Senior Consultant – Enterprise Critical Vendor Program Manager

About the role

Northern Trust, a Fortune 500 company, is a globally recognized, award-winning financial institution founded in 1889. We are 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.

Key Responsibilities

• Support transformation and ongoing maturity of the TPRM and Enterprise Critical Vendor Program through cross-functional collaboration across Business, Procurement, Risk, and Control functions.
• Facilitate cross-business unit coordination for enterprise critical engagements, ensuring standardized oversight and governance execution.
• Drive change management initiatives, including process enhancements, automation, and reporting improvements.
• Provide ongoing monitoring and oversight of critical/high-priority vendors, ensuring adherence to contractual obligations, KPIs, SLAs, and financial targets.
• Lead proactive identification, escalation, and remediation of vendor risks, control gaps, and performance issues.
• Perform vendor criticality assessments and support risk treatment activities aligned with regulatory expectations.
• Maintain risk, issue, and incident logs and support governance reporting and escalation.
• Prepare and deliver risk-based insights, dashboards, and executive reporting to governance forums.
• Support internal audits, regulatory exams, and third-party reviews through comprehensive documentation and program transparency.
• Lead QA/QC reviews of TPRM and ECV lifecycle deliverables to ensure quality, completeness, and policy adherence.
• Oversee and govern third-party relationships for Consulting and Contingent Labor (C&CL) vendors, ensuring alignment with Enterprise Critical Vendor Program standards and TPRM requirements.
• Partner with Procurement and Business Units to ensure appropriate onboarding, risk assessment, and lifecycle management of C&CL engagements.
• Drive cross-BU coordination and reporting of consulting and contingent labor vendor performance, risk posture, and compliance.
• Act as a trusted advisor to Business Units and vendor managers on TPRM requirements and regulatory expectations.
• Coach stakeholders on vendor lifecycle processes, governance standards, and risk management practices.

Required Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Risk, Finance, Business, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience in Third-Party Risk Management, Vendor Management, or related oversight functions in a financial services or regulated environment.
• Experience managing vendor relationships and supporting contractual, operational, and risk oversight activities.
• Strong understanding of third-party regulatory frameworks and risk management practices.

Preferred Experience

• Supporting Consulting and Contingent Labor programs, including oversight of Master Agreement risk assessments, onboarding, and lifecycle governance.
• Experience working across multi-business unit environments coordinating enterprise-level vendor oversight.
• Experience with vendor lifecycle tools (e.g., Coupa or equivalent platforms).

Key Skills & Competencies

• Strong consultative and problem-solving skills with the ability to develop business cases and solutions.
• Advanced data analytics skills; Power BI expertise strongly preferred (dashboard development, data modeling, visualization).
• Proficiency in Excel and financial / operational data analysis.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including executive-level presentations.
• Strong project management skills and ability to work in a matrixed, fast-paced environment.
• Ability to manage ambiguity, prioritize effectively, and drive outcomes.

Benefits

At Northern Trust, we offer a comprehensive benefits package including 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, and other voluntary and well-being benefits. We also provide a discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component.

Working With Us

We are committed to creating a flexible and collaborative work culture in an organization where financial strength and stability are assets that embolden us to explore new ideas. Movement within the organization is encouraged, senior leaders are accessible, and we are committed to assisting the communities we serve!