Major Duties & Responsibilities

1) Cross-Vendor Security & Risk Commercial Strategy (Primary Ownership)

• Build and maintain the multi-vendor strategy across identity/security controls, risk tooling, and protective service layers, aligned to enterprise risk posture and resiliency goals.

• Drive vendor rationalization/substitution strategies and contract runway planning to avoid surprise renewals and unmanaged risk exposure.

• Lead commercial design for security tooling where value is measured by adoption, coverage, and risk reduction outcomes (not shelfware).

2) Channel & Reseller Governance / Margin Transparency (Primary Ownership)

• Own strategy and controls for reseller/channel economics: discount governance, rebate programs, pass-through requirements, fee structures, and price protection.

• Establish playbooks and guardrails that prevent margin leakage, duplicative purchases, and fragmented sourcing across channels.

• Drive demand management opportunities (standardization, preferred channel routing, catalog discipline) in partnership with Procurement Ops.

3) Complex Negotiations & Escalation Path (Shared Ownership; Complexity Lead)

• Support Category Managers on renewals/RFx and step in as escalation for impasses or highly complex negotiations (security terms, audit rights, incident-related clauses, regulatory addenda, channel price disputes).

• Ensure negotiation posture and outcomes align to enterprise standards for security, privacy, resiliency, and regulatory requirements.

4) Value Tracking, Controls, and Risk-Focused Governance (Primary Ownership Within Scope)

• Develop scorecards and value realization frameworks for security and optimization vendors (license utilization, coverage metrics, outcome validation, unit-cost curves).

• Establish periodic strategic reviews with Security/Risk leadership and IT Finance to confirm roadmap alignment and quantify delivered value.

• Ensure sourcing decisions reinforce a sustainable risk culture and reduce operational/compliance surprises.

What This Role DoesNotOwn (By Design)

• Day-to-day vendor operational governance/QBR ownership and performance management (Vendor Management lane), though this role participates to enforce commercial controls and drive value realization.

• Routine purchasing admin, PO/invoice troubleshooting, or CLM data hygiene (Procurement Ops lane).

• Owning all RFx execution end-to-end (Category Manager lane), except when a sourcing event is strategically critical or stalled.

Preferred Knowledge & Specialized Expertise (Not Required)

Security + Risk Commercial Acumen (Role-Specific)

• Security contracting patterns: audit rights, breach notification, SLAs for protective services, cyber indemnity constructs (in partnership with Legal/Risk)

• Understanding of identity/security architectures at a conceptual level (IAM, WAF/CDN, posture mgmt, monitoring/telemetry) to align commercials to real usage and coverage

Channel / Reseller Economics (Role-Specific)

• Discount structures, rebates, MDF-like programs, services attach, margin controls, price protection, and governance models for large resellers/telecom/optimization providers

Optimization / Value-Realization Mindset

• Strong orientation to utilization, leakage reduction, and measurable outcomes; ability to build executive-ready value narratives

Experience & Qualifications

• 10+ yearsin technology sourcing with demonstrated strength in security/risk contracting and/or channel economics (resellers/telecom/optimization platforms)

• Masters preferred; advanced negotiation or conflict management specialization a plus

• Proven track record of building governance models, leading difficult negotiations, and operating credibly with CISO/Risk/Compliance leaders

Key Deliverables / Success Measures

Deliverables

• Portfolio commercial strategy and governance playbooks; channel economics controls; executive decision papers; value tracking scorecards; benchmark insights

Measures of Success

• Reduced risk exposure via stronger contract posture; improved margin transparency; decreased value leakage; measurable savings and verified adoption/utilization outcomes

Salary Range:

Salary range is a good faith estimate of base pay. Northern Trust provides a comprehensive benefits package including retirement benefits (401k and pension), health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, spending accounts and disability), paid time off, parental and caregiver leave, life & accident insurance, and other voluntary and well-being benefits. Northern Trust also provides a discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component.

Work Authorization

Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future. Northern Trust will not sponsor applicants for U.S. work visa status for this opportunity (no sponsorship is available for H-1B, L-1, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, F-1, J-1, OPT, CPT or any other employment-based visa).