Third Party Risk and Vendor Management Lead - Vice President

Job description

People Manager & Business Activity Owner (BAO) - Center of Excellence Introduction We are establishing a new Business Activity Owner (BAO) Center of Excellence (CoE) and are seeking a strong, strategic leader to build and guide one of its core teams. This is a "dual-hat" People Manager role responsible for leading, developing, and inspiring a team of BAO professionals while also managing a portfolio of Technology & Business Enablement’s (T&BE) third-party relationships. This role requires an experienced leader with a strategic mindset, strong business acumen, and the ability to thrive in a high-pressure, constantly evolving environment. Success in this position depends on sound judgment, accountability, effective decision-making, and a commitment to developing talent. The role also requires balancing operational excellence with people leadership, fostering both high performance and a culture that supports professional growth and healthy work-life integration. Leadership & Management Responsibilities As a People Manager within the CoE, your primary responsibility is to your team. We have high expectations for our leaders, and you will be accountable for: Team Leadership & Development: Lead, mentor, and develop a team of BAO professionals. Foster a culture of high performance, continuous improvement, and professional growth. Strategic Vision: Develop and execute a strategic vision for your team, proactively identifying opportunities for optimization and aligning with the ever-changing technology and vendor strategy. Financial Oversight: Manage financial tasks and budgets related to your team and vendor portfolio. Resilience & Adaptability: Handle pressure with composure and guide your team through a dynamic and ever-changing environment. Empathetic Leadership: Be present and attentive to your team's success, actively promoting a healthy work-life balance and ensuring their well-being. Ownership & Accountability: Demonstrate strong professional intelligence and the ability to think independently. You will be expected to make decisive calls and own the outcomes, learning and iterating from both successes and failures. Business Activity Owner (BAO) Responsibilities In addition to your leadership duties, you will act as the designated BAO for a select portfolio of vendor relationships. You will be hands-on in executing the end-to-end responsibilities for these critical suppliers. Onboarding & Due Diligence Define Business Needs: Collaborate with internal teams to clearly define business requirements for engaging a third-party. Risk Assessment: Initiate and complete the Inherent Risk Questionnaire (IRQ) to determine the risk profile of the relationship. Engage Sourcing: Partner with Sourcing to conduct sourcing events and select the appropriate third-party. Coordinate Due Diligence: Manage the comprehensive due diligence process with various control assessment groups. Contracting: Oversee the contracting process, securing approvals and ensuring correct setup. Ongoing Monitoring & Management Performance Management: Continuously monitor and report on third-party performance against Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Risk & Control Assessments: Perform Ongoing Monitoring (OGM) control assessments and address any identified gaps. Relationship Management: Act as the primary point of contact for the third-party and manage escalations. Process Improvement: Proactively identify trends, drive supplier optimization, and make recommendations to improve ways of working. Compliance: Stay current on industry regulations and ensure the third-party relationship remains compliant, including managing renewals and amendments. Offboarding Termination: Manage the decision and execution of the termination process, ensuring a smooth transition. Qualifications Leadership Qualifications Management Experience: Proven experience in leading, mentoring, and developing teams is required. This is ideally demonstrated by 2+ years of a formal people management role, however significant experience acting as a team lead, project lead, or senior mentor for a group of colleagues will be strongly considered. Strategic Mindset: Proven ability to think strategically, look forward, and align team execution with broader business and technology strategy. Decisiveness & Accountability: Demonstrated history of making independent decisions and taking full ownership of the results. Emotional Intelligence: Strong ability to lead with empathy, manage team dynamics, and remain composed under pressure. BAO & Professional Qualifications Experience: 2+ years of experience in a supplier/third-party management, vendor management, project management, or risk management role. Project Management: Excellent project management, planning, and organizational skills with a demonstrated ability to manage and track multiple complex tasks simultaneously. Interpersonal Skills: Strong interpersonal, collaboration, influencing, and negotiation skills. Communication: Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to present complex and sensitive issues clearly to senior management. Problem Solving: A proactive and analytical mindset with the ability to handle ad-hoc requests, remediate issues, and drive resolutions. Adaptability: A desire to learn, tackle new challenges, and thrive in an evolving role. Preferred Qualifications Tooling: Experience working with Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) platforms such as Aravo and OneTPM. Global Experience: Experience working with other countries and business areas in a global organization. Language: Multi-lingual (writing/reading/speaking) capabilities. ------------------------------------------------------ Job Family Group: Technology ------------------------------------------------------ Job Family: Business Analysis / Client Services ------------------------------------------------------ Time Type: Full time ------------------------------------------------------ Most Relevant Skills Please see the requirements listed above. ------------------------------------------------------ Other Relevant Skills For complementary skills, please see above and/or contact the recruiter. ------------------------------------------------------ Citi is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified candidates will receive consideration without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law. 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