About Northern Trust:
Northern Trust, a Fortune 500 company, is a globally recognized, award-winning financial institution that has been in continuous operation since 1889.
Northern Trust is proud to provide innovative financial services and guidance to the world’s most successful individuals, families, and institutions by remaining true to our enduring principles of service, expertise, and integrity. With more than 130 years of financial experience and over 22,000 partners, we serve the world’s most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.
Major Duties & Responsibilities
1) Cross-Vendor Security & Risk Commercial Strategy (Primary Ownership)
- Build and maintain the multi-vendor strategy across identity/security controls, risk tooling, and protective service layers, aligned to enterprise risk posture and resiliency goals.
- Drive vendor rationalization/substitution strategies and contract runway planning to avoid surprise renewals and unmanaged risk exposure.
- Lead commercial design for security tooling where value is measured by adoption, coverage, and risk reduction outcomes (not shelfware).
2) Channel & Reseller Governance / Margin Transparency (Primary Ownership)
- Own strategy and controls for reseller/channel economics: discount governance, rebate programs, pass-through requirements, fee structures, and price protection.
- Establish playbooks and guardrails that prevent margin leakage, duplicative purchases, and fragmented sourcing across channels.
- Drive demand management opportunities (standardization, preferred channel routing, catalog discipline) in partnership with Procurement Ops.
3) Complex Negotiations & Escalation Path (Shared Ownership; Complexity Lead)
- Support Category Managers on renewals/RFx and step in as escalation for impasses or highly complex negotiations (security terms, audit rights, incident-related clauses, regulatory addenda, channel price disputes).
- Ensure negotiation posture and outcomes align to enterprise standards for security, privacy, resiliency, and regulatory requirements.
4) Value Tracking, Controls, and Risk-Focused Governance (Primary Ownership Within Scope)
- Develop scorecards and value realization frameworks for security and optimization vendors (license utilization, coverage metrics, outcome validation, unit-cost curves).
- Establish periodic strategic reviews with Security/Risk leadership and IT Finance to confirm roadmap alignment and quantify delivered value.
- Ensure sourcing decisions reinforce a sustainable risk culture and reduce operational/compliance surprises.
What This Role Does Not Own (By Design)
- Day-to-day vendor operational governance/QBR ownership and performance management (Vendor Management lane), though this role participates to enforce commercial controls and drive value realization.
- Routine purchasing admin, PO/invoice troubleshooting, or CLM data hygiene (Procurement Ops lane).
- Owning all RFx execution end-to-end (Category Manager lane), except when a sourcing event is strategically critical or stalled.
Preferred Knowledge & Specialized Expertise (Not Required)
Security + Risk Commercial Acumen (Role-Specific)
- Security contracting patterns: audit rights, breach notification, SLAs for protective services, cyber indemnity constructs (in partnership with Legal/Risk)
- Understanding of identity/security architectures at a conceptual level (IAM, WAF/CDN, posture mgmt, monitoring/telemetry) to align commercials to real usage and coverage
Channel / Reseller Economics (Role-Specific)
- Discount structures, rebates, MDF-like programs, services attach, margin controls, price protection, and governance models for large resellers/telecom/optimization providers
Optimization / Value-Realization Mindset
- Strong orientation to utilization, leakage reduction, and measurable outcomes; ability to build executive-ready value narratives
Experience & Qualifications
- 10+ years in technology sourcing with demonstrated strength in security/risk contracting and/or channel economics (resellers/telecom/optimization platforms)
- Master’s preferred; advanced negotiation or conflict management specialization a plus
- Proven track record of building governance models, leading difficult negotiations, and operating credibly with CISO/Risk/Compliance leaders
Key Deliverables / Success Measures
Deliverables
- Portfolio commercial strategy and governance playbooks; channel economics controls; executive decision papers; value tracking scorecards; benchmark insights
Measures of Success
- Reduced risk exposure via stronger contract posture; improved margin transparency; decreased value leakage; measurable savings and verified adoption/utilization outcomes
Salary Range:
$114,700 - 194,900 USDSalary range is a good faith estimate of base pay. Northern Trust provides a comprehensive benefits package including retirement benefits (401k and pension), health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, spending accounts and disability), paid time off, parental and caregiver leave, life & accident insurance, and other voluntary and well-being benefits. Northern Trust also provides a discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component.
