Manager, Supplier Manager and Third-Party Risk in Edinburgh

About us

At Lothian Pension Fund (LPF), we administer the local government pension scheme (LGPS) in Edinburgh and the Lothians and are one of approximately a hundred LGPS funds in the UK. We’re an asset-backed and multi-employer scheme with over £11.1 billion of assets and we were 157% funded at our last valuation in 2023. We’re proud to serve over 90,850 members and 58 contributing employers.

We are uniquely placed within the Scottish LGPS landscape, with an established in-house investment management capability alongside the administration of the pension scheme. Our group also includes Lothian Pension Fund Investments Ltd (LPFI), which has been authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority since June 2016 and enables us to provide investment and advisory services to other LGPS funds.

With around 120 colleagues, we are a relatively lean organisation for the scale and complexity of our activities. This creates an environment where colleagues can have real impact, work across organisational boundaries and contribute directly to the continued development of our governance, controls and ways of working.

LPF is a growing, vibrant, and exciting place to work. We offer flexible working and a blended work model, combining home and our spacious city centre office. We have a strong sense of community and purpose and a range of social and wellbeing initiatives for colleagues.

The Role

The Manager, Supplier Management & Third-Party Risk is responsible for the development, oversight and continuous improvement of LPF's Supplier Management Framework and third-party risk management arrangements. The role provides central governance, oversight, challenge, reporting and guidance to support effective supplier and third-party risk management across LPF.

Working closely with Supplier Relationship Owners (SROs), Procurement, Risk & Compliance and business stakeholders, the role oversees adherence to the Supplier Management Framework and third-party risk requirements throughout the supplier lifecycle, providing challenge, support and guidance where required. Through effective governance, risk oversight and performance monitoring, the role supports operational resilience and helps ensure third-party providers deliver effective outcomes and value for Members, Employers and Clients.

The role operates alongside the Procurement Manager, with distinct but complementary responsibilities across the supplier lifecycle. The Procurement Manager provides procurement, commercial and contract management support to SROs, while the Manager, Supplier Management & Third-Party Risk provides the overarching framework, governance, risk oversight and challenge. SROs retain accountability for the management of their supplier relationships.

The key responsibilities will be:

• Third-Party Risk Management: Lead LPF's third-party risk oversight arrangements, providing insight and reporting to ensure supplier risks are appropriately identified, assessed, monitored and escalated by accountable business owners.
• Supplier Governance & Framework Oversight: Provide central oversight of compliance with the Supplier Management Framework, monitoring adherence to governance requirements and challenging business areas where standards are not being met.
• Supplier Relationship Owner (SRO) Oversight: Oversee, support and challenge Supplier Relationship Owners to ensure supplier management activities are performed in accordance with the Supplier Management Framework.
• Supplier Due Diligence & Risk Assessment: Maintain and oversee supplier due diligence, classification, onboarding and reassessment processes, ensuring risks are appropriately identified and assessed throughout the supplier lifecycle.
• Supplier Performance & Oversight: Provide central oversight and challenge of supplier performance, resilience and service delivery arrangements, escalating material performance issues and emerging risks where required.
• Operational Resilience & Critical Supplier Oversight: Maintain central oversight of critical and important supplier relationships, including business continuity, resilience testing, concentration risk, subcontractor dependencies and exit planning.
• Governance Reporting & Management Information: Produce supplier risk dashboards, management information and governance reporting for senior management, governance committees and the Risk Management Committee.
• Framework Development & Continuous Improvement: Own the development and maintenance of supplier management and third-party risk management policies, methodologies, standards, templates and guidance. Lead continual improvement activities and ensure the framework remains aligned to business needs, regulatory expectations and good practice.

What experience are we looking for?

The following requirements are essential for this role:

• Experience in supplier management, third-party risk management, operational resilience, outsourcing oversight or a related governance function within an FCA-regulated financial services, investment management or pensions environment.
• Demonstrable track record of directly implementing and embedding FCA SYSC requirements relating to outsourcing and third-party arrangements within an FCA-regulated environment, with practical responsibility for translating regulatory requirements into operating frameworks, governance, processes and controls.
• Strong understanding of supplier management frameworks, third-party risk management and supplier governance principles.
• Experience conducting supplier due diligence, supplier risk assessments and ongoing supplier oversight activities.
• Experience producing management information, dashboards, governance reporting and committee papers.
  Strong practical understanding of operational resilience, business continuity, outsourcing and third-party risk management practices and their application across the supplier lifecycle.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and risk management skills.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, including the ability to provide effective challenge and influence senior stakeholders and accountable business owners.
• Experience using Power BI, Power Automate and other reporting or workflow automation tools would be advantageous.
• Clean basic vetting checks.

How to apply and the assessment process

Please upload your CV and a covering letter, which includes a supporting statement explaining why you’d be a great fit for the role. CVs on their own won’t be accepted as an application for the role.

Our core and flexible benefits

You’ll benefit from a highly competitive salary, a discretionary variable pay award and a wide range of colleague benefits, including:

• A generous defined benefit pension scheme
• A hybrid model of working, both from home and in our spacious city centre office
• Flexible working to support both your needs and those of our organisation
• An all-inclusive gender-neutral parent policy covering maternity, paternity, surrogacy, and adoption
• A free and confidential Employee Assistance Programme to support you and your family through any concerns or challenges you may face
• Award programme based on peer-to-peer nominations
• A cash bonus recruitment referral programme
• Access to the Salary Extras portal which offers to a range of amazing discounts and services such as a voluntary healthcare plan, gym and retailer discounts, bike to work and tech scheme
  

Equal Opportunities (including our support for Public Sector Equality Duty)


Lothian Pension Fund is committed to promoting a diverse, equal, and inclusive culture and welcomes applications from people of all sectors of the community.

We encourage people from under-represented communities to apply, including but not limited to those with disabilities, from minority ethnic groups, who are part of the LGBTQ+ community, and all those who feel their voices are not commonly represented.

If you need any adjustments to support your application, such as information in alternative formats or if you’re eligible under the Disability Confident Scheme, please contact us at [email protected] and we’ll do everything we can to help.

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