Technical Supplier Manager

Business Unit: Business Management & Control (Technology Operations & Cyber Security)
Salary range: £56,800 - £65,000 per annum + benefits
Location: UK Hybrid – ad hoc travel across the UK
Contract type: Permanent

Our Team

The overarching ambition for COO remains – leverage the power of technology to deliver superb products and services for our customers. Technology Operations & Cyber Security (TOCS) plays a critical role in that pursuit, specifically, protecting our organisation and its critical data from cyber criminals as well as managing all technical services used by colleagues and customers alike.

Business Management and Control (BM&C) ensures TOCS are effective and fit for purpose in this ambition by leading the way in Financial Planning & Management, Third Party Management, Risk & Control, People & Engagement and Insights & Reporting.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Technical Supplier Manager to manage some of TOCS most important technology suppliers and cloud service provider.  This is a key role in aligning technology initiatives with our overall business strategy alongside tight and strong management of our cost envelope.  

As a Technical Supplier Manager, you’ll be responsible for ensuring effective third-party management of the technical and commercial interaction between Virgin Money and the technology suppliers.  You’ll have a comprehensive technical understanding of the suppliers’ products and service offerings as well as support, contracts, licensing, consumption, billing, and third-party risk management.   You’ll be working with a diverse group of highly specialised experts in Technology and Cyber Teams, Procurement, Legal, Incident Management, Disaster Recovery and Senior Management – and you’ll need to influence them all to be successful.

You’ll build deep relationships with our suppliers, getting to know the people and the organisations, and you’ll make sure they know us.  You’ll be highly effective in engaging the Supplier at pace in both every day and crisis situations.

What you’ll be doing

• Contract Management - Managing the contracts and renewals of supplier products and services for the portfolio of technical suppliers you own including renegotiation of contracts and contract changes
• Commercial Management – Working with Financial Planning Teams, Finance and Procurement to manage supplier cost in line with agreed budgets ensuring good value for our investment.  Also to deliver cost efficiencies through adequately forecasting future expenditure based on third party requirements and utility as identified within the technology roadmaps
• Third Party Governance Framework - Chair and management of governance meetings aligned to our internal Third-Party policies and frameworks. Participation and input will also be required for wider stakeholder engagement both internally and externally to the organisation.
• Supplier Relationship Management – Maintain deep relationships with your portfolio of suppliers and act as an advocate for the supplier within VM as well as an advocate for VM to the supplier.
• Third Party Risk Management – Ensure effective risk management practices through risk identification, assessment and operation of key controls as well as third party oversight activities for assurance over risk management practices and controls operated by suppliers on behalf of VM.
• Operational Resilience - Manage supplier resilience and continuity of service to protect the operation of critical bank services through documented, approved and tested service interruption plans, contingency plans, disaster recovery and business continuity plans.
• Compliance - Work closely with Procurement, 1st line risk, 2nd line risk and compliance teams to ensure all third party regulatory, scheme and policy requirements are met.
• Monitoring - Ensure suitable KPI’s are in place to monitor the performance of the individual suppliers aligned to contractual requirements.
• Change - Be the business SME providing support on projects and initiatives related to suppliers in your portfolio.
• Reporting - Provision of reporting to key stakeholders and colleagues to meet internal governance requirements.

We need you to have

• Knowledge of technology suppliers related to critical bank services including databases, application servers, mainframes or cloud services.
• Comprehensive understanding of supplier software support lifecycles and technology currency management.
• Demonstrable experience in speaking with the experts and knowledge of emerging technologies.
• Excellent experience of end-to-end contract and in life supplier management lifecycles.
• Excellent experience in cost management related to third party services and products.
• Third party risk management knowledge and experience
• Collaboration and networking skills and ability to establish strong links between suppliers and key business areas as well as the ability to develop relationships with new and existing suppliers
• Sound comprehension of supplier technology offerings and the value they deliver.
• Advanced negotiation skills and be able to plan and execute strategies in a complex multi-stakeholder environment to deliver sustainable outcomes that benefit the bank.
• Excellent interpersonal & communication skills with the ability to influence in a collaborative manner
• A forensic attention to detail, exceptional numeracy, strong understanding of technology capabilities, a sharp commercial awareness, and a big-picture view of technology strategies
• Ability to manage your own workload and priorities as well as dealing with a fast pace of change. 

Red Hot Rewards 

• Generous holidays - 38.5 days annual leave (including bank holidays and prorated if part-time)​ plus the option to buy more. 
• Up to five extra paid well-being days per year​.  
• 20 weeks paid, gender-neutral family leave (52 weeks in total) for expectant parents and those looking to adopt.  
• Market-leading pension.  
• Free private medical cover, income protection and life assurance.  
• Flexible benefits include Cycle to Work, wellness and health assessments, and critical illness.  

And there's no waiting around, you'll enjoy these benefits from day one. 

If we’re lucky to receive a lot of interest, we may close the advert early. Please ensure to submit your applications as soon as possible.  

Say hello to Virgin Money

Virgin Money is so much more than just a bank. As part of the Nationwide group, together we're the UK's first full-service mutual bank serving millions of retail and business customers and all driven by our purpose; Banking but fairer, more rewarding and for the good of society. With us, you’ll be part of an organisation uniquely positioned to make a difference to the lives of customers, communities and broader society and embark on a collaborative, customer obsessed, and fun-filled career journey. Embrace the weekdays, enjoy fantastic perks, and make a meaningful positive difference. Time to discover what it means to be part of the first mutual full-service banking provider.  

Be yourself at Virgin Money

At Virgin Money, we celebrate everyone. We have fun, think big, and relentlessly include each other, all in pursuit of our purpose: Banking – but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society.  We’re committed to creating an inclusive culture where colleagues feel safe and inspired to contribute, speak up and be heard.    

As a Disability Confident Leader, we're committed to removing any obstacles to inclusion.  If you need any reasonable adjustments or support making your application, contact our Talent Acquisition team careers@virginmoney.com

Please note: If we receive a high volume of eligible applications, we may need to prioritise candidates whose skills and experience most closely align with the role, while still ensuring fair and equitable consideration for all applicants.

Now the legal bit
Although some of our roles allow you to be based anywhere in the UK, we'll need you to confirm you have the right to work in the UK. 

If you're successful in securing a role with us, there are some checks you need to complete before starting. These include credit and criminal record checks and three years' worth of satisfactory references. If the role is part of the Senior Manager Regime and Certification Regime, it requires enhanced pre-employment checks – we'll ask for six years of regulatory references, and once in the role, you'll be subject to periodic employment checks.