Director, Vendor Management

MetLif; Cary (NC); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

MetLife’s Global Business Solutions (GBS) seeks a Director of Vendor Management Center of Excellence to lead enterprise-wide vendor relationships and advance governance standards across the organization.

The role focuses on setting and maturing vendor management practices, developing playbooks, and coaching VM professionals while partnering across Procurement, Legal, Risk, and IT to deliver measurable business outcomes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required.
• 10+ years in vendor management, procurement, or related disciplines.
• Experience managing complex strategic vendor relationships.
• Strong executive stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Experience leading cross-functional governance activities.
• Ability to operate in a global, matrixed environment.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the designated Vendor Manager for enterprise-wide or highly complex vendor relationships.
• Develop and execute vendor relationship strategies, governance plans, and engagement models.
• Lead vendor reviews, governance reviews, executive forums, and performance oversight.
• Drive accountability for contractual obligations, SLAs, and business outcomes.
• Coordinate resolution of significant vendor issues, escalations, and remediation efforts.
• Partner with Procurement, Legal, Compliance, and Technology to address opportunities and risks.
• Drive value through innovation, service improvements, and efficiencies.
• Support continuity planning, renewal strategies, and exit readiness.

Skills

Vendor Management

Stakeholder Management

Cross-functional Leadership

Executive Communication

Strategic Influence

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Job description

MetLife’s Global Business Solutions (GBS) team delivers enterprise-wide solutions and services with agility and efficiency, enabling scaled capabilities across our global organization. GBS comprises of enterprise teams leading change initiatives, vendor management and procurement, business resilience, and end-to-end shared services through MetLife’s Global Capability Center, which delivers solutions in technology, service, operations, and finance. By driving enterprise-wide solutions at scale, and through seamless collaboration across global business functions, you’ll help MetLife create value and stay ahead in an ever-evolving landscape. Join a team that transforms challenges into opportunities and delivers lasting success across the enterprise.

The Opportunity

The Director, Vendor Management Center of Excellence serves as a senior enterprise vendor management practitioner with two primary areas of accountability: Enterprise Vendor Relationship Ownership through direct management of strategically important, complex, or enterprise-wide vendor relationships; and Enterprise Leadership and VM COE Contribution through advancement of enterprise vendor management standards, governance frameworks, reporting, training, operating model, and organizational capabilities.

This role helps define what good vendor management looks like by applying leading practices to complex vendor relationships and translating those experiences into scalable standards, tools, governance practices, and coaching for the broader vendor management community.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the designated Vendor Manager for strategically important, enterprise-wide, or highly complex vendor relationships.
• Develop and execute vendor relationship strategies, governance plans, and engagement models.
• Lead vendor business reviews, operational governance reviews, executive engagement forums, and performance oversight activities.
• Drive vendor accountability for contractual obligations, service levels, operational performance, and business outcomes.
• Coordinate resolution of significant vendor issues, service disruptions, escalations, disputes, and remediation efforts.
• Partner with Procurement, Legal, Compliance, Third Party Risk Management, Technology, Operations, and business stakeholders to identify and address vendor-related opportunities and risks.
• Drive value realization through innovation, service improvements, operational efficiencies, and strategic partnership development.
• Support business continuity planning, transition planning, renewal strategies, and vendor exit readiness activities.

Enterprise Leadership and VM COE Contribution

• Serve as a senior subject matter expert on enterprise vendor management practices, governance, and operating model execution.
• Support development and continuous improvement of enterprise vendor management standards, governance frameworks, procedures, and supporting tools.
• Help evolve vendor management operating models, vendor segmentation methodologies, governance processes, and performance reporting capabilities.
• Provide guidance, coaching, and consultation to Vendor Managers, Engagement Managers, Regional Governance Leads, and business stakeholders.
• Support development of enterprise reporting, scorecards, dashboards, metrics, and management insights related to vendor performance, governance adherence, and program effectiveness.
• Identify opportunities to improve vendor management maturity, automation, efficiency, data quality, and governance effectiveness.
• Translate practitioner experience into reusable playbooks, templates, best practices, standards, and training materials.
• Lead or support strategic initiatives that strengthen enterprise vendor management capabilities globally.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of experience in Vendor Management, Procurement, Third Party Risk Management, Supplier Governance, Operations, or related disciplines.
• Experience managing complex strategic vendor relationships.
• Strong executive stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives and governance activities.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities.Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Ability to operate effectively within a global, matrixed environment.
• Ability to use AI to improve speed, quality, and efficiency across a broad range of day-to-day tasks.