Director of Procurement

About the role

This is a senior individual-contributor role at the center of OPSWAT’s financial operations. The Director of Procurement owns the procurement process end-to-end, building the function from its current state into a best-in-class operation and serving as the primary commercial partner to business owners across the company on every material sourcing decision. The role reports directly to the Chief Financial Officer.

Responsibilities

• Spend Ownership: Take full ownership of the procurement process across OPSWAT, including AI and software tooling, IT infrastructure, marketing, professional services, facilities, and capital expenditures. Business owners retain authority over their spend decisions; you are accountable for the quality of the process, the rigor of the commercial outcomes, and the discipline applied from intake through renewal.
• Intake & Governance: Build and operate a centralized intake and approval process for all new vendor requests and contracts. Create the structure, discipline, and visibility that allows the business to move quickly without sacrificing commercial rigor or financial control. Own the process framework and ensure it is followed consistently — and drive the change management required to make it stick, educating business stakeholders on purchasing policies and the reasoning behind the process so adoption comes from clarity and trust, not mandate. This includes coordinating vendor onboarding end-to-end in close partnership with Accounts Payable, Legal, and Security, ensuring every new vendor is properly vetted, contracted, and set up.
• Contract Portfolio Management: Consolidate and maintain a centralized view of all contracts across the organization. Proactively develop renewal and renegotiation strategies ahead of expiration so timing never cedes leverage.
• Sourcing & Negotiation: Lead all sourcing initiatives, including spend analysis, vendor evaluation, competitive bidding, and negotiation strategy. Drive negotiations across pricing, SLAs, contractual terms, and risk allocation with the confidence to push hard while preserving the relationships that support long-term objectives.
• Financial Modeling & Business Cases: Build the financial models and business cases that evaluate supplier trade-offs, pricing structures, total cost of ownership, and key commercial terms. Partner closely with FP&A and Accounting to ensure contracts align with budgets, forecasts, accruals, and the correct CapEx / OpEx treatment. Serve as the escalation point for AP and PO questions, resolving issues at the intersection of procurement and finance operations before they become close problems.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Serve as a strategic thought partner to business leaders across Finance, Operations, Legal, IT, Security, and the broader organization, bringing structure, clarity, and commercial insight to every decision involving third-party spend. You are not an approver. You are a partner who helps the business make better decisions.
• Vendor Performance & Risk: Establish and maintain a disciplined vendor performance management framework tracking SLA compliance, commercial commitments, and risk exposure across the spend portfolio. Continuously assess supplier viability, pricing competitiveness, and contract risk. Partner with business owners and IT to ensure OPSWAT maintains healthy optionality and avoids over-concentration in any single vendor.

Requirements

• 7–12 years of progressive procurement experience, with at least several years owning procurement in a technology or SaaS company, not just supporting it.
• Built or meaningfully improved procurement processes from scratch, in environments where structure didn’t yet exist.
• Confident, prepared, and disciplined negotiators who do commercial homework, know their walk-away, and earn better outcomes through preparation and credibility, not volume.
• Strong financial acumen: you can build a business case, model a total cost of ownership, and speak the language of FP&A and Accounting without a translator.
• Highly organized and process-driven, with the instinct to create clarity in ambiguity and the discipline to maintain it at scale.
• Communicate with confidence at all levels from operational stakeholders to the CFO. You can translate commercial complexity into clear decisions, and you raise risks early rather than escalating surprises.
• Genuinely curious about the business behind the spend what you’re buying, why, and what it produces.
• Measure your success by commercial outcomes and the trust you’ve earned as a partner, not by the volume of contracts processed or the size of the team you manage.
• Experience partnering with Legal on contract review and redlines, with Accounts Payable on vendor setup and payment processes, and with Security on vendor risk assessment and onboarding requirements.
• Hold a Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Supply Chain, or a related field. MBA preferred.

Qualifications

• Experience at a high-growth technology or SaaS company navigating rapid vendor portfolio expansion and evolving spend categories.
• Familiarity with AI, cloud, and software licensing as spend categories, understanding the commercial structures, pricing levers, and risk dynamics that define these contracts.
• Hands-on experience with Tipalti, NetSuite, or comparable procurement and ERP systems.
• Background in a company that has gone through an IPO, audit readiness exercise, or significant finance transformation with an understanding of the controls and documentation standards that accompany it.
• Exposure to global spend categories, multi-currency contracts, or international vendor relationships.

Skills

• Strategic thinking and ability to work in complex, fast-paced environments.
• Strong negotiation skills and ability to build and maintain relationships.
• Excellent financial acumen and ability to analyze and interpret data.
• Proven ability to manage and optimize procurement processes.
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams and influence decision-making.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities.

Benefits

• Competitive base pay range: San Francisco Bay Area $210,000.00 - $235,000.00
• Equal Opportunity Employer
• Recruiting agencies: We do not accept unsolicited resumes from third-party agencies for any of our open positions. To submit resumes for our jobs, there must be a recruiting contract approved by our legal team and endorsed by both parties.

Pay

Base Pay Range: San Francisco Bay Area $210,000.00 - $235,000.00

Schedule

Not specified