Senior Manager, Applications & Vendor Management

Job Title: Senior Manager, Applications & Vendor Management

Industry: Financial Services

Location (City, State): Hybrid / Onsite – Rosemont, IL

Compensation: $70.00 - $80.00 / Hourly

Employment Type: This is a contract to hire position

Work Schedule: Full-time | Standard business hours 

Benefits: This position is eligible for medical, dental, vision, and 401(k).

About Our Client

Addison Group is partnering with a financial services organization to hire a Senior Manager of Applications & Vendor Management. Our client operates in a regulated environment and relies heavily on third-party vendors to support core business applications. This role plays a critical part in ensuring system reliability, vendor accountability, and operational continuity.

Job Description

The Senior Manager, Applications & Vendor Management will oversee the day-to-day operational performance of enterprise applications and manage relationships with external technology vendors. This position is focused on production support, vendor coordination, and application operations—not hands-on software development or engineering.

The ideal candidate brings experience from banking, credit unions, or financial services , understands vendor-led environments, and is comfortable leading support efforts to keep systems stable, secure, and compliant.

Key Responsibilities

Application Support & Operations

• Oversee the operational health and reliability of enterprise applications supporting the business
• Manage production support activities, including issue intake, triage, escalation, and resolution
• Ensure application uptime, performance monitoring, and incident response processes are followed
• Act as the escalation point for system disruptions and user-impacting issues
• Maintain accurate documentation including incident logs, procedures, and support playbooks

Vendor Management

• Serve as the primary liaison between the business and external technology vendors
• Monitor vendor performance, service levels, and issue resolution effectiveness
• Lead vendor escalations and ensure accountability for outcomes
• Coordinate troubleshooting efforts through vendors rather than performing direct technical fixes
• Support vendor onboarding, renewals, and ongoing service reviews

Risk, Compliance & Controls

• Support application operations in alignment with regulatory and compliance requirements
• Partner with vendors to ensure audit readiness, control documentation, and security standards
• Assist with internal and external audits by coordinating responses and evidence
• Help ensure systems meet financial services governance expectations

Business Continuity & Resiliency

• Work with vendors to support disaster recovery and business continuity planning
• Participate in continuity testing and validation activities
• Identify and mitigate operational risks related to vendor dependencies

Process Improvement & Reporting

• Contribute to the development of support processes, service standards, and operating procedures
• Define and track service metrics, KPIs, and vendor performance indicators
• Provide updates and reporting to leadership and governance stakeholders
• Support continuous improvement initiatives across application support and vendor engagement

What This Role Is / Is Not

This role includes:

• Ownership of application operations
• Leadership in production support environments
• Vendor coordination and service oversight
• Support of regulated financial systems

This role does NOT include:

• Software or application development
• API or workflow configuration
• Hands-on Salesforce or MuleSoft engineering
• Infrastructure or cloud architecture responsibilities

Qualifications

• 8–12+ years of experience in IT operations, application support, or production support roles
• Background in financial services (banking, credit unions, broker-dealers, or similar)
• Proven experience managing third-party technology vendors
• Familiarity with regulated environments, audits, and compliance requirements
• Strong understanding of enterprise applications from an operational standpoint
• Experience with IT service management practices (ITIL or similar)
• Strong communication, documentation, and stakeholder management skills
• Comfortable working in ticket-driven, vendor-led support models

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Business Administration, or a related field required
• Advanced degree is a plus

Perks

• Opportunity to own and shape application operations in a growing environment
• High visibility role partnering with leadership and external vendors
• Stable, business-focused technology environment
• Competitive compensation and benefits

Addison Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Addison Group provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran, in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Reasonable accommodation is available for qualified individuals with disabilities upon request.

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