Lead, Vendor Governance Consultant; Hybrid: Madison, WI​/Waverly, IA

Tru Stage Strategic Vendor Governance Position

At Tru Stage, we're on a mission to make a brighter financial future accessible to everyone. We put people first, and work hand in hand with employees and customers to create a diverse and inclusive environment. Passionate about building insurance and financial services solutions, we push the boundaries of what's possible. We need you to help us shape what's next. You'll be encouraged to share your experiences, ideas and skills to help others take control of their financial future.

Join a team that has received numerous awards for being a top place to work:
Tru Stage awards and recognition

This position drives operationalization of the Strategic Vendor Governance office framework and ensures disciplined governance, proactive issue management and continuous value realization across Tru Stage's most strategic service providers.

Job Purpose:

This position drives day-to-day execution of the enterprise Strategic Vendor Governance (SVG) office. This role executes the governance framework for Tru Stage's most critical third-party relationships, ensuring vendors deliver contracted value, meet performance expectations, and support business, financial, and risk objectives. This role is accountable for the health, performance, and risk posture of the enterprise strategic vendor portfolio.

This position will partner closely with Procurement, IT, Finance, Third-Party Risk Management, and business partners to drive disciplined governance, proactive issue management, and continuous value realization across strategic suppliers.

Job Responsibilities:

Strategic Governance & Operating Model

• Operationalize the Strategic Vendor Governance framework, performance standards, escalation models, and cadence of reviews.
• Utilize the criteria defined for strategic vendor designation and ensure consistent application across the enterprise.
• Execute the ongoing portfolio review process to validate strategic vendor designation, recommend reclassification where appropriate, and support the transition of ongoing management to business partners.
• Drive consistent execution of roles, decision rights, and accountability across Procurement, IT, and business partners.

Vendor Performance & Value Realization

• Oversee enterprise level performance management for strategic vendors, including SLAs, KPIs, outcomes, and value realization.
• Hold vendors accountable to transformation roadmaps, innovation commitments, and performance-linked commercial terms.
• Run disciplined, outcome-driven business reviews with top vendors, ensuring consistency and delivery of actionable insights, risks, and recommendations.
• Accountable for proactively managing third party engagements for key strategic vendors, including ongoing risk assessments and related due-diligence activities.

Financial & Commercial Management

• Partner with Procurement and Finance to track savings, benefits realization, and commercial commitments.
• Identify opportunities for cost optimization, demand management, and value leakage remediation.
• Support contract renewals and renegotiations with fact-based performance and financial insights.

Risk, Compliance & Issue Management

• Proactively identify vendor related risks (operational, financial, regulatory, concentration, performance).
• Advance, implement, and monitor robust risk mitigation plans and corrective action strategies in collaboration with cross-functional partners.
• Execute structured issue resolution and escalation processes for strategic vendor issues including performance failures, financial disputes and material risk events.
• Ensure governance alignment with regulatory expectations and Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) frameworks, partnering with Risk and Compliance teams to support audits and examinations.

Stakeholder Leadership & Influence

• Serve as a trusted advisor to business leaders, providing oversight and guidance to ensure vendor performance and behaviors align with contractual commitments and enterprise governance expectations.
• Drive a culture of partnership, accountability, and data driven decision making between internal teams and vendors.
• Coach and mentor governance analysts.

The above statement of duties is not intended to be all inclusive and other duties will be assigned from time to time.

Job Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree required (Business, Finance, Supply Chain, IT, or related field), MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• 7+years of experience in vendor governance, procurement, sourcing, or outsourced services within regulated industries.
• Demonstrated experience leading governance for large, complex vendors (IT services, BPO, managed services).
• Strong commercial and financial acumen, including contract interpretation, savings tracking, and benefit realization.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders.
• Experience operationalizing governance or vendor management frameworks strongly preferred.
• Experience supporting regulatory exams and audits preferred.
• Strategic thinking and executive presence.
• Vendor performance and…