Example Job Description
Vendor Risk Manager
A vendor risk manager who advances enterprise third-party risk tiering, due diligence, contracts, continuous monitoring, issue remediation, incidents, renewal, offboarding, and residual-risk governance.
Interview Planning Resource
Possible Interview Q&A: Vendor Risk Manager
How to use this resource: Select questions that measure competencies established through the district’s current job analysis. Ask candidates the same predetermined questions under comparable conditions and evaluate responses against the same job-related criteria.
The indicators below describe evidence a strong response may contain; they are not required scripts or the only acceptable answers.
- In the Vendor Risk Manager role, how would you design a proportionate technology or vendor review process?
Strong response indicators: Defines the purpose, scope, governing requirement, timeline, responsible owners, dependencies, controls, communication, contingencies, and evidence of completion. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for enterprise third-party risk tiering, due diligence, contracts, continuous monitoring, issue remediation, incidents, renewal, offboarding, and residual-risk governance.
- In the Vendor Risk Manager role, a vendor has a strong certification but will not answer a material question. What would you do?
Strong response indicators: Verifies authoritative information, protects the affected person and data, follows approved procedures, involves responsible owners, documents facts, and confirms resolution. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for enterprise third-party risk tiering, due diligence, contracts, continuous monitoring, issue remediation, incidents, renewal, offboarding, and residual-risk governance.
- In the Vendor Risk Manager role, how would you risk-tier vendors and technology services?
Strong response indicators: Uses systematic diagnosis, representative evidence, root-cause analysis, controlled correction, reconciliation, documentation, and monitoring for recurrence. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for enterprise third-party risk tiering, due diligence, contracts, continuous monitoring, issue remediation, incidents, renewal, offboarding, and residual-risk governance.
- In the Vendor Risk Manager role, a business owner wants to renew before unresolved findings are corrected. How would you respond?
Strong response indicators: Applies least privilege, minimum necessary access, secure channels, appropriate approval, auditability, retention, and prompt escalation of uncertainty or risk. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for enterprise third-party risk tiering, due diligence, contracts, continuous monitoring, issue remediation, incidents, renewal, offboarding, and residual-risk governance.
- In the Vendor Risk Manager role, what contract terms support privacy, security, accessibility, and exit planning?
Strong response indicators: Communicates the evidence, affected population, operational consequence, uncertainty, available choices, recommended action, accountable owners, and follow-up without unnecessary jargon. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for enterprise third-party risk tiering, due diligence, contracts, continuous monitoring, issue remediation, incidents, renewal, offboarding, and residual-risk governance.
- In the Vendor Risk Manager role, how would you evaluate a vendor’s AI feature or subprocessor change?
Strong response indicators: Builds sustainable ownership through clear definitions, role-specific training, useful quality reports, feedback loops, documentation, support, and verification that improvement persists. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for enterprise third-party risk tiering, due diligence, contracts, continuous monitoring, issue remediation, incidents, renewal, offboarding, and residual-risk governance.
- In the Vendor Risk Manager role, a vendor reports a security incident. What would you do?
Strong response indicators: Defines the purpose, scope, governing requirement, timeline, responsible owners, dependencies, controls, communication, contingencies, and evidence of completion. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for enterprise third-party risk tiering, due diligence, contracts, continuous monitoring, issue remediation, incidents, renewal, offboarding, and residual-risk governance.
- In the Vendor Risk Manager role, how would you verify data deletion at contract end?
Strong response indicators: Verifies authoritative information, protects the affected person and data, follows approved procedures, involves responsible owners, documents facts, and confirms resolution. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for enterprise third-party risk tiering, due diligence, contracts, continuous monitoring, issue remediation, incidents, renewal, offboarding, and residual-risk governance.
- In the Vendor Risk Manager role, who should be authorized to accept residual risk?
Strong response indicators: Uses systematic diagnosis, representative evidence, root-cause analysis, controlled correction, reconciliation, documentation, and monitoring for recurrence. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for enterprise third-party risk tiering, due diligence, contracts, continuous monitoring, issue remediation, incidents, renewal, offboarding, and residual-risk governance.
- In the Vendor Risk Manager role, how would you track regulatory and contractual obligations without giving legal advice?
Strong response indicators: Applies least privilege, minimum necessary access, secure channels, appropriate approval, auditability, retention, and prompt escalation of uncertainty or risk. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for enterprise third-party risk tiering, due diligence, contracts, continuous monitoring, issue remediation, incidents, renewal, offboarding, and residual-risk governance.
- In the Vendor Risk Manager role, what metrics would you report to leadership?
Strong response indicators: Communicates the evidence, affected population, operational consequence, uncertainty, available choices, recommended action, accountable owners, and follow-up without unnecessary jargon. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for enterprise third-party risk tiering, due diligence, contracts, continuous monitoring, issue remediation, incidents, renewal, offboarding, and residual-risk governance.
- In the Vendor Risk Manager role, what would you prioritize during your first 90 days?
Strong response indicators: Builds sustainable ownership through clear definitions, role-specific training, useful quality reports, feedback loops, documentation, support, and verification that improvement persists. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for enterprise third-party risk tiering, due diligence, contracts, continuous monitoring, issue remediation, incidents, renewal, offboarding, and residual-risk governance.
Position Description
Under the direction of the appropriate district administrator, the Vendor Risk Manager leads and supervises work supporting enterprise third-party risk tiering, due diligence, contracts, continuous monitoring, issue remediation, incidents, renewal, offboarding, and residual-risk governance.
The position applies technology compliance and third-party risk governance, due diligence, contracts, privacy, security, accessibility, records, monitoring, incidents, and lifecycle oversight across vendor inventory, contract, procurement, privacy, security, accessibility, governance-risk-compliance, asset, data-flow, ticketing, incident, audit, financial, and reporting systems. It establishes or follows clear ownership, validation, security, documentation, review, and escalation practices appropriate to the role’s assigned authority.
The Vendor Risk Manager collaborates with procurement, technology, cybersecurity, privacy, legal counsel, risk management, accessibility, fiscal services, business owners, schools, vendors, insurers, auditors, and executive leadership. The role is accountable for strategic governance, portfolio management, staff leadership, budgeting, procurement, and executive communication while protecting confidential information and keeping local decisions traceable.
Reports To
Insert your school district’s specific reporting relationship here.
Required Education and Credentials
Required
- Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in education, information systems, data management, public administration, business administration, statistics, computer science, or a closely related field. Additional qualifying experience may be substituted where permitted by district policy.
- Successful completion of all district-required employment clearances.
- Completion of role-required privacy, information-security, records, system, and program training within established timelines.
Preferred
- Graduate degree or advanced coursework in a field related to the position.
- Current professional learning or certification related to technology compliance and third-party risk governance, due diligence, contracts, privacy, security, accessibility, records, monitoring, incidents, and lifecycle oversight.
- Relevant training in project management, data governance, privacy, accessibility, database, analytics, or information security.
Required / Desired Experience
Required Experience
- Five or more years of progressively responsible experience in K-12 education, student information, data, technology, compliance, research, records, or a closely related function.
- Experience with enterprise third-party risk tiering, due diligence, contracts, continuous monitoring, issue remediation, incidents, renewal, offboarding, and residual-risk governance.
- Experience interpreting requirements, procedures, definitions, reports, system information, or technical documentation relevant to assigned work.
- Experience coordinating or completing deadline-driven work with careful documentation and quality control.
- Experience handling confidential information and communicating with users or stakeholders.
Desired Experience
- Experience with vendor inventory, contract, procurement, privacy, security, accessibility, governance-risk-compliance, asset, data-flow, ticketing, incident, audit, financial, and reporting systems.
- Experience partnering with procurement, technology, cybersecurity, privacy, legal counsel, risk management, accessibility, fiscal services, business owners, schools, vendors, insurers, auditors, and executive leadership.
- Experience in strategic governance, portfolio management, staff leadership, budgeting, procurement, and executive communication.
- Experience using SQL, advanced spreadsheets, scripting, workflow tools, APIs, secure file transfer, or visualization tools when relevant to assigned duties.
- Experience developing accessible training, technical documentation, process maps, data dictionaries, or continuity materials.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Planning, Operations, and Service Delivery
- Maintain technology and vendor inventories, ownership, data classifications, services, contracts, subprocessors, integrations, risk tiers, reviews, findings, exceptions, incidents, renewals, and retirement status.
- Coordinate proportionate due diligence covering educational purpose, privacy, security, accessibility, records, data use, AI, interoperability, resilience, insurance, financial viability, support, and exit terms.
- Translate requirements into review criteria, contract provisions, evidence requests, remediation, approvals, monitoring, renewal, and offboarding practices within assigned authority.
- Monitor attestations, audit reports, vulnerabilities, incidents, service performance, material changes, subprocessors, regulatory changes, corrective actions, and residual risk.
- Coordinate vendor incidents, data return or deletion, access removal, integration shutdown, records retention, communication, and evidence of closure.
Data Quality, Controls, and Documentation
- Distinguish mandatory law, contract, policy, insurance, framework, certification, attestation, vendor claim, and recommended practice and obtain qualified interpretation when needed.
- Use risk tiering based on affected people, data sensitivity, access, criticality, internet exposure, AI use, integration, volume, substitutability, and recovery needs.
- Verify evidence scope, period, exceptions, compensating controls, remediation, independent assurance, and applicability rather than accepting labels alone.
- Apply separation of duties, conflicts review, documented acceptance authority, time-limited exceptions, corrective-action ownership, and residual-risk reporting.
- Protect assessment materials, security reports, diagrams, credentials, contracts, student and employee data, legal advice, and incident information.
Vendor Risk Manager-Specific Leadership and Support
- Own or support the assigned portfolio for enterprise third-party risk tiering, due diligence, contracts, continuous monitoring, issue remediation, incidents, renewal, offboarding, and residual-risk governance, with responsibilities clearly matched to the position’s authority and classification.
- Develop role-specific calendars, service expectations, status reporting, support channels, and escalation paths.
- Coordinate decisions with responsible data owners, program leaders, technical custodians, reviewers, and approving officials.
- Provide accessible training, guidance, communications, and technical assistance tailored to user responsibilities.
- Analyze recurring errors, incidents, requests, and process delays and recommend sustainable improvements.
Security, Improvement, and Continuity
- Protect personally identifiable and confidential information in systems, files, reports, email, tickets, meetings, training, and support activity.
- Test consequential changes using representative cases, documented expectations, peer or owner review, and post-change validation.
- Use automation only with appropriate access, versioning, logging, exception handling, review, and recovery procedures.
- Maintain current standard operating procedures, cross-training, critical contacts, dependencies, backup coverage, and recovery steps.
- Perform other related duties consistent with the position’s purpose and classification.
Required Skills and Abilities
Knowledge of
- Technology compliance and third-party risk governance, due diligence, contracts, privacy, security, accessibility, records, monitoring, incidents, and lifecycle oversight.
- Vendor inventory, contract, procurement, privacy, security, accessibility, governance-risk-compliance, asset, data-flow, ticketing, incident, audit, financial, and reporting systems.
- Data governance, source ownership, data quality, internal controls, change management, documentation, and continuous improvement.
- Student privacy, confidentiality, role-based access, secure transmission, records management, incident escalation, and responsible use.
- Project coordination, customer service, adult learning, accessible communication, and support practices appropriate to assigned work.
Ability to
- Interpret detailed requirements and translate them into accurate procedures, system actions, reports, guidance, or decisions.
- Trace discrepancies through source records, processes, configurations, mappings, transformations, and outputs.
- Manage competing priorities and fixed deadlines with transparent status, documentation, review, and escalation.
- Communicate clearly with technical, program, school, leadership, family, vendor, or agency audiences as appropriate.
- Exercise discretion, preserve confidentiality, recognize limits of authority, and escalate material risk promptly.
- Learn evolving requirements and technologies and improve processes without weakening controls or continuity.
Work Environment
- Work is performed primarily in district offices, schools, service locations, meetings, training environments, and other computer-based professional settings.
- The position requires sustained computer use and detailed review of records, systems, files, reports, requests, and technical or procedural documentation.
- Work involves frequent interaction with procurement, technology, cybersecurity, privacy, legal counsel, risk management, accessibility, fiscal services, business owners, schools, vendors, insurers, auditors, and executive leadership.
- Workload may increase substantially during annual cycles, reporting windows, implementations, releases, audits, incidents, school transitions, or other critical deadlines.
- The employee may encounter frequent interruptions, confidential matters, ambiguous records, failed processes, competing priorities, and urgent requests.
- The position requires secure handling of personally identifiable student, family, or staff information.
Other Requirements
- Successfully complete required criminal-record, fingerprint, and employment clearances.
- Complete a tuberculosis risk assessment and any examination required by applicable law or district policy.
- Complete annual mandated-reporter training and fulfill all legally applicable reporting responsibilities.
- Complete district-required cybersecurity, student-privacy, safety, nondiscrimination, records, and workplace training.
- Maintain professional confidentiality and comply with district policies governing records, information security, acceptable technology use, and data access.
- Travel between district offices, schools, service locations, meetings, and professional-development activities as assigned.
- Possess a valid California driver’s license and maintain insurability when driving is an essential function of the position.
- Occasionally work early-morning, evening, weekend, or extended hours during critical operational, reporting, testing, implementation, or incident periods.
- Regularly sit, stand, walk, speak, hear, read, and operate computers and standard office equipment.
- Use hands and fingers for keyboarding and handling documents; maintain visual attention while reviewing detailed records and computer displays.
- Occasionally lift, carry, or move records, devices, equipment, or supplies weighing up to 25 pounds.
- Perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation.