Senior Consultant – Enterprise Critical Vendor Program Manager

About Northern Trust
Northern Trust, a Fortune 500 company, is a globally recognized, award-winning financial institution that has been in continuous operation since 1889.
Northern Trust is proud to provide innovative financial services and guidance to the world’s most successful individuals, families, and institutions by remaining true to our enduring principles of service, expertise, and integrity. With more than 130 years of financial experience and over 22,000 partners, we serve the world’s most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.

The Enterprise Critical Vendor (ECV) Program Manager plays a key role within the First Line of Defense, responsible for driving the oversight, governance, and continuous improvement of Enterprise Critical vendor relationships. This role partners closely with Business Units, Procurement, Risk, Compliance, and external stakeholders to ensure third-party risks are proactively identified, managed, and mitigated in alignment with Enterprise Risk policies and regulatory requirements.
The role serves as a central coordinator for enterprise critical engagements across multiple business units, ensuring consistent execution of the Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) lifecycle, enhanced due diligence, and governance activities.

• Support transformation and ongoing maturity of the TPRM and Enterprise Critical Vendor Program through cross-functional collaboration across Business, Procurement, Risk, and Control functions.
• Facilitate cross-business unit coordination for enterprise critical engagements, ensuring standardized oversight and governance execution.
• Drive change management initiatives, including process enhancements, automation, and reporting improvements.

• Provide ongoing monitoring and oversight of critical/high-priority vendors, ensuring adherence to contractual obligations, KPIs, SLAs, and financial targets.
• Lead proactive identification, escalation, and remediation of vendor risks, control gaps, and performance issues.
• Perform vendor criticality assessments and support risk treatment activities aligned with regulatory expectations.
• Maintain risk, issue, and incident logs and support governance reporting and escalation.

• Prepare and deliver risk-based insights, dashboards, and executive reporting to governance forums.
• Support internal audits, regulatory exams, and third-party reviews through comprehensive documentation and program transparency.
• Lead QA/QC reviews of TPRM and ECV lifecycle deliverables to ensure quality, completeness, and policy adherence.

• Provide oversight and governance support for Consulting and Contingent Labor (C&CL) third-party relationships, ensuring alignment with Enterprise Critical Vendor Program standards and TPRM requirements.
• Support risk-leveling, due diligence oversight, and ongoing monitoring at the Master Agreement level for consulting and contingent labor vendors.
• Partner with Procurement and Business Units to ensure appropriate onboarding, risk assessment, and lifecycle management of C&CL engagements.
• Drive cross-BU coordination and reporting of consulting and contingent labor vendor performance, risk posture, and compliance.

• Act as a trusted advisor to Business Units and vendor managers on TPRM requirements and regulatory expectations.
• Coach stakeholders on vendor lifecycle processes, governance standards, and risk management practices.
• Develop strong relationships with internal stakeholders and external vendors to drive performance and compliance.

• Bachelor’s degree in Risk, Finance, Business, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience in Third-Party Risk Management, Vendor Management, or related oversight functions in a financial services or regulated environment.
• Experience managing vendor relationships and supporting contractual, operational, and risk oversight activities.
• Strong understanding of third-party regulatory frameworks and risk management practices.