Third Party Management - Program Governance

About Northern Trust

As a global leader in innovative wealth management, asset servicing, asset management and banking services, Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) is proud to guide the world’s most successful individuals, families, corporations and institutions.

Since 1889, we have aligned our efforts with our three guiding Principles That Endure: Service, Expertise, and Integrity. Together, they reflect the three cornerstones of business conduct which we strive to instill in our employees, whom we call partners, and to provide to our clients and the communities we serve worldwide.

With more than 135 years of financial experience and over 24,000 partners, we serve the world’s most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.

The Third Party Management Office (TPMO) Standards, Procedures & Governance Lead will establish and run the TPMO’s standards and procedure governance function, ensuring enterprise-wide third-party lifecycle requirements are clearly documented, effectively governed, kept current, and consistently adhered to. The role is accountable for managing TPMO-owned standards/procedures (including change control and RACI alignment), producing executive-ready risk committee materials, chairing the Third-Party Working Group (TPWG), and driving transparency and escalation around operational performance—particularly where Business Units (BUs) or Corporate Functions are outside defined SLAs for onboarding, due diligence, ongoing monitoring, and quarterly business review (QBR) scorecard updates.
This position aligns closely to the TPMO mandate to own, design, implement, and enforce compliance with third-party management standards and supporting artifacts, and to report on ongoing adherence and timeliness across lifecycle activities.

1) Standards & Procedure Governance (Establish + Run the Function)

• Stand up and operate the TPMO standards/procedures governance model (intake, drafting, review, challenge, approvals, publication, communications, and attestation where applicable).
• Own the end-to-end change control process for TPMO standards, procedures, and supporting artifacts; coordinate review cycles with SMEs and ensure updates reflect regulatory changes and operating model updates.
• Maintain and update the TPMO RACI and embedded role clarity within standards and procedures in accordance with changes in regulatory expectations and internal operating models.
• Drive consistency across TPMO job aids, playbooks, and trainings; identify training needs and produce/coordinate training materials tied to the Third-Party Risk Management Policy, TPM Standard, and supporting artifacts.

2) Risk Committee Materials (Creation, Narrative, and Pack Management)

• Lead development of recurring and ad hoc risk committee reporting packs that provide a consolidated, end‑to‑end view of TPMO performance, risk posture, and control effectiveness across the third‑party lifecycle.
• Translate operational data into executive-ready narratives that highlight execution risks, metric/threshold breaches, functional interdependencies, and resulting risk exposure to support committee oversight and decisioning.
• Coordinate inputs, reviews, and deadlines across TPMO and partner functions to ensure accuracy, consistency, and readiness for governance forums (including final QA and version control).
• Maintain and evolve standardized templates for committee “Description and Purpose,” executive summaries, key points for consideration, recommendations, and next steps (ensuring repeatability month-over-month).

3) Chair the Third-Party Working Group (TPWG)

• Chair the TPWG, set agendas, drive structured decisioning, document outcomes, and manage follow-through on actions and governance commitments, consistent with TPMO’s responsibility to chair the Third-Party Working Group.
• Serve as primary facilitator for cross-functional alignment on lifecycle adherence, policy/standard interpretations, and operational issue resolution; escalate material disputes through defined governance channels as needed.

4) Operational Metrics Oversight & SLA Exception Management

• Own the operational performance review cadence across onboarding, due diligence, ongoing monitoring, issues management, and scorecard/business review execution; identify where BUs/Corporate Functions are past SLAs and drive transparent reporting and escalation.
• Produce SLA-breach insights and “call-outs” that distinguish between throughput constraints, dependency bottlenecks, and business-side execution gaps; ensure risks and remediation plans are reflected in governance materials.
• Partner with process owners to define thresholds, triggers, and escalation paths for aged items, backlog health, and recurring non-adherence themes, aligned to the TPMO expectation to report on timely completion of lifecycle activities and status of outstanding/past due items.

5) Quality Assurance, Exceptions, and Governance Controls

• Oversee QA/QC expectations across key lifecycle artifacts (e.g., risk intake/risk questionnaires, due diligence assessments, monitoring scorecards/business reviews) and ensure procedural controls are documented and measurable.
• Govern and coordinate review/approval of standard-related change requests (e.g., service category adjustments, risk rating adjustments, and other exceptions), including ensuring appropriate review/challenge by governing bodies.
• Support audit, regulatory, and RCSA requests when formally engaged per TPMO leadership expectations and intake practices.

• TPMO Standards & Procedures Governance Framework (charter, workflow, intake forms, approval matrix, publication process, review cycle calendar).
• Updated TPMO standard/procedure artifacts (including RACI updates and regulatory change alignment).
• Monthly/quarterly risk committee deck package (exec summary, KPI/KRI views, breaches, themes, remediation tracking).
• TPWG agendas, minutes, decisions log, and action tracking.
• SLA exception reporting and escalation log (with trend insights and persistent offenders/themes)

Salary Range:

Salary 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.

Work Authorization

Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future. Northern Trust will not sponsor applicants for U.S. work visa status for this opportunity (no sponsorship is available for H-1B, L-1, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, F-1, J-1, OPT, CPT or any other employment-based visa).

Working with Us

As a Northern Trust partner, you will be part of a flexible and collaborative work culture, which has a strong history of financial strength and stability. Movement within the organization is encouraged, senior leaders are accessible, and you can take pride in working for a company committed to an inclusive workplace and assisting the communities we serve.

Philanthropy is deeply rooted in Northern Trust’s history and is an essential element of our culture. Employees around the world give their time and talent to work for the greater good of their communities.

Reasonable Accommodation

Northern Trust is committed to working with and providing adjustments to individuals with health conditions and disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please email our HR Service Center at [email protected], or alternatively you can discuss your individual requirements with the recruiter you are working with.