Role Purpose

The VP of Technical Vendor Management & Due Diligence is responsible for the end-to-end lifecycle of external technology partnerships. This leader will drive the strategic engagement with third-party technology companies, ensuring that all external solutions align with the organization’s technical standards, scalability requirements, and long-term product roadmaps. You will be the primary technical authority for evaluating vendor capabilities, conducting rigorous due diligence, and negotiating complex Statements of Work (SOWs) to ensure operational excellence and risk mitigation.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Vendor Engagement & Evaluation

* External Partnership Strategy:** Define and execute the strategy for engaging with external technology vendors, ensuring alignment with the internal engineering roadmap.

* Technical Due Diligence:** Lead the technical evaluation of potential partners, focusing on codebase quality, architectural integrity, security protocols, and technical debt.

* Functional Assessment:** Evaluate vendor product roadmaps to ensure long-term compatibility with internal business goals and emerging industry trends.

2. Technical Architecture & Scalability

* Dimensioning & Scalability:** Conduct deep-dive evaluations of vendor systems to ensure they can meet the organization’s performance, volume, and growth requirements.

* Deployment Models:** Analyze and define optimal deployment models (SaaS, On-prem, Hybrid, Cloud-native) for integrated third-party solutions.

* Interoperability:** Ensure external technologies integrate seamlessly with internal APIs, data structures, and security frameworks.

3. Governance & Operational Excellence

* SLA Definition:** Define and establish rigorous Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that protect the organization’s operational integrity.

* Performance Monitoring:** Implement frameworks for continuous monitoring of vendor performance against technical and operational benchmarks.

* Risk Management:** Identify and mitigate technical risks associated with third-party dependencies, including business continuity and disaster recovery planning.

4. Negotiation & Contract Management

* SOW Negotiation:** Lead the negotiation of technical Statements of Work (SOWs), ensuring clear definitions of deliverables, milestones, and acceptance criteria.

* Commercial Alignment:** Partner with Procurement and Legal teams to ensure technical requirements are accurately reflected in Master Service Agreements (MSAs) and commercial terms.

* Vendor Lifecycle Management:** Manage the full lifecycle of the relationship, from initial RFI/RFP through to offboarding or contract renewal.

Required Qualifications & Skills

Technical Expertise

* Engineering Background:** 7+ years of experience in software engineering, systems architecture, or technical product management, with at least 5 years in a leadership role.

* Due Diligence Mastery:** Proven experience conducting technical due diligence for M&A or large-scale vendor integrations.

* Infrastructure Knowledge:** Deep understanding of cloud infrastructure (AWS/Azure/GCP), microservices architecture, and modern CI/CD pipelines.

Leadership & Strategy

* **Negotiation Skills:** Exceptional ability to negotiate complex technical contracts and SOWs with global technology providers.

* Stakeholder Management:** Ability to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical executive leadership and cross-functional partners (Legal, Finance, Procurement).

* **Analytical Rigor:** Strong data-driven approach to evaluating vendor performance and system scalability.

Education

* Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field. MBA or equivalent business experience is a plus.

ABOUT GOLDMAN SACHS

At Goldman Sachs, we commit our people, capital and ideas to help our clients, shareholders and the communities we serve to grow. Founded in 1869, we are a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm. Headquartered in New York, we maintain offices around the world. We believe who you are makes you better at what you do. We're committed to fostering and advancing diversity and inclusion in our own workplace and beyond by ensuring every individual within our firm has a number of opportunities to grow professionally and personally, from our training and development opportunities and firmwide networks to benefits, wellness and personal finance offerings and mindfulness programs. Learn more about our culture, benefits, and people at GS.com/careers.

We’re committed to finding reasonable accommodations for candidates with special needs or disabilities during our recruiting process. Learn more: https://www.goldmansachs.com/careers/footer/disability-statement.html©

Goldman Sachs is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, veterans status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

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Asset & Wealth Management - Tech Vendor Management - Vice President - Richardson