Director, Quality Assurance

When you join Sallie Mae, you become a champion for all students.

We’re on a mission to power confidence as students begin their unique journey. To help them plan their higher education, successfully finish, and prepare for life after school. To help them Start smart. Learn big.

Students need guidance navigating this important time in their life. They need someone who acknowledges that their education path is unique. They need a partner willing to evolve and not only meet but surpass their expectations. We’re changing. Because students need a better way.

We’re looking for people who are excited to drive this transformation. To break barriers and think of new ways to adapt, help, and create better experiences for students—and for each other.

This is where diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and perspectives matter. It’s where you’re empowered to bring your authentic self to work.

Feeling your best allows you to do your best. Our benefits take care of the whole you—from physical and mental to financial and professional. You’ll get opportunities to further your education and career, support for you and your family (including your pets!), paid time off to volunteer for the things that matter to you, and more.

We’re obsessed with impact and making a real difference. For us, that means putting relationships first, asking “why not?” when tackling challenges, and continuously learning new skills.

Come do more than join something, change something. For students, for future generations, for the future of education.

What You'll Contribute

The Director of Vendor Quality Assurance will be responsible for leading end-to-end governance, risk management, and performance oversight of third-party vendor relationships.  This role serves as a critical function, ensuring vendors operate in alignment with regulatory requirements, internal policies, and organizational standards while delivering consistent, high-quality outcomes that support broader business objectives. This role will ensure effective analysis and measurements of key risks are established, measured, and monitored. Additionally, leads identification and remediation of findings from other internal/external reviews. Additional responsibilities at the direction of the Senior Leadership pertaining to operational risk may be assigned.  The Director will engage with business and process owners on a detailed and daily basis.

What You'll Do

• Develop and execute the vendor quality assurance strategy for the organization
• Establish and maintain vendor quality standards, policies, and procedures that meet or exceed industry standards and customer expectations
• Ensure vendor adherence to collections-specific regulatory requirements, including appropriate handling of borrower communications and third-party disclosures.
• Establish controls to monitor customer interactions, settlement practices, and recovery activities to prevent regulatory violations.
• Oversee quality review frameworks for call monitoring, correspondence, and account handling activities aligned to risk criteria.
• Build and lead a team of quality assurance professionals
• Develop and implement quality metrics and reporting to measure the effectiveness of quality assurance initiatives.
• Deliver executive-level reporting on vendor quality/compliance performance, and risk exposure.
• Work closely with cross-functional teams to ensure quality practices are implemented across the organization
• Drive continuous improvement in quality processes and systems
• Identify and address quality issues and risks proactively
• Conduct quality audits on-site at vendor locations to assess performance, compliance, and control effectiveness.
• Lead end-to-end vendor lifecycle governance, including due diligence, onboarding, ongoing monitoring, and termination strategies from a quality/compliance perspective.
• Partner with the business, Vendor Management Office (VMO), Legal, and Compliance on risk tiering and vendor segmentation.
• Oversee third-party due diligence and ongoing monitoring programs to mitigate operational, compliance, reputational, and strategic risk
• Provide leadership and guidance to the organization on quality-related matters
  

The above information is intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by employees assigned to this job; it is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees in this role.

What you have

Minimum: Indicate minimum education, skills and experience required.

• Experience in the development and implementation of quality systems and processes
• Deep knowledge of third-party risk frameworks and vendor governance models.
• Experience overseeing collections, recovery, or debt settlement vendors.
• Experience with risk-based quality assurance frameworks and monitoring methodologies.
• Demonstrated experience managing regulatory exams, audits, or compliance reviews.
• Strong knowledge of regulatory requirements and standards.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and leadership skills
• Ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills
• Demonstrated ability to drive continuous improvement in quality processes and systems
  

Preferred: Indicate “nice to haves” regarding education, skills, and experience.

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field (e.g., Quality Management, Vendor Oversight)
• 10+ years of experience in quality assurance, vendor management, and/or compliance/risk, with a minimum of 5 years in a leadership role
• Experience building or scaling a first line of defense or oversight function.
• Advanced degree or relevant certification (e.g., compliance, risk, quality, vendor management)
  

The Americans with Disabilities Act

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) prohibits discrimination by employers, in compensation and employment opportunities, against qualified individuals with disabilities who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the “essential functions” of a job. A function may be essential for any of several reasons, including: the job exists to perform that function, the employee holding the job was hired for his/her expertise in performing the function, or only a limited number of employees are available to perform that function.

• Competitive base salaries 

• Bonus incentives 

• Generous PTO, Floating Holidays and 12 Federal Holidays observed

• Support for financial-well-being and retirement 401k with employer match

• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, hospital indemnity, critical illness, pet insurance and more

• Employer paid short-term/long-term disability and basic life insurance  

• Flexible hybrid working arrangements.

• Paid parental leave and adoption reimbursement programs

• Free access to on-site staffed fitness centers (in Delaware) and gym subsidy (for locations outside Delaware) 

• Confidential counseling support (EAP), Health Advocacy services and Wellness program with financial incentives

• Tuition Reimbursement and Family Scholarship Programs

• Career development and training opportunities

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