Procurement Lead

Perplexity • San Francisco, CA

6d • $190,000 - $240,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Perplexity is hiring a Procurement Lead to build its procurement function. The role will design procurement workflows and policies, negotiate agreements, and manage vendor relationships after signature. The Procurement Lead will partner with teams across the company to help them select vendors and structure agreements without creating bottlenecks, while ensuring third-party spending delivers value. This is a high-impact, hands-on role for someone who can set direction, work through details, and follow through in a fast-paced environment. The scope may grow as the company grows. The position is based in San Francisco and requires in-person attendance 2–3 days per week.

Requirements

• 5–7+ years of experience in procurement or strategic sourcing at a high-growth technology company, including building or scaling the function.
• A track record of personally negotiating multi-million-dollar software, cloud, or data agreements, managing those vendors, renegotiating at renewal, and delivering measurable savings.
• Experience building procurement processes, policies, and systems from scratch.
• Ability to run multiple deals simultaneously with incomplete information and exercise sound judgment about when to move quickly and when to escalate.
• Comfort using AI tools to accelerate work and improve workflows.
• A low-ego, hands-on approach to projects large and small and to working across the organization.
• Strong communication skills, ability to influence senior leaders, and a reputation for being commercially tough and fair.

Responsibilities

• Lead high-impact vendor deals across software, cloud services, data, and professional services, from evaluating competitive alternatives through pricing, terms, and signature.
• Structure committed-spend, usage-based, and multi-year agreements that scale with usage and preserve flexibility.
• Own relationships with important vendors, including performance tracking, business reviews, and renewal negotiations.
• Design efficient procurement workflows, policies, and approval thresholds, and implement tools and AI automation to operate them.
• Use AI workflows and agents to automate procurement activities, including intake, contract review, spend analysis, and reporting.
• Build visibility into vendor spend and contracts, and drive savings through consolidation, right-sizing, and renegotiation.
• Partner with Legal, Security, and Accounting on contract terms, vendor risk reviews, and audit-ready controls.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed