Vendor Relationship Manager, SMB

The role:

We are seeking a Vendor Relationship Manager of Vendor Operations for Small Business Lending to build and lead the operational framework that ensures our external partners deliver consistent, compliant, and high-performing outcomes. In this role, you will own the governance, performance management, and operational readiness of all third-party vendors supporting Small Business Lending. You will ensure vendors meet contractual obligations, align to our OKRs, operate within defined controls, and deliver an exceptional experience to our business members. This role is ideal for a leader who thrives in building new operating models, creates structure in ambiguity, and partners cross-functionally to drive accountability.

What you’ll do:

• Establish and own the vendor governance model for SMB Lending, including cadence, scorecards, escalation pathways, and performance reviews and creating connection for the sales, servicing/support, collections, and other operational functions supporting the end-to-end SMB lifecycle.
• Ensure vendors supporting origination, underwriting support, customer servicing, payments, and collections consistently meet SLAs, KPIs, and contractual obligations — and drive remediation plans when they don’t with the appropriate internal SoFi teams.
• Serve as the primary Operations point-of-contact for vendor performance, issue resolution, and continuous improvement across member-facing and back-office operations.
• Work cross functionally to build and maintain control frameworks with the appropriate internal SoFi teams ensuring vendor activities across sales practices, servicing interactions, and collections activities align with regulatory, contractual, and internal policy requirements.
• Partner with Compliance, Legal, Risk, and Audit to assess vendor risk across customer acquisition, servicing, and collections, and implement corrective actions where needed.
• Ensure vendor processes are documented, monitored, and testable, supporting exam readiness, complaint management, and operational resilience across all SMB operational functions.
• Translate program OKRs into vendor-level performance metrics, dashboards, and action plans, including metrics tied to conversion, customer experience, delinquency, recoveries, and operational efficiency.
• Identify operational friction, failure points, and control gaps across sales, support, collections, and servicing journeys, and lead cross-functional efforts to remediate them.
• Support launch readiness and ongoing enhancements for SMB Lending initiatives, ensuring vendors supporting sales, servicing, and collections are prepared, trained, and fully integrated.
• Partner closely with Product, Engineering, Credit Risk, Servicing, and Operations teams to align vendor capabilities with business strategy and evolving operational needs.
• Influence decision-making using data, root-cause analysis, and scenario planning, particularly related to vendor scalability, risk exposure, and customer impact.
• Represent Operations in vendor roadmapping, prioritization, and capacity discussions, ensuring operational, compliance, and customer experience considerations are embedded from day one.

What you’ll need:

• Minimum Bachelor or with 8+ years experience in operations, program management, vendor management, or lending operations (FinTech or banking preferred)
• Strong verbal and written communication skills 
• Advanced Experience with Excel and/or Google Sheets including creating spreadsheets, diagrams and tables to analyze data
• Experience with Powerpoint/Google Slides, ability to effectively create presentations and present to management
• Demonstrated success building governance models, processes, and controls in complex environments.
• Experience managing third-party relationships with measurable accountability.
• Strong analytical and reporting abilities — able to translate performance metrics into business insights and decisions.
• Proven ability to influence without authority and navigate highly cross-functional teams.
• Familiarity with risk frameworks, compliance expectations, and operational controls in regulated environments.

Nice to have:

• Experience in Small Business lending, servicing, or card operations
• Exposure to commercial underwriting, fraud, or collections workflows
• Background working with OKRs and outcome-driven performance management
• Experience supporting audits, regulatory exams, or CAP remediation projects