Head of Third Party Management

About Allica Bank Allica is the UK’s fastest growing company - and the fastest-growing financial technology (Fintech) firm ever. Our purpose is to help established SMEs, one of the last major underserved opportunities in Fintech. Established SMEs are the backbone of local communities - representing over a third of our economy - yet have been largely neglected both by traditional high street banks and modern fintech providers. Role Description Allica works with 300+ third parties that deliver services our customers and colleagues depend on. Managing the risk, resilience and value of those arrangements is a business need, and as a regulated bank they are also subject to demanding and evolving supervisory expectations. This role designs, owns and drives adoption of the end-to-end third-party management framework (sourcing, contracting, onboarding, ongoing assurance and exit), holds the business accountable for operating it consistently, and is accountable both for third-party risk being understood, controlled and held within appetite, and for the Bank meeting its regulatory obligations for its third-party arrangements. The mandate is Bank-wide: this role sets the standard, owns the tooling and holds the data, and is accountable for the framework delivering control in practice. Accountability for each individual supplier relationship sits with the relevant business or service owner. It measures adherence and works alongside owners to resolve what is outstanding, escalating where that support has not moved the position. Its authority comes from the framework it owns, the governance it runs and the evidence it brings, backed by clarity, credibility and persistence. Principal Accountabilities STRATEGY AND FRAMEWORK • A coherent Bank-wide operating model. Set the procurement and third-party management strategy, governance and roadmap so that commercial decision-making and risk management operate as one joined-up discipline. • Proportionate control throughout the lifecycle. Own policies, standards and control requirements that apply greater scrutiny where risk and materiality are higher, while keeping the process practical for lower-risk arrangements. • Clear and exercised accountability. Define decision rights across supplier owners and the relevant first-line functions, secure approval through the appropriate governance bodies, and ensure responsibilities are understood, exercised and evidenced in practice, intervening directly where they are not. • A function that keeps pace with the Bank. Translate business growth, regulatory change, new technology and lessons from incidents or assurance into a prioritised improvement roadmap supported by evidence of control effectiveness. PROCUREMENT AND COMMERCIAL MANAGEMENT • Commercial value that is visible and evidenced. Create a consistent approach to demand, sourcing, benchmarking, negotiation, renewal and savings validation so the Bank can demonstrate the value achieved from third-party spend. • Stronger outcomes from material negotiations. Lead or support significant contracts and renewals, bringing market insight, leverage and disciplined trade-offs while protecting service quality, resilience, customer outcomes and the control environment. • Contracts that work as control instruments. Working with Legal, ensure contractual positions reflect the nature and materiality of the arrangement, including service levels, information and audit rights, data and security, subcontracting, business continuity, termination and exit requirements. Set those requirements before negotiation opens, and escalate through governance where the terms achievable fall short of risk appetite. • Fewer avoidable last-minute decisions. Maintain a forward view of procurement activity, expiries and renewals so the Bank has time to test the market, remediate control gaps or execute an alternative strategy. THIRD-PARTY RISK AND GOVERNANCE • Ensure the third-party register is accurate, current and supported by consistent materiality and risk assessments, with regulatory notifications made when required. • Intragroup arrangements held to the same standard. Own the framework's application to intragroup and affiliate arrangements, ensuring they are recorded, assessed for materiality and risk, supported by documented agreements and service expectations, and covered by proportionate exit and resilience planning. Group ownership does not reduce the Bank's accountability for the service or the risk. • Ongoing assurance that reflects actual risk. Set and oversee the cadence for due diligence refresh, service and risk review, control attestation and remediation, with frequency and depth driven by tier, materiality and emerging concerns. • Credible exit capability. Require exit plans, prioritised by tier and importance to the Bank's important business services, and work with supplier owners and Operational Resilience to ensure the most important plans are tested and actionable. • Portfolio-level visibility of concentration and dependency risk. Maintain a current view of exposure across providers, services, technologies, locations, fourth parties and subcontracting chains, and escalate concentrations that exceed or threaten risk appetite. • Continuous supervisory readiness, owned end to end. Ensure the Bank can respond quickly and credibly to PRA, FCA, Internal Audit and Board requests with traceable data, clear ownership, evidence of challenge and an accurate account of outstanding risk. BUSINESS OWNER ENABLEMENT, OVERSIGHT AND ASSURANCE • Enablement that is hands-on. Provide practical training, guidance and advice that make the expected standard clear at each stage of the third-party lifecycle, and work directly with owners on complex, material or high-risk arrangements. • Adherence that is measured and visible. Define measures of completion, timeliness and quality; make performance transparent by owner and business area; and distinguish isolated delay from systemic control weakness. • Exceptions that lead to action. Follow through on overdue assessments, attestations and remediation, helping owners remove blockers and escalating constructively when risk, evidence or progress remains insufficient. Ownership runs until the gap is closed, not until it has been raised. • A rising baseline of capability across the Bank. Use recurring issues, quality reviews and feedback from supplier owners to simplify the process and target capability-building where it will have the greatest impact. DATA, TOOLING AND AUTOMATION • One trusted source of third-party information. Establish clear data ownership, definitions and quality controls so executive, Board and regulatory reporting can be produced from governed data rather than reconciled spreadsheets. • A platform that supports the operating model and reduces manual effort. Own the third-party management platform, complete a fitness-for-purpose assessment in time to inform its renewal decision, and maintain a roadmap that automates intake, evidence collection, reminders, register maintenance, workflow and reporting where this improves control and user experience. • Decision-quality management information. Give executives and the Board a concise view of material arrangements, risk exposure, control adherence, concentration, incidents, remediation, renewals, spend, savings and forward priorities. Personal Attributes & Experience • Senior third-party management, vendor management or procurement leadership experience within a UK regulated financial services firm • Working knowledge of PRA SS2/21 and SYSC 8 Outsourcing, demonstrated through practical application rather than familiarity with the text • A track record of negotiating and contracting significant technology and outsourced service agreements • Experience designing or materially improving a supplier segmentation and materiality assessment approach • Evidence of driving adoption of a process across an organisation without direct authority over the people operating it • Experience leading a small team • A metric-driven approach, defining what will be measured before designing the process that produces it • Technical fluency and comfort with data tooling and workflow automation, with the judgement to see where technology can remove manual effort and the credibility to specify and drive that change Working at Allica Bank At Allica Bank we want to ensure our employees have the right tools and environment in which to succeed in their role and in support of our customers. Our employees are at the heart of everything we do, so our benefits are designed with you in mind: - Full onboarding support and continued development opportunities - Options for flexible working - Regular social activities - Pension contributions - Discretionary bonus scheme - Private health cover - Life assurance - Family friendly policies including enhanced Maternity & Paternity leave Don’t tick every box? Don’t worry if you don’t have all the skills or requirements listed on the job description. If you think you’ll be a good fit, we’d still love to hear from you! Flexible working We know the ‘9-to-5’ isn’t right for everyone. That’s why Allica Bank is fully committed to flexible and hybrid working. Please let us know what is best for you and, if we can, we will do our best to accommodate. Diversity We’re a diverse bunch here at Allica, with all kinds of experiences, backgrounds and lifestyles. Our openness and differences make us stronger, and we want everybody to feel comfortable bringing as much of themselves to work with them as they like.