Head of Procurement and Third-Party Risk

Job Description

Job Description

Overview

At Community Financial System, Inc. (CFSI), we are dedicated to providing our customers with friendly, personalized, high-quality financial services and products. Our retail division, Community Bank, N.A., operates more than 200 customer facilities across Upstate New York, Northeastern Pennsylvania, Vermont and Western Massachusetts. Beyond retail banking, we also offer commercial banking, wealth management, investment management, insurance and risk management, and benefit plan administration.

Just as our employees are committed to helping our customers manage their finances, we’re committed to our employees. After all, they make it happen for our customers every day.

To ensure our people can enjoy long and successful careers here at CFSI, we offer competitive compensation, great benefits, and professional development and advancement opportunities. As an equal-opportunity workplace and affirmative-action employer, we celebrate and support a diverse workplace for the benefit of all: our employees, customers and communities.

Responsibilities

The Head of Procurement is a strategic leadership role responsible for developing and executing the organization’s procurement strategy, ensuring the cost-effective acquisition of goods and services while maintaining high standards of quality, service, vendor performance, third-party risk management, and regulatory compliance. This leader will serve as an enterprise partner across business, compliance, legal, finance, risk management, and operational stakeholders to ensure supplier relationships deliver value while protecting the organization from operational, financial, and regulatory risk.

The ideal candidate is a commercially astute procurement executive who can balance strategic sourcing, supplier partnership, governance, regulatory compliance, and third party risk mitigation. This individual will bring strong judgment, executive presence, disciplined vendor oversight, deep contract negotiation capability, third party risk assessment and a demonstrated ability to build cross-functional alignment in a regulated financial services environment.

Essential Duties:

Strategic Procurement Leadership

• Develop and execute a comprehensive procurement strategy aligned with enterprise priorities, business needs, and financial stewardship objectives.
• Establish procurement policies, procedures, and governance frameworks that support accountability, transparency, and regulatory readiness.
• Partner with senior leaders and business stakeholders to assess current and future procurement needs and identify opportunities to improve efficiency, reduce cost, and strengthen supplier performance.
• Use spend analysis, market intelligence, and performance data to inform sourcing decisions and strategic recommendations.

Vendor Management

• Establish, maintain, and strengthen relationships with key suppliers, service providers, and strategic business partners.
• Oversee supplier selection, evaluation, onboarding, contract negotiation, renewal, and offboarding processes.
• Ensure vendors meet the organization’s expectations for quality, service, pricing, operational delivery, and compliance with applicable requirements.
• Monitor vendor performance against established metrics, service-level expectations, key performance indicators, and contractual commitments.
• Lead issue escalation and remediation efforts when vendor performance, service continuity, or compliance expectations are not being met.
• Promote supplier accountability, continuous improvement, and relationship management practices that support sustainable long-term partnerships.

Third-Party Risk Management

• Play a leadership role in assessing risks associated with third-party vendors, including financial stability, operational resilience, regulatory compliance, cybersecurity, privacy, and service continuity considerations.
• Ensure appropriate due diligence is conducted for new and existing vendors to confirm alignment with the organization’s risk management, compliance, and control expectations.
• Collaborate closely with compliance, legal, risk management, information security, finance, and business owners to ensure vendor and third-party relationships align with enterprise policies and regulatory expectations.
• Develop and support mitigation strategies for vendor-related risks, including contingency planning, remediation tracking, periodic reviews, and audit readiness.
• Maintain oversight of third-party risk documentation, governance routines, and monitoring practices to support transparency and defensible decision-making.
• Stay current on regulatory expectations and industry standards affecting vendor management and third-party risk in financial services.

Contract Management and Compliance

• Oversee the negotiation, administration, documentation, and renewal of vendor agreements.
• Ensure procurement contracts reflect favorable commercial terms, appropriate service expectations, risk controls, compliance requirements, and business continuity considerations.
• Partner with legal and compliance stakeholders to ensure contracting practices support internal policies and applicable regulatory standards.
• Maintain procurement documentation and controls to support audits, examinations, and internal governance reviews.

Financial and Cost Management

• Analyze organizational spending patterns and identify opportunities for savings, cost avoidance, consolidation, and improved value.
• Lead strategic sourcing initiatives and contract optimization efforts that deliver measurable business outcomes.
• Develop procurement metrics, dashboards, and reporting routines to monitor performance, savings, risk, and service quality.
• Balance cost discipline with quality, resiliency, compliance, and long-term business needs.

Leadership and Team Development

• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing procurement team with clear goals, accountability, and professional development plans.
• Foster a culture of ethical conduct, service orientation, continuous improvement, inclusion, and operational excellence.
• Build strong partnerships across departments to embed procurement discipline early in business planning and vendor decision-making.
• Influence executive and business stakeholder decision-making through clear communication, data-driven recommendations, and sound risk judgment.

Process Improvement and Technology Enablement

• Drive continuous improvement across sourcing, contracting, vendor management, reporting, and third-party risk processes.
• Leverage procurement technology, workflow tools, automation, analytics, and supplier management platforms to improve transparency and efficiency.
• Standardize procurement practices where appropriate while maintaining flexibility for business-specific needs.
• Identify emerging procurement trends and recommend pragmatic enhancements to improve organizational effectiveness.

Ancillary Duties:

As an integral member of the Risk function and organization, complete other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Education, Training and Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, Supply Chain Management, Procurement, Risk Management, or a related field required.
• Master’s degree, MBA, or related advanced degree preferred.
• Professional procurement, supply chain, or risk certifications such as CPSM, CPM, CIPS, or equivalent credentials are preferred.

Skills: 

• Enterprise mindset and executive presence, High integrity and ethical decision-making, Collaborative stakeholder leadership, Data-driven and practical problem solving, Change leadership and continuous improvement orientation, Talent development and team engagement, Strategic sourcing and procurement leadership, Vendor management and supplier performance oversight, Third-party risk management and regulatory compliance, Contract negotiation and commercial judgment, Spend analysis, metrics, and financial acumen, Procurement systems, analytics, and process improvement

Experience:

• Progressive procurement, sourcing, vendor management, or supply chain leadership experience, preferably within a regulated financial services environment for 8 to 10 years.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex vendor relationships, strategic sourcing initiatives, contract negotiations, and supplier performance management.
• Strong working knowledge of third-party risk management practices, including vendor due diligence, risk assessment, monitoring, mitigation, and audit readiness.
• Experience partnering with compliance, legal, finance, risk management, information security, and business stakeholders.
• Proven ability to deliver cost savings and process improvements while maintaining compliance, quality, risk discipline, and business continuity.
• High-impact leadership role with direct influence on enterprise procurement strategy, vendor performance, risk management, and financial stewardship.
• Opportunity to strengthen procurement governance, modernize vendor management, and enhance third-party risk practices across the organization.
• Collaborative executive environment focused on operational excellence, responsible growth, and sustainable business value.