Associate Director IT Supplier Management

Lilly • Indianapolis, IN

22h

About The Position

At Lilly, we unite caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We are a global healthcare leader headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Our employees around the world work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to our communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. We give our best effort to our work, and we put people first. We’re looking for people who are determined to make life better for people around the world.
Lilly IT builds and maintains capabilities using cutting edge technologies like most prominent tech companies. What differentiates Lilly IT is that we redefine what’s possible through tech to advance our purpose – creating medicines that make life better for people around the world, like data driven drug discovery and connected clinical trials. We hire the best technology professionals from a variety of backgrounds, so they can bring an assortment of knowledge, skills, and diverse thinking to deliver innovative solutions in every area of our business.
The Supplier Management Office defines strategy, standards, tools, and best practices for how Tech@Lilly (T@L) engages with, manages, and optimizes third-party relationships. Third parties are essential to achieving Lilly’s business objectives. To maximize value, these relationships must be governed with strategic alignment, performance oversight, and proactive risk management.
You will execute and operationalize supplier management capabilities, partner closely with engagement owners and functional teams, and leverage data, automation, and AI-enabled tooling to improve outcomes across the third-party ecosystem.
You will act as a trusted advisor and execution partner to internal stakeholders and external vendors, enabling effective relationship management, monitoring third-party performance, and ensuring third-party risk is appropriately managed.

Requirements

• Bachelors degree in IT, Business, or related field
• 8+y ears of IT experience
• 5+y ears of supplier/vendor management and governance
• 3+y ears of working within IT Service Management frameworks
• 1+ years supporting risk, compliance, or control oversight
• Experience working with third-party/vendor management processes, tools, or governance frameworks.
• Experience managing or supporting SLAs, KPIs, and vendor service performance reviews with external vendors or partners.

Nice To Haves

• Demonstrated ability to execute and deliver projects across the global enterprise
• Experience collaborating with cross-functional teams, including IT, Procurement, Legal, and Security, to support vendor onboarding, compliance, or operational initiatives.
• Strong written, verbal, and visual communication skills, including ability to explain complex topics in business terms
• Experience in translating complex, ambiguous concepts into actionable plans
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build rapport and influence internal and external partners

Responsibilities

• Execute Tech@Lilly’s third-party management strategy, including a centralized center of excellence, self-service support model, and AI-enabled data platform engine.
• Support cost optimization, innovation, and value realization initiatives by analyzing supplier performance, spend, and outcomes.
• Translate supplier management strategy into repeatable processes, playbooks, and day-to-day execution.
• Stay current with industry trends, emerging technologies, and supplier market dynamics to inform strategy.
• Support contract lifecycle activities by ensuring tools, data, and processes enable effective SLA/KPI tracking and compliance monitoring.
• Partner with Procurement during RFP/RFI activities, supplier evaluations, onboarding, and renewals.
• Analyze contractual obligations and performance metrics to identify risks, gaps, and improvement opportunities.
• Leverage ITSM frameworks (e.g., ITIL) to align supplier performance with service delivery.
• Coordinate supplier deliverables across IT domains including infrastructure, applications, cybersecurity, and cloud.
• Analyze performance metrics, dashboards, and incident trends to drive improvements.
• Collaborate with corporate risk functions (e.g., Corporate Third-Party Risk Management) to ensure adherence to regulatory compliance (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2).
• Manage third-party risk across operational, financial, reputational, and cyber dimensions.
• Support contingency and exit planning to reduce dependency risks.
• Enable third-party governance to support the evolution of supplier relationships from transactional to outcome-focused partnerships.
• Provide guidance, tools, and insights to Engagement Owners to help them manage suppliers effectively.
• Facilitate issue resolution and support escalation processes as needed across geographies and cultures.
• Collaborate closely with Procurement, Legal, Security, and IT teams to ensure alignment and clarity.
• Use qualitative and quantitative data to assess supplier compliance, SLA achievement, service quality, and risk posture.
• Configure, maintain, and enhance dashboards and reporting to drive visibility and accountability.
• Support the development and adoption of digital agents and automation to streamline supplier management processes.
• Contribute to quarterly automation and continuous improvement goals through data-driven recommendations.
• Apply cost-benefit analysis to supplier proposals and renewals.

Benefits

• Full-time equivalent employees also will be eligible for a company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance).
• Lilly offers a comprehensive benefit program to eligible employees, including eligibility to participate in a company-sponsored 401(k); pension; vacation benefits; eligibility for medical, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits; flexible benefits (e.g., healthcare and/or dependent day care flexible spending accounts); life insurance and death benefits; certain time off and leave of absence benefits; and well-being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities).

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level