Assistant Vice President - Procurement - Remote

We are seeking a strategic, experienced, and hands-on Assistant Vice President of Procurement to lead Symetra's enterprise procurement function and serve as a trusted strategic partner to senior leaders across the organization. This leader will balance long-term strategy with day-to-day execution, ensuring Procurement delivers measurable business value, strong governance, and an excellent experience for the business.

About the role

In this role, you will lead all aspects of the enterprise procurement function, including policies, processes, sourcing, contracting, supplier management, and procurement technology. You will partner with Law, Finance, Technology, Risk, Information Security, Vendor Management, and business leaders to establish effective enterprise procurement practices, governance, and controls. You will set functional strategy and priorities while creating an operating model that enables the team to deliver strategic value and responsive day-to-day execution.

What You will Do

• Staff Management: Recruit and develop strategic procurement staff to be a high-performing and motivated team responsible for collaborating with business and supplier partners. Build capability, establish clear accountability and decision rights, develop the leadership bench, and create a culture of ownership, collaboration, continuous improvement, and service.
• Process & Operational Excellence: Identify and implement the metrics, tools, processes, and controls needed to optimize procurement performance. Lead end-to-end improvement across intake, sourcing, contracting, renewals, and supplier management, balancing speed, user experience, business needs, risk, and control. Establish clear performance expectations and use data to manage pipeline, backlog, cycle time, renewals, productivity, adoption, and other measures that demonstrate results.
• Business Strategy & Category Management: Lead the development and execution of enterprise procurement strategy aligned to Symetra's growth and business priorities. Establish category and sourcing strategies across key spend areas, identify opportunities for supplier consolidation and demand management, and translate enterprise priorities into a multi-year Procurement roadmap with clear objectives, priorities, and accountability.
• Enterprise Supplier Strategy & Governance: Establish a holistic enterprise view of strategic and multi-use supplier relationships, including spend, contracts and SOWs, renewals, performance, risk, obligations, and commercial opportunities. Lead supplier strategy, performance management, executive business reviews, and relationship governance while ensuring appropriate contractual protections, risk mitigation, business continuity considerations, and escalation processes are embedded throughout the supplier lifecycle.
• Executive & Cross-Functional Partnership: Partner with senior leaders to align Procurement priorities with enterprise strategy and business needs. Build strong relationships across Law, Finance, Technology, Information Security, Risk, Vendor Management, and the divisions; influence decisions, resolve complex issues, and establish clear roles, handoffs, and decision rights across the procurement lifecycle.
• Transformation & Technology: Lead the modernization of Procurement, including the procurement platform and other procurement technology, data, analytics, and workflow capabilities. Drive process standardization, change management, and sustainable improvements in cycle time, visibility, user experience, compliance, and value realization.
• Value Creation & Financial Management: Establish and deliver measurable Procurement value through savings, cost avoidance, demand management, supplier consolidation, contract optimization, and process efficiency. Establish credible baselines, track benefits, and communicate Procurement's financial and business impact to executive leadership.

What Success Looks Like

• Procurement is viewed as a trusted enterprise partner that enables business growth, delivers measurable value, and protects Symetra through strong commercial and supplier governance.
• The function operates with clear priorities, decision rights, processes, metrics, and accountability, providing transparency and a consistent experience across the enterprise.
• The Procurement transformation and technology roadmap is executed with strong adoption and sustainable improvements in efficiency, visibility, user experience, control, and supplier value.
• The Procurement team is high-performing and well-developed, with the capabilities, leadership, and operating discipline needed to scale with Symetra's growth while maintaining confidence among senior leaders.

Why Work at Symetra

Here’s what some of our employees have to say about why they work at Symetra:

“If you want to invest in yourself and build a career, this is a great place to work. If you don't want to put in the effort to learn the industry and become a student of the business (it takes real effort!), there are easier places to work.” - Cris H., VP Internal Sales

“We're big enough to make an impact on the country, but small enough to care and know who you are and what you're contributing to the organization. All new ideas are welcome!” - Stephanie F., VP Customer Service & Operations

What we offer you

Benefits and Perks

We don’t take a “one-size-fits-all” approach when it comes to our employees. Our programs are designed to make your life better both at work and at home.

• Flexible full-time or hybrid telecommuting arrangements
• Plan for your future with our 401(k) plan and take advantage of immediate vesting and company matching up to 6%
• Paid time away including vacation and sick time, flex days and ten paid holidays
• Give back to your community and double your impact through our company matching
• Want more details? Check out our Symetra Benefits Overview

Compensation

Salary Range: $141,600 - $236,000 plus eligibility for annual bonus program and long-term incentive plan