Director of Procurement

National Aquarium • Baltimore, MD

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

The National Aquarium is seeking a Director of Procurement to develop and lead its centralized procurement function. Reporting to the Vice President of Finance, the Director will establish organization-wide procurement strategies, policies, and processes to strengthen financial stewardship, leverage purchasing power, improve vendor management, and increase visibility into organizational spending. The role leads strategic sourcing, competitive bidding, vendor negotiations, and procurement standards in partnership with departments. Departments will continue to initiate routine purchases within established guidelines, while Procurement provides centralized oversight of significant, strategic, and higher-risk purchases.

The Director provides leadership and supervision to the Accounts Payable Manager, coordinating procurement and payment processes while maintaining appropriate accounting controls, policies, and segregation of duties in partnership with the Controller. The role also supports the Aquarium’s mission and adheres to organizational and departmental policies and procedures.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, Accounting, Supply Chain Management, Procurement, or a related field.
• At least 7 years of progressively responsible procurement or strategic sourcing experience, including competitive bidding, vendor negotiations, and contract management.
• Demonstrated experience with competitive sourcing, vendor negotiations, contract management, and spend analysis.
• Experience developing procurement policies, processes, and internal controls.
• Experience directly supervising staff and managing performance.
• Strong strategic sourcing, negotiation, analytical, and financial skills.
• Ability to identify and execute cost-saving and vendor consolidation opportunities.
• Strong understanding of procurement, vendor management, contracting, and the procure-to-pay lifecycle.
• Ability to establish new processes and lead organizational change.
• Ability to balance strong financial controls with practical operational needs.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to build effective relationships across departments.
• Excellent project management, communication, and organizational skills.
• High degree of integrity, judgment, accountability, and professionalism.
• Strong proficiency with Microsoft Excel and financial or procurement systems.

Nice To Haves

• Experience developing, implementing, or improving a centralized procurement function.
• Experience in a nonprofit, cultural institution, attraction, hospitality, facilities-intensive, or similarly complex operating environment.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement a centralized procurement model across the organization.
• Establish procurement policies, purchasing thresholds, competitive bidding requirements, approval processes, and internal controls.
• Lead strategic sourcing, RFP/RFQ processes, vendor selection, and commercial negotiations for significant purchases.
• Establish preferred vendors and organization-wide purchasing agreements to leverage purchasing power.
• Develop processes that enable departments to make routine purchases while ensuring Procurement involvement in significant or strategic purchases.
• Lead adoption of centralized procurement practices through communication, training, and partnership with departments.
• Establish and oversee standards for purchasing cards, online marketplaces, and departmental purchasing accounts, including access, spending limits, documentation, and compliance monitoring.
• Analyze organization-wide spending to identify savings, vendor consolidation, standardization, and improved purchasing terms.
• Develop visibility into significant vendor relationships and contractual commitments.
• Create and maintain vendor evaluations that include quality, service reliability, animal welfare, and safety metrics.
• Lead or support negotiations of significant vendor agreements and renewals.
• Establish consistent vendor selection, onboarding, performance management, and evaluation processes.
• Track and report procurement savings, cost avoidance, managed spend, and other key performance indicators.
• Partner with Finance leadership during budgeting and forecasting to identify procurement opportunities and contractual commitments.
• Maintain and streamline the vendor agreement database, including contract owners, financial commitments, renewal dates, termination notice deadlines, and key obligations.
• Partner with department leaders to understand operational requirements and upcoming purchasing needs.
• Maintain clear accountability between department ownership of operational and technical requirements and Procurement ownership of sourcing and commercial processes.
• Develop procurement practices that balance financial controls, competitive sourcing, and operational efficiency.
• Serve as the organization’s primary resource for procurement, sourcing, vendor negotiations, and purchasing best practices.
• Provide leadership and supervision to the Accounts Payable Manager.
• Coordinate the procure-to-pay process while maintaining appropriate separation between procurement and accounting responsibilities.
• Partner with the Controller and Accounts Payable Manager to maintain controls over vendor setup, invoice processing, approvals, and payments.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency and controls across purchasing and payment processes.
• Support the company mission, adhere to organizational and departmental policies and procedures, and perform other duties as assigned or required.

Benefits

• Flexible paid leave.
• Up to four weeks of paid family leave.
• Health care coverage for single and family plans after 30 days of full-time work.
• Conservation day leave.
• 401(k) plan with employer match.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director