Director, Procurement

📋 Description

• • As the inaugural dedicated procurement leader at LaunchDarkly, a high-growth SaaS company, you will be instrumental in designing, building, and scaling our end-to-end procurement function. This is a hands-on role where you will establish the foundational framework for all procurement activities, ensuring it effectively supports our strategic objectives and operational needs.
• • You will be responsible for developing and implementing a robust procurement framework from the ground up. This includes mapping the current state of procurement processes, defining the target state, and establishing comprehensive policies, governance structures, and controls. Key areas of focus will be the entire vendor lifecycle, from initial intake and approval processes to contracting, ongoing management, renewals, and off-boarding.
• • A core aspect of this role is owning the complete vendor lifecycle. This involves meticulous vendor selection, rigorous negotiation of agreements, proactive tracking of vendor performance against agreed-upon metrics, managing contract renewals strategically, and conducting thorough risk assessments to safeguard the company.
• • You will be a key driver of value creation for LaunchDarkly by proactively identifying and pursuing opportunities for cost savings. This includes exploring vendor consolidation, rationalizing the vendor base, investigating alternate sourcing strategies, and optimizing service delivery models to enhance efficiency and reduce expenditure.
• • This position requires extensive cross-functional collaboration. You will engage closely with stakeholders across Engineering, Product, and UX Design to manage technology software procurement. You will partner with Go-to-Market teams to procure SaaS and services vendors, and work hand-in-hand with Finance and Legal departments on contract terms, risk mitigation, financial amortization, and ensuring vendor obligations are met.
• • You will take the lead in negotiating major vendor agreements, encompassing software, cloud services, professional services, and managed services. A critical part of this will be optimizing commercial terms, including pricing, usage rights, escalation clauses, exit strategies, and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to ensure favorable outcomes for LaunchDarkly.
• • A significant responsibility will be the deployment and optimization of procurement tools. This includes implementing Procure-to-Pay (P2P) workflows, Vendor Management Systems (VMS), and Contract Management Systems (CMS). You will drive automation and ensure efficient process adherence across the organization.
• • You will define, track, and report on key procurement metrics. This includes metrics such as vendor count, spend by category and team, realized savings, contract terms, renewal rates, and vendor risk scores. Regular reporting to Finance leadership and the Executive team will be essential for informed decision-making.
• • You will play a vital role in supporting the annual budget and forecasting processes. In coordination with Strategic Finance and business stakeholders, you will ensure that vendor spend aligns with financial targets and supports the company's growth plans.
• • This role is pivotal in driving continuous improvement within the procurement function. You will foster a culture of disciplined sourcing, cultivate value-based vendor relationships, promote transparency, and embed robust risk mitigation strategies throughout the entire procurement ecosystem.
• • The ideal candidate will possess the ability to build structure, process, and discipline within a rapidly growing, fast-paced environment, ensuring that procurement scales effectively alongside the business.