Benchling

Head of Procurement

San Francisco, CA, Remote. Posted a month ago

The role

You will lead how Benchling buys by managing third-party spend in cloud infrastructure, enterprise SaaS, and professional services. You will lead negotiations for strategic contracts and design procurement processes using AI and automation.

What you will do

  • Lead vendor negotiation and renewals for largest and most strategic agreements
  • Structure deals including usage-based pricing, multi-year terms, and price protections
  • Enhance the renewal management process with business owners and Strategic Finance
  • Develop category strategies to consolidate vendors and stop redundant software spend
  • Design and implement a third-party vendor risk program
  • Advise on categories such as benefits, large events, real estate, and contingent workforce vendors
  • Partner with stakeholder teams to evolve existing processes
  • Own procurement and T&E policies
  • Simplify and apply AI and automation from intake through reporting

Required qualifications

  • 10+ years in procurement, strategic sourcing, or vendor management
  • Most experience at technology or SaaS companies
  • Negotiation expertise with a track record of delivering substantial, measurable savings
  • Reputation as a trusted business partner
  • Ability to understand business needs and product vision
  • Demonstrated results from leading-practice procurement process design
  • Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills at an executive level
  • Experience designing third-party risk processes with Security, Legal, and Compliance partners
  • Familiarity with Zip, Navan, NetSuite, or similar platforms
  • Comfort working on your own, handling both strategy and execution

Nice to have

  • procurement certification (CPSM, CIPS, or similar)
  • experience in life sciences or biotech

Before you apply

  • You'll complete a brief AI-focused exercise or discussion as part of the interview process

About the company

Benchling is the AI platform for biotech R&D. Over 200,000 scientists around the world use it to design experiments, capture structured data, and run AI agents and models.