Strategic Sourcing Specialist - Technology
About the role
Northern Trust, a Fortune 500 company founded in 1889, is a global financial institution known for its innovative financial services and integrity. The company serves the world's most sophisticated clients through leading technology and exceptional service.
Major Duties & 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.
Ledesign 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.
What This Role Does Not Own
Day-to-day vendor operational governance/QBR ownership and performance management (Vendor Management lane), though this role participates to enforce commercial controls and drive value realization.
Routine purchasing admin, PO/invoice troubleshooting, or CLM data hygiene (Procurement Ops lane).
Owning all RFx execution end-to-end (Category Manager lane), except when a sourcing event is strategically critical or stalled.
Preferred Knowledge & Specialized Expertise
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
Experience & Qualifications
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
Key Deliverables / Success Measures
Deliverables Portfolio commercial strategy and governance playbooks; channel economics controls; executive decision papers; value tracking scorecards; benchmark insights
Measures of Success
Reduced risk exposure via stronger contract posture
Improved margin transparency
Decreased value leakage
Measurable savings and verified adoption/utilization outcomes
Pay
Salary range is a good faith estimate of base pay. Northern Trust provides 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. Northern Trust also provides a discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component.
Working With Us
We are committed to creating a diverse environment and are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We encourage applications from all qualified candidates without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, age, disability status, veteran status, or any other protected status. We believe that a great team is made up of people from all walks of life and backgrounds, and we strive to foster an inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued and respected.