Procurement Specialist

About the Role

As Plasmidsaurus’s first Procurement Specialist, you’ll establish a procurement function that improves vendor and partner contract outcomes company-wide through stronger negotiation, consistent renewal management, and a clear vendor vetting process. Your mission is to build lightweight processes that deliver what teams need, when they need it, while creating spend visibility, reducing supply chain risk, and ensuring procurement enables growth instead of slowing it down. Departments and teams will continue to own vendor selection and day-to-day relationships; you’ll add a layer of expertise, consistency, and leverage focused on high-value contracts and negotiations across the company.

Responsibilities

• Negotiation & Vendors
  • Work vendor and subscription contracts from initial purchases through renewals.
  • Lead or support negotiations, bringing consistent tactics to company-wide negotiations.
  • Set up primary and backup preferred vendors for high-use consumable categories, consolidating across US and international labs.
  • Implement a vendor vetting process with preferred backup lists for high-value categories.
  • Identify supply chain risks early and develop mitigation plans.
• Process & Tools
  • Build and maintain the contract/renewal calendar.
  • Formalize vendor evaluation, set reorder thresholds, approval workflows, and create spend visibility across sites.
  • Design reorder and approval steps that reduce friction for lab teams.
  • Maintain a contract and renewal tracking system.
  • Work with procurement/purchasing software, coordinating with the Automation Team and labs on inventory and reorder tracking.
  • Keep vendor contracts and sourcing documentation up to date.
• Cross-Functional Partnership
  • Collaborate with Finance on payment terms, budgets, PO systems, and cost-savings targets.
  • Work with Operations and Labs to manage vendor contracts relied upon by lab personnel and site managers, and help establish processes for inventory, ordering, replenishment, and maintenance schedules (sites retain ownership of day-to-day inventory and relationships).
  • Support senior leadership on major purchases and vendor decisions.

What Success Looks Like

• The First Three Months
  • A documented intake process with thresholds is in place, eliminating reliance on informal requests.
  • All active vendor contracts are inventoried, with renewal dates and key terms captured in one place.
• Within Six Months
  • A vendor vetting process and preferred/backup vendor list cover the top 80% of spend categories.
  • The highest-value renewals, major subscriptions, payment processing terms, and key partner agreements are identified and in motion with sufficient lead time for negotiation.
• Within One Year
  • Procurement delivers measurable results: 10–15% cost savings across priority vendor and subscription relationships through renegotiation, consolidation, or smarter purchasing.
  • Emergency and last-minute purchases decrease year-over-year.
  • Lab Managers spend less time on purchase-related tasks, and inventory remains above established minimums.
  • The vendor vetting process is used company-wide, and department leaders confidently bring new vendor decisions through it.
  • Ordering is easy and predictable for site managers, inventory and procurement operate as an integrated system, vendors are responsive and proactive, and Finance has clear visibility into spend.

Requirements

• 4–7 years in procurement, supply chain, lab operations, or a related function.
• Growth-stage biotech, genomics, or CRO/CDMO background strongly preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree required; science background (biology, chemistry, or related) strongly preferred.
• Vendor negotiation and contract management experience.
• Understanding of life science reagent and consumable supply chains, including manufacturers, distributors, and GPO programs.
• Procurement software and PO workflow management experience.
• Basic financial literacy: budget tracking, invoice reconciliation, cost-per-unit analysis.
• Comfortable reading and redlining vendor contracts and NDAs.

Skills

• Build: Create processes from scratch—comfortable writing SOPs, setting up tracking sheets, and making vendor calls within the same week.
• Own: Manage open POs, renewals, approvals, and sourcing projects simultaneously without losing attention to detail. Equally comfortable negotiating contracts, redesigning workflows, or analyzing spend data to identify opportunities.
• Move: Act fast and responsively, understanding that procurement delays impact lab operations.
• Participate: Translate technical needs from lab managers and scientists into clear vendor requirements and purchasing specs, collaborating across Finance, Engineering, Partnerships, Ops, and Site Managers.
• Inspire: Build durable vendor relationships as a strong negotiator, making procurement a function teams want to work with.

Location

Remote-friendly. Preferred hubs: San Francisco, San Diego, or Los Angeles, CA; Eugene, OR; Seattle, WA; Louisville, KY; Boston, MA.