The Program Manager, Vendor & Governance, works cross-functionally with stakeholders to identify and manage credit risk models and establish governance along with processes across the organization. Ensuring business & data process compliance is a key responsibility in this role. This person will manage vendor relationships within the Credit Strategy and Alpha Luna Teams including contracts, invoicing, project management and audit/review requests. Additionally, this role is the primary point of contact across the Credit & Marketing Department for developing and managing materials that keep Bluestem in compliance with internal and external policies surrounding strategies and all phases of model development. The Program Manager, Vendor& Governance will work closely with the Credit & Marketing Decision Sciences team to manage and maintain any new scorecards and models that are created. In addition, this role is the gatekeeper for data onboarding to Alpha Luna.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Manage and seek out data vendor relationships, which includes proactively researching potential vendors, demos, Request for Proposals (RFPs), contracts, Statement of Work (SOW) and project plans
• Manage critical vendor projects working across multiple internal departments and several external partners
• Reconcile vendor invoicing and review strategies vs. contracts to minimize costs where applicable
• Identify best data sources for improved model development and portfolio performance enhancement
• Control and compose weekly/monthly model governance materials for review by various committees including the Credit Risk Committee (CRC), Senior and Executive Leadership Team, Compliance, and bank partners
• Develops in collaboration with Compliance new or existing model development and customer strategy change documentation for banking partners surrounding submissions of these strategy changes, and corresponding approvals
• Develops in collaboration with Compliance processes and documentation around data onboarding to Alpha Luna for both internal and external data sources
• Orchestrates all activity related to onboarding data sources to Alpha Luna – Compliance intakes/approval, Legal consideration/approval, collaboration with Alpha Luna Data Steward, CDO and Product Owners
• Aggregate, develop and distribute materials for the weekly Credit Revenue review and communicate decisions made within those meetings to appropriate stakeholders
• Partner with analysts and modelers to properly document all phases (from development, implementation, and retirement) of the model development process in accordance with Bluestem’s internal Credit Model Governance policy
• Participate as a non-voting member and unofficial Secretary of the Model Review Committee (MRC)
• Aggregate, develop and distribute materials for the weekly Credit/Revenue review and the monthly Credit Risk Committee (CRC) – communicate decisions made within those meetings to appropriate stakeholders
• Partner with departments including Legal, Compliance, Marketing, Credit, and Technology to develop and implement cross-functional strategies
• Other duties and responsibilities as assigned

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Minimum 5+ years of relevant work experience - preferably within the Credit Administration area of a large, federally regulated financial institution or a Fintech
• Minimum 1+ years of vendor management experience – specifically negotiating/researching vendor contracting, billing, AP/AR, and reconciliation

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in any number of disciplines focusing on strong communication skills or within a technical discipline (English, Technical Writing, Communications, Engineering, etc.)
• Working knowledge of basic credit model governance standards and applicable regulations
• Technical writing experience and/or prior composition of materials submitted to governing bodies
• Working knowledge of machine learning techniques and applications in credit underwriting or some coding experience (R, SAS, Python, SQL, etc.)
• Ability to interact and lead individuals at all levels
• Project management experience working with external vendors and IT
• Self-motivated and detail-oriented
• Strong communication skills (both written and verbal)
• Prior Audit and/or Compliance experience