Vendor Governance and Optimization Lead

Location: Holmdel, United States

Why Join Guardian Life?

At Guardian Life, we’ve been protecting American families and businesses for over 160 years. As a mutual company, our focus remains on delivering exceptional value to our policyholders, employees, and communities. Join our Digital & Technology (D&T) team in Holmdel, NJ, where innovation meets stability. We offer a collaborative culture, cutting-edge technology initiatives, and opportunities to shape the future of insurance through vendor optimization and strategic governance. Be part of a company recognized as a top workplace, with a commitment to work-life balance, professional growth, and impactful work in vendor management, IT governance, and technology transformation.

Role Description

The Vendor Governance and Optimization Lead is a pivotal role within Guardian Life’s Digital & Technology organization. This position drives the implementation of our comprehensive vendor governance framework and spearheads efforts to right-size third-party technology spend. You will lead the strategic transition of multiple 3rd party service providers into an optimized, consolidated footprint, delivering end-to-end managed services with minimal disruption. Collaborating with procurement, legal, enterprise architecture, and IT stakeholders, you’ll design and operationalize governance structures ensuring supplier accountability, performance excellence, and innovation. If you thrive in high-stakes vendor management, supplier optimization, and technology transitions, this role offers the platform to make a lasting impact at a Fortune 500 leader in insurance.

Detailed Responsibilities

Supplier Governance

• Establish structured governance frameworks with defined meeting cadences, including operational reviews, monthly performance reviews, quarterly business reviews (QBRs), and transition checkpoints.
• Develop essential governance documentation such as dashboards, vendor scorecards, and transition progress reports to drive transparency and accountability.
• Manage vendor relationships across all service towers (e.g., applications, infrastructure, end-user services), maintaining rigorous governance with consistent cadences.
• Conduct periodic performance reviews assessing SLA adherence, incident trends, service quality, risks, and improvement initiatives.
• Facilitate QBRs to evaluate strategic alignment, contract performance, and contributions to innovation and transformation.
• Collaborate with IT stakeholders to consolidate cross-tower metrics, promoting transparency in service outcomes.
• Hold suppliers accountable to business cases, transformation outcomes, and performance-linked commercials, including managing service penalties.
• Ensure supplier compliance with organizational policies, data protection standards (e.g., GDPR, CCPA), and regulatory controls.

Supplier Landscape Optimization and Transition

• Provide program management oversight for transitions consolidating multiple providers into a single managed service partner, ensuring seamless knowledge transfer and minimal disruption.
• Collaborate with suppliers, procurement, legal, and enterprise architecture to prepare contracts, tooling, and operations for new supplier models.
• Define and monitor transition milestones, exit criteria, and post-transition stabilization metrics.
• Maintain visibility into transition risks, dependencies, and escalations, driving proactive mitigation.
• Lead post-transition service improvement initiatives, identifying process standardization and automation opportunities.
• Partner with suppliers to advance AI, hybrid cloud, DevOps, and global service delivery, optimizing business outcomes.

Relationship Management and Strategic Support

• Support the Head of Third Party Strategy in optimizing supplier costs via demand rationalization, commercial models, and consolidation to meet savings targets.
• Work with supplier executives for swift resolution of governance issues.
• Track and report on operational and transformational outcomes, quantifying benefits realized.
• Build executive relationships with suppliers and industry experts to infuse continuous improvement, innovation, and transformation perspectives.

Required Skills

Success in this role demands a blend of strategic vision and execution excellence. Key skills include:

• Expertise in IT vendor governance and supplier relationship management
• Proven program management for complex technology transitions
• Strong analytical skills for performance metrics, scorecards, and dashboards
• Excellent stakeholder communication and negotiation abilities
• Deep knowledge of managed services across app dev, QA, cloud, networks, DevOps
• Risk management and mitigation in multi-vendor environments
• Contract and commercial management, including penalties and SLAs
• Familiarity with AI, hybrid cloud, and emerging tech trends
• Process optimization and automation identification
• Strategic cost optimization and savings realization

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Business Administration, Information Technology, or related fields.
• 10+ years in large technology product/services providers and multi-tower managed services.
• Hands-on experience transitioning services in application development, QA, end-user services, data centers, cloud, networks, DevOps, or app support.
• Certifications: ITIL, PMP, or supplier management (e.g., ISM, CIPS).
• Familiarity with AI, hybrid cloud, DevOps, and global service models preferred.

Compensation Overview

Competitive base salary range: $132,420 - $217,545 annually, commensurate with experience. Total compensation includes performance bonuses, equity potential, and comprehensive benefits.

Benefits

Guardian Life offers industry-leading benefits:

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with generous company match
• Paid parental leave and flexible work arrangements
• Professional development stipend and tuition reimbursement
• Wellness programs, gym memberships, and mental health support
• Generous PTO, holidays, and volunteer time off
• Employee stock purchase plan and financial planning services

Guardian Life is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Apply today to elevate your career in vendor governance at Guardian!