HR Vendor Manager (12 month contract)

This Vendor Manager will lead the coordination and execution of all Europe and Americas HR vendor management processes. The role ensures consistent, disciplined, end-to-end vendor oversight in alignment with Vanguard's Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) model - eliminating delays, incomplete assessments, and unnecessary risk acceptances. The role will provide a central connection point between HR, TPRM, Risk domains, procurement partners and external vendors. The role will proactively lead in resolving legacy issues and ensuring alignment to current policy, risk expectations and best practice standards.

The Vendor Manager will oversee a portfolio of 60+ HR vendors and will also play a lead role on the upcoming Operational Controls Program (OCP) project on behalf of HR.

Key Responsibilities

Vendor Governance

• Support build out of governance frameworks for 60+ HR vendors, covering onboarding, due diligence, performance monitoring, renewals, and exit management.
• Maintain standardized documentation, controls and processes ensuring audit readiness.
• Manage vendor scorecards, SLA/ KPI tracking and performance escalations.

• Lead and coordinate all TPRM activities for HR vendors, including risk assessments, due diligence reviews, and ongoing monitoring.
• Work closely with risk domain owners (information security, privacy, compliance, legal, business continuity) to ensure timely completion of assessments.
• Identify and escalate emerging risks, policy gaps or compliance issues.
• Drive remediation plans with vendors and internal stakeholders to close risk findings within required timelines.

• Serve as the central liaison between HR, TPRM, procurement, finance, and external vendors.
• Partner with HR leaders to ensure vendor services align with business needs and operational standards.
• Facilitate communication, issue resolution, and structured review discussions with vendors.

• Identify and improve inefficiencies, outdated practices, and recurring bottlenecks in vendor management processes.
• Implement improved workflows, documentation standards and strengthen operational discipline.
• Drive initiatives that reduce risk acceptance, shorten assessment cycles and increase compliance.

• Maintain accurate and current vendor inventories, risk classifications, contract data and review cycles.
• Deliver regular reporting on vendor performance, contract milestones and remediation progress.

• Practical experience of third-party risk management frameworks or comparable vendor governance models.
• Hands-on experience using risk platforms (e.g., Archer, ServiceNow, OneTrust or similar).
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, including experience working with external vendors and internal cross functional and global teams.
• Detail oriented approach with a focus on process accuracy, documentation quality, and audit readiness.
• Strong analytical ability with advanced skills in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.