vendors and suppliers. The focus is on strategic, long-term partnerships, guided by contractual commitments. The Consultant will govern vendor relationships to ensure vendors meet delivery and performance expectations, foster innovation, and follow company policies, security standards, and industry best practices. They will also collaborate with Stakeholders, Legal, Procurement and Finance on RFx activities and contract negotiations.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience.
• 8+ years' experience in vendor relationship management.
• Understanding of contractual and operational working relationships with vendors, to ensure that contractual commitments are delivered.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and influence skills among all organizational levels; strong facilitation and executive communications skills.
• Exceptional ability to influence without direct authority.
• Experience driving measurable improvements in quality, efficiency, costs, and overall customer experience.
• Strong analytical and reporting skills.
• Comfortable working autonomously on complex problems with a high level of organization and attention to detail, with the ability to weigh in on key decisions.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent work assignments and priorities.
• Ability to prioritize work against enterprise, division, and product strategies.
• Can effectively communicate rationale and impact for prioritization choices.

Nice To Haves

• Knowledge and experience working with technology vendors and services.
• Understanding of technology acumen.
• Advanced skills in MS Office Suite with particular emphasis on Excel and PowerPoint.
• Understanding of Product Operating Model.

Responsibilities

• Oversees technology vendor relationships and delivery of outsourced services.
• Builds strong partnership and engagement with existing and new Thrivent vendors.
• Supports the Digital, Data and Technology organization, partners with senior management to evaluate vendor performance, needs assessment, spend optimization and risk management.
• Developing and implementing vendor management policies and procedures.
• Works closely with internal stakeholders to understand new technology solutions and develop cost effective strategies aligned with business objectives.
• Coordinates the negotiation and execution of contracts in partnership with the Legal and Procurement teams, along with directing the lifecycle activities for existing contracts.
• Support vendor escalations via data-driven root cause analysis for variances in operational performance and lead corrective action plan development and execution.
• Develop and own vendor performance and KPI reviews.
• Provide day-to-day work direction as needed to other Vendor Management team members.

Benefits

• Various bonuses (including, for example, annual or long-term incentives)
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Health savings account
• Flexible spending account
• 401k
• Pension
• Life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance
• Disability insurance
• Supplemental protection insurance
• 20 days of Paid Time Off each year
• Sick and Safe Time
• 10 paid company holidays
• Volunteer Time Off
• Paid parental leave
• EAP
• Well-being benefits
• Other employee benefits

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Industry: Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree