Vendor Management Office Lead

Alberta Blue Cross® is an Alberta based organization dedicated to delivering exceptional customer experience and community leadership. We're committed to providing the best health coverage to over 1.8 million members and take an active role in promoting wellness. We believe in what we do-and place trust in our employees to deliver our vision.

Working at Alberta Blue Cross® means having a career where you'll be recognized for your contributions. We value diversity, encourage our team members to maintain a healthy work-life balance and provide opportunities for career growth.

OVERVIEW

Reporting to the Director, Head of Procurement, Facilities & Corporate Services, the VMO Lead is responsible for establishing, operating and continuously evolving Alberta Blue Cross' IT Vendor Management Office, initially focused on project-delivery vendors and subsequently expanding to critical operational technology vendors. The role owns the VMO operating model and post-contract vendor-performance governance, including decision rights, reporting, accountability and value realization.

Working with a high degree of independence, the VMO Lead formulates solutions to complex vendor delivery and relationship issues, aligns senior stakeholders with divergent interests, and negotiates corrective actions and resolutions with vendors. The role's analysis and recommendations directly inform project governance, remediation, renewal, sourcing, risk and executive decision-making.

This is a hybrid position that will require occasional travel to our corporate offices in Edmonton and/or Calgary.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

VMO Governance & Operating Model

Design, implement and operate the IT Vendor Management Office as a new enterprise capability, translating its approved mandate into governance structures, decision rights, standards, processes, stakeholder accountabilities, adoption plans, operating rhythms, governance-council reporting and performance records.

Within the approved mandate, independently determine vendor governance tiers, performance-review requirements, scorecard measures, evidence standards, remediation processes and escalation thresholds.

Track VMO success metrics and value realization, including on-time deliverable rates, first-pass acceptance, vendor-driven change orders, scorecard completion, addressable spend coverage, cost avoidance and return on operating cost, and recommend changes to the operating model as the capability matures.

Project-Delivery Vendor Assurance

Manage vendor assurance activities for project-delivery vendors, including statement of work readiness reviews, vendor mobilization, deliverable and acceptance reviews in coordination with the PMO, stage-gate performance input, RAG reporting, change-order root-cause review and closeout performance records.

Identify and resolve complex vendor delivery issues involving competing stakeholder priorities, multiple delivery teams and, in some cases, multiple vendors; develop recommended courses of action and obtain alignment from project sponsors and senior stakeholders.

Lead implementation of agreed resolutions without direct authority over participating teams, while maintaining documented vendor performance evidence to support governance, remediation, sourcing, renewal and escalation decisions.

Operational Vendor Performance Management

Develop and maintain vendor scorecards and quarterly business reviews for critical technology platforms, including KPI/SLA tracking, roadmap alignment, renewal inputs, risk and compliance coordination, and performance-improvement follow-up.

Analyze performance across in-scope vendors to identify recurring delivery issues, systemic control gaps, concentration risks, vendor-consolidation opportunities and trends requiring changes to sourcing, contracting, governance or investment decisions.

Use portfolio-level insights to strengthen service continuity, vendor accountability, operational performance and realization of the VMO value case.

Issue Management & Escalation

Formulate and lead implementation of solutions for complex vendor performance, commercial, compliance, privacy, security, delivery and relationship challenges involving divergent stakeholder viewpoints.

Initiate performance reviews and corrective-action planning, challenge incomplete or unsupported conclusions, reconcile operational, commercial and risk considerations, and negotiate remediation and resolutions with vendors.

Determine when issues require governance-council or executive consideration and escalate material contractual commitments, significant financial exposure, legal remedies, major delivery impacts or changes to enterprise policy through the appropriate channels.

Stakeholder & Vendor Engagement

Establish required vendor-governance practices and coordinate cross-functional activities through the approved RAS