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Benchling is seeking a Head of Procurement to lead the company's third-party spend strategy and vendor management. You will report to the Chief Accounting Officer as a senior individual contributor with broad responsibility for procurement across cloud infrastructure, enterprise SaaS, professional services, travel, and expenses.
The role balances two primary areas: sourcing, negotiation, and strategic initiatives (65–70% of time) and process excellence (30–35% of time).
Key responsibilities include:
- Lead vendor negotiations and renewals for Benchling's largest and most strategic contracts, particularly cloud infrastructure and enterprise SaaS agreements.
- Structure complex deals with usage-based pricing, committed-spend models, multi-year terms, price protections, and data portability rights.
- Enhance renewal management by building renewal strategies with business owners and Strategic Finance to eliminate pricing surprises.
- Develop category strategies for major spend areas, consolidate vendors, identify redundant software, and support build-versus-buy decisions.
- Design and implement a third-party vendor risk program aligned with Security and other stakeholders; improve vendor risk visibility and mitigation planning.
- Advise on categories outside traditional procurement scope, including benefits, events, real estate, and contingent workforce vendors.
- Set direction on procurement and travel & expense policies, defining when procurement involvement is required.
- Simplify and apply AI and automation across the procure-to-pay process, including intake, reporting, and metrics.
You will work closely with Engineering, IT, Security, Marketing, Legal, Strategic Finance, Corporate Development, and Accounting, running regular decision-making rhythms and adjusting your involvement based on team needs—from leading deals end-to-end to coaching experienced owners.
QUALIFICATIONS:
- 10+ years in procurement, strategic sourcing, or vendor management, with most experience at technology or SaaS companies.
- Proven track record of delivering substantial, measurable savings through leading complex, high-stakes negotiations (large cloud infrastructure commitments, multi-year enterprise SaaS agreements) and driving cross-functional vendor and tool consolidation.
- Reputation as a trusted business partner who balances commercial results with stakeholder needs and long-term vendor relationships.
- Demonstrated expertise in leading-practice procurement process design, including process redesign, simplification, and AI/automation implementation with sound judgment about where they add value.
- Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills at executive level; ability to make data-driven cases for value using usage, benchmark, and total-cost analysis; ability to influence without authority.
- Experience designing third-party risk processes with Security, Legal, and Compliance partners.
- Familiarity with Zip, Navan, NetSuite, or similar platforms.
- Comfort working independently, handling both strategy and execution.
Differentiating: Procurement certification (CPSM, CIPS, or similar).
Nice to have: Experience in life sciences or biotech.
