Third Party Risk Management Specialist

Dis-Chem Pharmacies; Midrand; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Market-related salary

Medical aid

Provident fund

Staff account

Job summary

Dis-Chem Pharmacies seeks a Third-Party Risk Management Specialist to assess and manage security risks from external vendors, technology partners, and service providers. You will establish and maintain the third-party due-diligence framework, evaluate onboarding controls, and monitor ongoing compliance across the vendor lifecycle.

Collaborating with the CISO, Enterprise Architecture, Procurement and IT platform teams, you will ensure risks are identified early and addressed through contractual,

Qualifications

• Degree in Information Security, IT, Risk Management, or related field
• 5+ years’ experience in IT security or vendor risk management, preferably in a multi-vendor environment
• Exposure to outsourced service models, SOC/MDR providers, and cloud-hosted solutions.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain the third-party security assessment and onboarding framework for all technology vendors
• Establish security requirements, minimum controls, and contractual clauses for IT suppliers in alignment with enterprise architecture and CISO standards
• Maintain a central third-party risk register and ensure risk ratings, remediation actions, and exceptions are documented and reviewed
• Collaborate with Procurement to embed security reviews into sourcing and renewal
• Conduct risk assessments for new vendors and high-risk services; evaluate security certifications, architecture, hosting, data flows, access models, and operational processes
• Identify control gaps and recommend mitigation across domains (e.g., IAM, data protection, resilience, patching, monitoring)
• Partner with IT platform teams to validate integration risks and enforce secure configuration requirements
• Track remediation progress with vendors and elevate overdue or critical issues to CISO
• Monitor vendor security posture continuously through attestations, performance metrics, and threat intelligence
• Support incident investigation when a vendor-driven outage or cyber event impacts Dis-Chem
• Provide reporting to CISO, Procurement, and Leadership on vendor risk levels, trends, and areas requiring uplift
• Strong understanding of third-party risk, vendor security controls, and security assessment methods
• Knowledge of risk domains relevant to retail pharmacy (hosting, data protection, resilience, availability, integrations)
• Familiarity with regulatory and contractual securityrequirements.
• Ability to influence vendors and internal stakeholders toward secure-by-design decisions
• Strong negotiation and communication skills to articulate risks and requiredmitigations.

Skills

Vendor risk management

Information security

Regulatory compliance

Communication skills

Negotiation

Stakeholder management

Security governance

Risk assessment

Education

Degree in Information Security, IT, Risk Management, or related field

Job description

Dis-ChemPharmacies hasanopportunityavailablefora Third-Party Risk Management Specialist responsible for assessing and managing security risks arising from Dis-Chem’s external vendors, technology partners, and service providers. The role establishes and maintains Dis-Chem’s third-party security due-diligence framework, evaluates vendor controls before onboarding, and monitors ongoing compliance across the vendor lifecycle. Works closely with CISO, Enterprise Architecture, Procurement, and IT platform teams to ensure third-party risks are identified early, assessed consistently, and addressed through contractual, technical, or operational controls. Strengthens resilience in a landscape heavily reliant on external IT partners.

Requirements

• Degree in Information Security, IT, Risk Management, or related field
• 5+ years’ experience in IT security or vendor risk management, preferably in a multi-vendor environment
• Exposure to outsourced service models, SOC/MDR providers, and cloud-hosted solutions.

Responsibilities

Information Security Governance & Compliance

• Develop and maintain the third-party security assessment and onboarding framework for all technology vendors
• Establish security requirements, minimum controls, and contractual clauses for IT suppliers in alignment with enterprise architecture and CISO standards
• Maintain a central third-party risk register and ensure risk ratings, remediation actions, and exceptions are documented and reviewed
• Collaborate with Procurement to embed security reviews into sourcing and renewal

Third-Party Security Risk Management

• Conduct risk assessments for new vendors and high-risk services; evaluate security certifications, architecture, hosting, data flows, access models, and operational processes
• Identify control gaps and recommend mitigation across domains (e.g., IAM, data protection, resilience, patching, monitoring)
• Partner with IT platform teams to validate integration risks and enforce secure configuration requirements
• Track remediation progress with vendors and elevate overdue or critical issues to CISO

Monitoring, Incident Support & Reporting

• Monitor vendor security posture continuously through attestations, performance metrics, and threat intelligence
• Support incident investigation when a vendor-driven outage or cyber event impacts Dis-Chem (noted as a known pain point)
• Provide reporting to CISO, Procurement, and Leadership on vendor risk levels, trends, and areas requiring uplift

Competencies

Domain Expertise

• Strong understanding of third-party risk, vendor security controls, and security assessment methods
• Knowledge of risk domains relevant to retail pharmacy (hosting, data protection, resilience, availability, integrations)
• Familiarity with regulatory and contractual securityrequirements.

Leadership & Commercial Acumen

• Ability to influence vendors and internal stakeholders toward secure-by-design decisions
• Strong negotiation and communication skills to articulate risks and requiredmitigations.

Key Performance Indicators

• % of vendors assessed and risk-rated before onboarding
• Remediation closure rate for vendor findings
• Contribution to culture, accountability, engagement, and continuous improvement
• Reduction in vendor-related incidents or outages
• Quality and completeness of vendor risk documentation
• Stakeholder satisfaction with vendor risk process
  

SpecialConditionsofEmployment:

SouthAfricancitizen

MIE,clearcriminalandcredit

Driver’slicenseand/orownreliabletransport

Remunerationandbenefits:

• Marketrelatedsalary
• Medicalaid
• Providentfund
• Staffaccount

Dis-Chem Pharmacies is an equal opportunity employer. Dis-Chem’s approved Employment Equity Plan and Targets will be considered as part of the recruitment process aligned to Dis-Chem’s Employment Equity & Transformation Strategy. Dis-Chem actively supports the recruitment of People with Disabilities.