Working with Us:
As a Northern Trust partner, greater achievements await. You will be part of a flexible and collaborative work culture in an organization where financial strength and stability is an asset that emboldens us to explore new ideas.
Movement within the organization is encouraged, senior leaders are accessible, and you can take pride in working for a company committed to assisting the communities we serve! Join a workplace with a greater purpose.
We’d love to learn more about how your interests and experience could be a fit with one of the world’s most admired and sustainable companies! Build your career with us and apply today. #MadeForGreater
Reasonable accommodation
Northern Trust is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please email our HR Service Center at [email protected].
We hope you’re excited about the role and the opportunity to work with us. We value an inclusive workplace and understand flexibility means different things to different people.
Apply today and talk to us about your flexible working requirements and together we can achieve greater.
Skills Required
- 10+ years in technology sourcing with strength in security/risk contracting and/or channel economics
- Proven track record building governance models, leading difficult negotiations, and engaging CISO/Risk/Compliance leaders
- Master's degree
- Advanced negotiation or conflict management specialization
- Familiarity with security contracting patterns (audit rights, breach notification, SLAs, cyber indemnity)
- Understanding of identity/security architectures (IAM, WAF/CDN, posture management, monitoring/telemetry)
- Experience with channel/reseller economics (discounts, rebates, MDF, price protection, margin controls)
Northern Trust Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Northern Trust and has not been reviewed or approved by Northern Trust.
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Retirement Support — Retirement offerings are positioned as a standout, with a 401(k) plus an additional employer-funded pension described as a differentiator. This combination is repeatedly framed as a meaningful offset within total rewards, especially for long-term financial security.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time-off benefits are depicted as generous, spanning paid time off, holidays, and dedicated paid volunteer time. The breadth of leave options is highlighted as a consistent strength that supports work-life balance.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is characterized as comprehensive, typically including medical, dental, vision, and mental-health support through an assistance program. The offering is portrayed as robust and family-supportive, with multiple plan options in some descriptions.
Northern Trust Insights
What We Do
As a global leader in innovative wealth management, asset servicing and investment solutions, Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) is proud to guide the world’s most successful individuals, families and institutions by remaining true to our enduring principles of service, expertise and integrity. A globally recognized Fortune 500 Company in continuous operation since 1889, we’ve built a legacy of empowering clients to reach their goals with confidence. Since our roots as a trust bank, we’ve grown to a global presence with more than 24,000 employees in more than 20 countries and across six core business units: Wealth Management Asset Management Asset Servicing Technology Corporate Functions Enterprise Operations Join a Team That’s Achieving Greater At Northern Trust, we refer to our employees as partners – with good reason. We understand that relationships are the key to our success. Here you’ll join a diverse and inclusive team of innovators with the drive to challenge the way things have always been done. Instead of choosing between a dynamic career and work-life balance, enjoy working with a team that supports your goals in the office and at home. We’ll help you get where you want to go without sacrificing what matters most to you. Delivering value and adhering to our enduring principles What are enduring principles? Since our founding, they have guided our strategy and success. Thanks to the dedication of our partners, Northern Trust continues to thrive by adhering to three enduring principles: service, expertise and integrity . What does this mean? Service Northern Trust has a relentless drive to provide exceptional service to our clients, our partners and our communities. We set new standards and go above and beyond in our commitment to delivering greater results. Expertise Expertise is at the core of who we are. We focus sharply on what we do well. From expanding our capabilities, to hiring talented professionals to developing innovative solutions, our expertise is why we continue to be a trusted advisor for generations of families and institutions. Integrity Operating with uncompromising ethics is central to Northern Trust’s heritage. As a result, our clients, partners and communities know they can rely on us. For more than 130 years, our integrity has been our guide – and that will never change.
Why Work With Us
At Northern Trust, we go further because we go together. We embrace flexibility, encourage balance, and prioritize inclusion at all levels, working together to keep you connected. We are committed to our employees—all 24,000 of them. Whether this is a first step or a bold new leap in your career, we’re here to help you move forward.
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