Own the governance and performance of the firm's most critical supplier relationships—driving strong contract discipline, rapid issue resolution, and measurable service improvement across high-impact, higher-risk engagements. This role sits at the center of supplier strategy and execution, partnering across Procurement, Risk, Cyber, and business stakeholders to keep supplier outcomes resilient, compliant, and continuously improving.

As a Critical Supplier Relationship & Program Management Lead Sr Associate within our Document and business solutions team , you will provide end-to-end oversight of critical, high, and medium-risk supplier engagements, ensuring contractual obligations are met, risks and incidents are managed effectively, and supplier performance is monitored and improved. The role leads key governance activities (e.g., QBRs, scorecards, attestations, FVAs, control assessments) and provides program management support for strategic initiatives and continuous improvement across third-party oversight.

Job Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end governance for critical, high, and medium-risk supplier engagements, ensuring consistent oversight, documentation, and stakeholder alignment.
• Manage the full contract lifecycle (creation, execution, amendments, renewals, terminations) and ensure contracts are maintained in required repositories and aligned to firm policy.
• Partner with Procurement Operations and Accounts Payable to ensure accurate, timely vendor payments; resolve invoice and payment exceptions efficiently.
• Lead and/or support RFP/RFI execution, including requirements gathering, supplier evaluation, and clear documentation of selection decisions.
• Proactively identify, track, escalate, and resolve supplier issues across performance, compliance, service delivery, and risk events (including adverse news).
• Serve as the primary point of contact for supplier incident management and escalation, including coordination of cyber-related events in line with firm protocols.
• Drive action plan and risk acceptance governance—tracking remediation, validating closure, and maintaining evidence of resolution.
• Build, maintain, and present supplier performance scorecards; lead Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) to review outcomes and drive continuous improvement.
• Coordinate annual supplier engagement attestations, ensuring completion of required documentation and executive sign-offs.
• Oversee annual Financial Viability Assessments (FVA) for applicable suppliers, escalating concerns and ensuring Executive Sponsor disposition where needed.
• Coordinate and support Supplier Control Assessments and cyber deep dive activities, ensuring findings are tracked and remediated in partnership with Supplier Assurance Services (SAS) and relevant stakeholders.

Required Qualifications , capabilities and skills

• Bachelor's degree.
• 5+ years of experience in vendor management, contract management, third-party risk management, or related experience
• Proven capability in contract administration and lifecycle management for complex supplier engagements.
• Demonstrated experience managing supplier performance, including scorecards, QBRs, and continuous improvement actions.
• Strong issue management skills, including escalation, incident coordination, action plan tracking, and documentation discipline.
• Solid project/program management capability with cross-functional coordination, governance routines, and reporting.
• Excellent communication, organization, and stakeholder management skills across senior and matrixed teams.

Preferred Qualifications , capabilities and skills

• Advanced degree and/or certifications such as PMP, CTPRP, or CTPRA.
• Experience leading RFP/RFI processes end-to-end in a regulated environment.
• Working knowledge of Financial Viability Assessments (FVA) and supplier financial health monitoring/escalation.
• Familiarity with Supplier Control Assessments and third-party assurance/controls testing concepts.
• Experience coordinating supplier-related cyber incident response and remediation tracking.
• Proficiency with contract and supplier management platforms (e.g., COMPASS, 4Site) and related firm systems.
• Demonstrated flexibility to take on evolving responsibilities, special projects, and regulatory-driven deliverables.