Dir- Vendor Management - Hybrid

Blue Cross Blue Shield of AZ; Phoenix (AZ); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona seeks a seasoned leader to own the vendor governance operating model across Operations and Service Delivery. You will govern third-party relationships from onboarding to renewal, ensuring performance standards, risk controls, and value realization align with member and organizational needs.

You will direct a team, establish escalation paths, and partner with Procurement, Legal, Compliance, and IT to manage complex vendor portfolios and renewals.

Qualifications

• 8 years of progressive vendor management experience.
• 5 years of people leadership experience.
• 3 years experience with vendor tiering, due diligence, risk assessment, renewal/exit decisions.
• Experience interpreting contracts, SLAs, and financial commitments.

Responsibilities

• Establish and maintain the vendor governance operating model for assigned vendors, including tiering, decision rights, governance cadence, records, and escalation thresholds.
• Maintain a portfolio view of strategic/critical vendors, with services, owners, milestones, risks, and performance status.
• Define governance requirements by vendor criticality and oversee onboarding through renewal/exit.
• Translate contracts/SOWs into an obligation register with deliverables, SLAs, reporting, renewal dates, and owners.
• Direct vendor governance activities and lead governance center of excellence.

Skills

Vendor management

Leadership

Risk assessment

Contract governance

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Healthcare Administration, Finance, Information Systems, or related field

Job description

Awarded a Healthiest Employer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona aims to fulfill its mission to inspire health and make it easy. AZ Blue offers a variety of health insurance products and services to meet the diverse needs of individuals, families, and small and large businesses as well as providing information and tools to help individuals make better health decisions.

At AZ Blue, we have a hybrid workforce strategy, called Workability, that offers flexibility with how and where employees work. Our positions are classified as hybrid, onsite or remote. While the majority of our employees are hybrid, the following classifications drive our current minimum onsite requirements:

• Hybrid People Leaders: must reside in AZ, required to be onsite at least twice per week
• Hybrid Individual Contributors: must reside in AZ, unless otherwise cited within this posting, required to be onsite at least once per week
• Hybrid 2 (Operational Roles such as but not limited to: Customer Service, Claims Processors, and Correspondence positions): must reside in AZ, unless otherwise cited within this posting, required to be onsite at least once per month

Onsite: daily onsite requirement based on the essential functions of the job

Remote: not held to onsite requirements, however, leadership can request presence onsite for business reasons including but not limited to staff meetings, one-on-ones, training, and team building

Please note that onsite requirements may change in the future, based on business need, and job responsibilities. Most employees should expect onsite requirements and at a minimum of once per week.

Purpose of the job

Owns the enterprise operating model for third-party vendor governance across Operations and Service Delivery, with accountability for vendor segmentation, lifecycle controls, contractual performance, service continuity, risk response, and value realization.

Directs governance for assigned strategic and critical vendors from onboarding through renewal, transition, or exit. Establishes clear decision rights, escalation paths, performance standards, and evidence-based oversight to protect members, customers, operations, and the organization.

Leads the Vendor Management team and serves as the center of expertise for vendor relationship governance, contractual obligation oversight, performance remediation, and third-party operational risk.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Required Work Experience

• 8 years of progressive experience in vendor management, supplier relationship management, third-party risk, contract governance, sourcing, or outsourced-service oversight.
• 5 years of people leadership experience, including establishing team priorities, performance expectations, and professional development plans.
• 5 years of direct accountability for complex vendor portfolios, including performance governance, contractual obligations, escalations, and executive business reviews.
• 3 years of experience applying vendor tiering, due diligence, risk assessment, issue remediation, and renewal or exit decision processes.
• Experience interpreting contracts, statements of work, service-level agreements, performance remedies, and financial commitments.

Required Education

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Healthcare Administration, Finance, Information Systems, or related field.

Required Licenses

• N/A

Preferred Certifications

• N/A

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

Preferred Work Experience

• Health plan, managed care, payer operations, or regulated healthcare vendor management experience.
• Experience governing vendors that support claims, payment integrity, care management, member or provider services, and healthcare administration technology.
• Experience establishing a vendor management office, center of expertise, or standardized third-party governance program.
• Experience with vendor transitions, service recovery, business continuity, concentration risk, and termination assistance.
• Experience partnering with Procurement, Legal, Compliance, Information Security, Finance, Privacy, and operational risk functions.

Preferred Education

• N/A

Preferred Licences

• N/A

Preferred Certifications

• Lean, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement certification.

ESSENTIAL job functions AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Establish and maintain the vendor governance operating model for assigned Operations and Service Delivery vendors, including vendor tiering, decision rights, governance cadence, required records, and escalation thresholds.
• Maintain a portfolio view of strategic and critical vendors, including services provided, accountable business owners, contract milestones, dependencies, material risks, and current performance status.
• Define governance requirements by vendor criticality and ensure appropriate oversight from onboarding through renewal, transition, or exit.
• Translate contracts and statements of work into an obligation register that identifies deliverables, service levels, reporting requirements, remedies, renewal dates, and accountable owners.
• Direct v