Senior Associate - Strategic Partnerships / Vendor Management

About the position Supporting all Value Streams, this Shared Services team oversees and governs third-party vendors and strategic partnerships. The team ensures vendors meet their service level agreements (SLAs) and consistently deliver timely, accurate services, while maintaining an exceptional experience for clients, agents, and internal stakeholders. Additionally, the team monitors vendor-related expenses to ensure all charges are appropriate and aligned with services provided. This Senior Associate role is critical in vendor performance management, ensuring Long-Term Care (LTC) vendors meet SLAs, addressing any service issues through escalation and remediation, coordinating vendor-related projects, and serving as the primary liaison between internal stakeholders and our third-party vendors. The ideal candidate is a self-starter comfortable analyzing complex data, identifying and implementing solutions, and driving continuous process improvements. This person should be a quick learner able to work under limited supervision, with a continuous improvement mindset to proactively spot problems and propose solutions. The candidate should also have experience delivering high-caliber service to internal and external customers. Strong Microsoft Excel skills are required, and proficiency with Tableau or other data visualization tools is highly desirable. Excellent written and verbal communication skills are a must, as is proven ability to prioritize and handle multiple projects concurrently.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary liaison between LTC vendors and internal stakeholders, maintaining clear communication and providing timely updates on vendor performance and issues
• Oversee the vendor governance program for LTC vendors by maintaining all VGP documentation and coordinating formal reviews (e.g., Quarterly Business Reviews) to drive accountability and performance improvement
• Monitor and enforce SLA compliance, tracking vendor performance metrics and administering any contractual penalties or credits tied to Service Level Agreement results
• Manage vendor issues and escalations end-to-end, from incident triage through remediation, and ensure timely resolution with appropriate leadership visibility for critical issues
• Drive vendor process improvements and cross-functional initiatives by collaborating with internal teams (Underwriting, IT, Operations, etc.) and vendors to implement changes that enhance service quality and efficiency
• Coordinate vendor contracts and renewals with Procurement, ensuring all contract terms (scope, pricing, performance standards) are adhered to and updated as needed
• Support compliance and risk oversight by facilitating TPRM assessments, audit inquiries, and business continuity reviews for vendors, and verifying that vendors meet NYL’s regulatory and security requirements
• Oversee vendor billing and expenses, validating invoices, ensuring accurate charge allocation, and addressing any discrepancies in partnership with Finance. This includes conducting user access reviews to vendor systems.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Strong critical thinking, data analysis, problem-solving and collaboration skills
• Tableau, Qlik or similar data visualization tools/programs
• Advanced Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook) skills required; experience using AI tools preferred.
• Proven ability to effectively manage multiple commitments and/or projects
• Vendor Management experience is required

Nice-to-haves

• General knowledge of Long-Term Care insurance is preferred
• Remote work environment experience is preferred

Benefits

• leave programs
• adoption assistance
• student loan repayment programs

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