Procurement Program Manager at Amerantbank

Establish and help the creation and deployment of Procurement roadmap initiatives and program maturity opportunities. Continuously improve Procurement and Third-Party Risk functions and infrastructure needed to delivery against our Vision and Mission at Amerant Bank. On an ongoing basis, direct and champion Vendor, Contract, Sourcing, Category, Risk management activities across the company, collaborating closely with company’s teams, leaders, partners, stakeholders, and vendors in pursuit of sustainable procurement and vendor management practices that improve key relationships and reduce total cost of ownership. Incremental improvements in the quality and service levels of key vendors and continuous mitgiation of Key Risk Indicators.

Responsibilities:

The Procurement Program Manager’s (PPM) primary responsibility is the development, deployment, management, and performance reporting of maturity opportunities throughout the spectrum of Procurement and Third-Party Risk projects. Balancing the dual responsibility of Program Management and Operational Delivery while always being mindful of risk mitigation. This delivery and reporting may include Financial Impacts, Risk Mitigation, Service Delivery and Overall Procurement delivery by key personnel and vendors of the Bank. By actively managing maturity and projects to enhance the overall effectiveness of PTPRM Group and across the company. The PPM is the accountable leader for regulatory compliance activities, projects and policies related to management of key Procurement practices. As the leader responsible for Program Delivery and Operational excellence efforts, the PPM has the following specific responsibilities-

Assess Program, Project and PTPRM Issues:  The PPM will work closely with the Amerant team members, key service provider representatives, and within the boundaries of approved policies to execute, monitor and report on all current, past, and future deliver efforts and continuous improvement initiatives. Seek agreement on the best methods and options for resolving any issues, and to monitor ongoing effectiveness of all processes.

Lead review efforts: The PPM will prepare a portfolio of revolving report packages, presentations, and communications related to key program delivery and Procurement Operations and serve as lead point of contact for audit, examination, risk, and control reviews. These reports will provide specific issues, areas of concern, and points of achievement within the existing PTPRM functions. Reports will be presented to the senior management committee and used as evidence during audits and examinations.

Set standards/procedures:  The PPM must keep abreast of best practices/new supply management developments and take steps to ensure that the company is implementing such practices where appropriate. Where necessary, and, in concert with Stakeholders, the PPM will develop guidelines, procedures, and standards for system and organizational wide PTPRM activities.  These activities should cover, but not be limited to:

• Development of reports to track SLA, KPI and actual versus expected outcomes of key programs and projects
• Institution-wide reporting and data review of PTPRM activities
• Interfaces with members organization-wide and contributes to successful strategic partnerships.
• Service level agreements and other performance measurement mechanisms to assess the overall efficiency and effectiveness of programs and projects.
• Center of communication throughout company, with education and PTPRM associates and review teams
• Compliance with all regulatory and audit guidelines

Represent Procurement and Third Pary Risk:   The PPM will promote and participate in company-wide committees and task forces as required to ensure that procurement’s input should be considered when major corporate decisions and initiatives (e.g., new product development, new or renewal decisions of vendors, business acquisitions) are made.

Integrate PTPRM Functions with Educational programs:   The PPM will work to seamlessly integrate educations, annual attestations, and new hire orientation materials, in conjunction with HR. The PPM will manage educational reporting and compliance of PTPRM procedures. 

Program Management: The PPM will oversee the overall management of strategic initiatives including latest programs, policies, procedures as well as continuous improvement opportunities.

• Manages and oversees the entire Program of maturity and opportunity or improvement projects and processes in conjunction with other pertinent business units such as Legal, Operations, Information Technology and Line of Business throughout the Bank
• Ensures compliance with Regulatory Compliance framework issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”), specifically Bulletin 2023-17 and other relevant guidance issued from time to time.
• Prepare and deliver presentations on Strategic PTPRM Programs
• Provide direction and training to the business units in executing PTPRM processes.
• Optimize relationships throughout the Bank, financial and quantitative analysis, risk management, and providing recommendations on areas of improvement.
• Serve as main point of contact for all PTPRM Program information, as well as key PTPRM data points. 

Execute Continuous Improvement (CI) Cycles for owned Process. The PPM along with reporting managers will be responsible for identifying and executing continuous improvement initiatives. The CI approach will encompass a wide range of activities such as:

• Review teams for specific items/categories targeting two aims:   impact (cost and quality) and process improvements.
• Supplier management and development, including a “score-carding” capability that measures the top-tier suppliers’ performance on cost, quality, and time dimensions.
• Working Capital management including aggressive pursuit of timely payment discounts and vendor-provided customer billing, maximum penetration of web-enabled ordering, and invoice matching and error resolution
• Verification and matching of invoices to contracts including working with users to ensure actual pricing received matches previously agreed upon contracts.

Strategic Vendor Management. The PPM may share responsibility for the overall management of strategic vendor relationships including contract performance.

• Manages and reports on the strategic relationships in conjunction with other pertinent business units such as Legal, Operations, Information Technology and Line of Business throughout the Bank
• Ensures compliance with Regulatory Compliance framework issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”), specifically Bulletin 2023-07 and other relevant guidance issued from time to time
• Prepare and deliver presentations on Strategic Vendor relationships
• Provide direction and training to the business units in executing the performance management processes
• Optimize vendor relationships through contract management, financial and quantitative analysis, relationship management, and providing recommendations on areas of improvement
• Serve as main point of contact for all third-party vendor risk management information, as well as key contractual data points for any assigned relationships

Minimum Education and /or Certifications:

Bachelor’s degree and Professional Process Oriented Certification including, but not limited to; PMP, CPM, CCM, SCM

Minimum Work Experience Requirements:

7+ years of Vendor Management, Procurement Operations, and Third-Party Risk, Management preferably in a finance related industry or banking

Functional Skills & Knowledge:

Procurement Operations, Vendor, Category, Contract and Third-Party Risk Management.  Banking, Regulations, Sourcing and the inter-departmental relationship between Finance, Accounting and Procurement

Technical and/or Essential Knowledge:

Procurement, Third-Party Risk, Procurement Operations, Contract, Category Management, Procure to Pay, Contract Management. P2P and Risk Systems, MS Office