Third Party Administrator (TPA) Manager - BPA

Job Description

If you’re someone who brings strong vendor management expertise, commercial acumen, and a focus on delivering high-quality customer outcomes, our Annuities Operations team would love to meet you.

Job Type: Permanent

Location: This role could be based in either our Edinburgh or London offices with time spent working from home and from the office.

Flexible working: All roles are open to part-time, job-share and other types of flexibility. We will discuss what is important to you and balancing this with business requirements during the recruitment process. You can read more about flexible working here.

Salary and benefits: From £70k depending on experience plus bonus, private medical cover, 38 days annual leave, excellent pension, 12x salary life assurance, career breaks, income protection, 3x volunteering days and much more.

Who are we?


We’re Standard Life, a retirement specialist focused entirely on retirement savings and income. We champion the belief that everyone’s journey to and through retirement can be better, and for more than 200 years, we’ve been helping our customers plan and prepare for their financial futures.

Life today is increasingly complicated, uncertain and unpredictable. People move through different careers, face unexpected moments and navigate important choices. We offer our colleagues flexibility, trust and benefits that work for whatever life brings. In return we expect curiosity, connection, accountability and high standards. We make room for what matters - so you can bring your best, every day.

The role

The TPA Manager – Annuities is responsible for the strategic oversight and end-to-end management of outsourced administration partners across both Bulk Purchase Annuity (BPA) and Individual Annuities.

The role acts as the primary owner of TPA relationships, ensuring that all third-party administrators deliver high-quality, compliant, and cost-effective services aligned to contractual obligations and customer experience expectations.

This includes accountability for service performance, commercial outcomes, operational delivery, and risk management, as well as driving continuous improvement and innovation across the outsourced operating model.

Key Responsibilities

  • Lead and manage strategic relationships with outsourced TPAs, acting as the senior point of contact and shaping partnership strategy aligned to business objectives.
  • Oversee TPA performance and service delivery, ensuring SLAs, KPIs and contractual obligations are met, with clear governance, service reviews and remediation where required.
  • Own commercial and contract oversight, including pricing, renewals and cost management, driving value for money and identifying optimisation opportunities.
  • Ensure effective operational integration, supporting scheme onboarding, aligning outsourced delivery with internal teams, and enabling readiness for new business.
  • Maintain robust risk, governance and regulatory compliance, overseeing third-party risk, audits, and mitigating operational and data risks.
  • Drive customer outcomes and continuous improvement, enhancing end-to-end member and trustee experience, embedding best practice, and identifying automation and transformation opportunities.
  • Influence and engage senior stakeholders, providing MI, building strong cross-functional relationships, and representing the organisation in external forums.

What are we looking for?

  • Experience in TPA/vendor management within financial services.
  • Strong understanding of BPA, annuities and DB pensions.
  • Experience managing third-party relationships and performance.
  • Strong commercial and contract management skills.
  • Knowledge of risk, compliance and governance frameworks.
  • Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills.

We want to hire the whole version of you.

We are committed to ensuring that everyone feels accepted and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. If your experience looks different from what we’ve advertised and you believe that you can bring value to the role, we’d love to hear from you.

If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, please let us know so we can help you to be at your best.

We’re reviewing applications as they come in, so apply early to avoid missing out.

Find out more about working at Standard Life

  • Guide for Candidates: standardlifeplc.pagetiger.com/guideforcandidates
  • Find or get answers from our colleagues: www.standardlifeplc.com/careers/talk-to-us

#LI-KM1 #LI-HYBRID

Back to blog

Other Jobs To Apply

No other job posts for this day.

Common Interview Questions And Answers

1. HOW DO YOU PLAN YOUR DAY?

This is what this question poses: When do you focus and start working seriously? What are the hours you work optimally? Are you a night owl? A morning bird? Remote teams can be made up of people working on different shifts and around the world, so you won't necessarily be stuck in the 9-5 schedule if it's not for you...

2. HOW DO YOU USE THE DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS?

When you're working on a remote team, there's no way to chat in the hallway between meetings or catch up on the latest project during an office carpool. Therefore, virtual communication will be absolutely essential to get your work done...

3. WHAT IS "WORKING REMOTE" REALLY FOR YOU?

Many people want to work remotely because of the flexibility it allows. You can work anywhere and at any time of the day...

4. WHAT DO YOU NEED IN YOUR PHYSICAL WORKSPACE TO SUCCEED IN YOUR WORK?

With this question, companies are looking to see what equipment they may need to provide you with and to verify how aware you are of what remote working could mean for you physically and logistically...

5. HOW DO YOU PROCESS INFORMATION?

Several years ago, I was working in a team to plan a big event. My supervisor made us all work as a team before the big day. One of our activities has been to find out how each of us processes information...

6. HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE CALENDAR AND THE PROGRAM? WHICH APPLICATIONS / SYSTEM DO YOU USE?

Or you may receive even more specific questions, such as: What's on your calendar? Do you plan blocks of time to do certain types of work? Do you have an open calendar that everyone can see?...

7. HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE FILES, LINKS, AND TABS ON YOUR COMPUTER?

Just like your schedule, how you track files and other information is very important. After all, everything is digital!...

8. HOW TO PRIORITIZE WORK?

The day I watched Marie Forleo's film separating the important from the urgent, my life changed. Not all remote jobs start fast, but most of them are...

9. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A MEETING AND PREPARE A MEETING? WHAT DO YOU SEE HAPPENING DURING THE MEETING?

Just as communication is essential when working remotely, so is organization. Because you won't have those opportunities in the elevator or a casual conversation in the lunchroom, you should take advantage of the little time you have in a video or phone conference...

10. HOW DO YOU USE TECHNOLOGY ON A DAILY BASIS, IN YOUR WORK AND FOR YOUR PLEASURE?

This is a great question because it shows your comfort level with technology, which is very important for a remote worker because you will be working with technology over time...