Supplier Manager acts as the process owner and governance lead for supplier onboarding, ensuring that all third-party vendors are assessed, approved, and integrated in a controlled, compliant, and efficient manner. The role is responsible for maintaining the onboarding framework, including due diligence, risk assessment, information security reviews, contractual compliance, financial validation, and alignment with regulatory and internal policy requirements with internal stakeholders and teams. Working cross-functionally with procurement, legal, finance, IT security, GRC and operational teams, the Supplier Manager ensures that suppliers meet technical, commercial, and risk standards before engagement and that clear accountability, documentation, and audit trails are in place. By governing this end-to-end process, they reduce operational and regulatory risk, maintain consistency and transparency, and enable the business to engage third parties confidently while protecting service integrity and organisational reputation
1. Strong governance and process ownership mindset – Demonstrates accountability for maintaining controlled, auditable processes.
2. Risk-aware and analytically minded – Able to assess financial, operational, regulatory, and information security risks and make balanced, evidence-based decisions.
3. Excellent stakeholder management skills – Confident engaging with senior leaders, technical teams, procurement, legal, and external suppliers to drive alignment and resolution.
4. High attention to detail – Ensures documentation, compliance checks, and approvals are thorough and accurate .
5. Commercially astute – Understands contractual, financial, and commercial implications of supplier relationships within a tech services environment.
6. Strong communication skills – Clearly articulates governance requirements, expectations, and decisions both verbally and in writing.
7. Organised and process-driven – Able to manage multiple onboarding activities simultaneously while maintaining control and consistency.
8. Continuous improvement mindset – Proactively identifies inefficiencies and works to implement structured improvements without compromising compliance.
9. Resilient and confident decision-maker – Comfortable challenging stakeholders and holding firm on governance standards when required.