Vendor Management Program Manager

The salary range for this role is negotiable, the range being $5,000 - $6,500 USD gross per month.

About Sezzle:

With a mission to financially empower the next generation, Sezzle is revolutionizing the shopping experience beyond payments, blending cutting-edge tech with seamless, interest-free installment plans that make shopping smarter and more accessible. We’re not just transforming payments; we’re redefining how people discover, interact with, and purchase the things they love while driving real impact on merchant sales through increased conversions and higher order values. As we continue to shape the future of fintech and retail, we’re building an innovative, dynamic team passionate about creating more than just a transaction but a truly unique shopping journey. If you’re excited about pushing boundaries in tech and delivering a game-changing experience for consumers and merchants alike, come join us at Sezzle and help create the future of shopping!

About the Role:

We are seeking a detail-oriented and proactive Vendor Management Program Manager to lead the execution of our third-party risk management framework. This role is the backbone of our vendor oversight, ensuring that every partnership—from non-critical services to complex bank integrations—aligns with our high standards for security, compliance, and operational excellence. You will have the authority to manage the vendor lifecycle and ensure our program remains robust under regulatory scrutiny.

Compensation

The compensation range for the role is $5,000 - $6,500 USD GROSS per month as a contractor. Specific compensation offered to a candidate may be dependent on factors such as education, experience, qualifications, and alignment with market data. Exceptional candidates may receive salaries outside of the posted ranges.

What You'll Do:

• Standards & Governance: work cross-functionally with IT, Legal, and Compliance teams to establish and maintain third-party risk standards and governance practices.
• Due Diligence & Monitoring: Conduct comprehensive vendor due diligence and ongoing monitoring activities, including evaluating consumer-impact risk, complaint analysis, and confirming privacy and data protection standards.
• Documentation & Reporting: Manage third-party risk documentation and reporting, including maintaining the vendor and data processor inventory, ensuring timely onboarding and offboarding due diligence, and executing periodic compliance reviews.
• Risk Assessment: Execute day-to-day risk assessments to determine vendor criticality and identify inherent risks in categories such as PII handling, BSA/AML, and credit decisioning.
• Collaboration: Work cross-functionally with Legal to ensure effective contracts are in place and with Information Security to validate the technical safeguards of our third-party partners.
• Issue Escalation: Identify, track, and escalate risk events or performance failures to senior leadership and bank partners through established issue-tracking systems.

What We Look For:

• Experience: 7+ years of professional experience in vendor risk management, procurement, or third-party compliance, preferably within the fintech or regulated financial services industry.
• Regulatory Knowledge: Understanding of third-party risk management lifecycle and regulatory guidance (e.g., PCI-DSS, SOC 2, GLBA, and BSA/AML).
• Execution: Proven track record of managing a high volume of vendor assessments and maintaining a state of "audit-readiness" for bank partners and regulators.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Law, or equivalent practical experience.
• Demonstrated experience working with Claude or equivalent large language model tools is required; candidates must be comfortable leveraging AI to enhance productivity, research, and communication.

About You:

• You have relentlessly high standards - many people may think your standards are unreasonably high. You are continually raising the bar and driving those around you to deliver great results. You make sure that defects do not get sent down the line and that problems are fixed so they stay fixed.
• You’re not bound by convention - your success—and much of the fun—lies in developing new ways to do things
• You need action - speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk-taking.
• You earn trust - you listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully.
• You have backbone; disagree, then commit - you can respectfully challenge decisions when you disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. You have conviction and are tenacious. You do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, you commit wholly.

What Makes Working at Sezzle Awesome?

At Sezzle, we are more than just brilliant engineers, passionate data enthusiasts, out-of-the-box thinkers, and determined innovators. We believe in surrounding ourselves with only the best and the brightest individuals. Our culture is not defined by a certain set of perks designed to give the illusion of the traditional startup culture, but rather, it is the visible example living in every employee that we hire.

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