Manager, Procurement

Procurement Manager

Orenda is on a mission to make the grid more efficient with renewable energy projects and proprietary asset management technology. We develop, build, own and operate battery energy storage projects in dense urban environments to bridge the gap between renewables and electricity consumption.

We are a dynamic, NYC-based startup at the forefront of a new industry. We are seeking highly motivated and incredibly talented individuals who wish to contribute to our important mission.

About the Team

Orenda's Project Execution Division is responsible for taking projects from late-stage development through commercial readiness and into safe, predictable construction delivery. We own the operating system that makes delivery repeatable at scale: decision-grade scopes, standardized readiness artifacts, cost and risk narratives, and disciplined handoffs into construction.

We partner cross-functionally with Development, Construction, Procurement, and Finance to ensure project inputs are synchronized before mobilization and exceptions are explicit.

About the Role

The Procurement Manager owns long-lead and high-risk equipment procurement across Orenda's project portfolio, from pre-award sourcing strategy through delivery to site. This role establishes repeatable sourcing mechanisms (Master Service Agreements (MSAs), preferred vendors, bid packages, lead-time controls) that protect schedule and budget, and ensures procurement artifacts are decision-grade and traceable into approval packages and cost governance.

This role partners tightly with Pre-construction, Engineering, Construction, Finance, and Legal to enforce spec-to-purchase discipline, surface delivery risk early, and ensure clean handoffs into construction execution.

This is not a transactional purchasing role. Success requires technical fluency in long-lead electrical equipment and the ability to run vendor technical clarification cycles to closure, sanity-check submittals for specification / configuration alignment, and surface issues early with clear options for Engineering/Engineer-of-Record review.

• This role is ideal for: someone who is equal parts technical and commercial: you can run disciplined RFQs and clarification cycles, force "apples-to-apples" comparability, and translate vendor inputs into decision-grade recommendation packages. You have strong instincts for long-lead electrical equipment risk (spec alignment, interfaces, lead times, logistics) and you proactively surface issues early with clear options. You thrive in a fast-moving environment where repeatable sourcing mechanisms, clean document control, and cross-functional coordination are how we scale.

What You'll Do

• Long-Lead Procurement Strategy: Own procurement strategy for long-lead and high-impact packages (e.g., switchgear, transformers, breakers, enclosures, fire/life safety, SCADA/EMS-facing components) aligned to project milestones and the critical path.
• Project Procurement Planning: Build and maintain the procurement plan per project, including scope definition, vendor list, Request for Qualification (RFQ) calendar and decision points, submittal requirements and review path, and manufacturing/logistics plan to site.
• Competitive Sourcing + Vendor Selection: Lead RFQs, RFI/clarification cycles, bid leveling, and recommendation packages. Coordinate technical alignment with Orenda's Principal Engineer and the Engineer of Record (EOR). Produce clear award rationales with explicit assumptions, exclusions, and decision points.
• Technical-Commercial Alignment: Drive technical clarification cycles with vendors and ensure submittals are decision-grade (complete, traceable, and aligned to the approved spec/config baseline) before Purchase Order (PO) release. Flag misalignments early and elevate with a clear issue statement and options.
• Master Supply Mechanisms: Establish and maintain MSAs and preferred vendor frameworks, along with standard commercial templates, vendor onboarding requirements, pricing structures, escalation terms, and capacity reservation approaches.
• Global Market Inputs (International Procurement): Track relevant commodity indices, tariffs, and FX rates that impact equipment pricing and lead times. Coordinate with Finance/Legal to reflect these inputs in sourcing recommendations, escalation assumptions, and risk narratives.
• Spec-to-Purchase Discipline: Confirm the latest approved spec/config baseline is used. Prevent silent scope changes from entering POs. Ensure vendor submittals are complete and decision-grade before release.
• Lead-Time + Delivery Risk Management: Maintain a forward-looking view of manufacturing slots, vendor commitments, and logistics constraints. Track slippages, surface risks early, and drive mitigation and expediting plans for schedule threats.
• Pipeline Demand vs Capacity: Maintain a portfolio view of pipeline demand by package and reconcile against vendor capacity so capacity is reserved ahead of release.
• Governance-Grade Traceability: Ensure procurement decisions and documentation are audit-ready and traceable into ACR/budget artifacts and leadership decision packages.
• Cross-Functional Coordination:
  • Coordinate with Pre-construction to ensure scope alignment across bid packages, RFQs, and award recommendations (clear interfaces, assumptions, and completeness criteria).
  • Coordinate with the Chief Product Officer to ensure procurement decisions align with Orenda's approved technology stack for each project configuration (BESS, PCS, PV, EV charging, and other major system components).
  • Partner with Pre-construction and Cost Control to align RFQs to cost-code/BoQ structures so bids normalize cleanly into budgets.
  • Partner with Development/Permitting to ensure equipment selections are compatible with the interconnection and permitting path, including required Utility and AHJ approvals.
  • Partner with Engineering to confirm spec baselines and submittal requirements.
  • Partner with Construction on site readiness, delivery windows, laydown constraints, FAT/shipping/receiving, and vendor field support.
• Procurement Infrastructure + Document Control: Build reusable procurement infrastructure, including approved vendor lists with performance notes, standard submittal registers by package, and naming conventions/document control for quotes, POs, submittals, and correspondence.

Requirements

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Supply Chain, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• Experience: 6+ years in procurement, supply chain, equipment sourcing, or project procurement for complex projects (energy, utility, industrial, EPC, or comparable).
• Electrical equipment fluency: Demonstrated success procuring long-lead electrical equipment (e.g., MV switchgear, transformers, breakers/protection) and managing the RFQ ? submittal ? FAT ? delivery lifecycle. Must be able to independently identify common scope and interface risks (inclusions/exclusions, protection/controls interfaces, metering/CT/PT needs, commissioning support expectations) and escalate crisply to Engineering/EOR.
• Vendor technical clarifications: Proven ability to lead disciplined vendor clarification cycles (RFI log, addenda, bid forms) that force "apples-to-apples" comparability and prevent spec drift.
• Commercial Judgment: Strong commercial acumen across pricing structures, escalation, payment terms, warranties, LD concepts, and risk allocation.
• Rigor + Traceability: High rigor on scope definition, bid comparisons, and traceability of assumptions into budgets and decision packages.
• Cross-Functional Execution: Comfortable operating across Pre-construction, Engineering, Construction, Finance, and Legal.
• Communication: Strong writing and executive communication skills (clear recommendation memos and decision packages).
• Tools: Comfortable adopting procurement workflows in systems like Kahua, Procore, Coupa, NetSuite, or similar.

Preferred Qualifications (Bonus)

• BESS procurement experience (battery OEM, PCS, switchgear/protection, thermal, fire systems).
• NYC / dense-urban logistics constraints experience.
• Experience building category strategies and preferred vendor programs that scale across high-volume portfolios.
• Experience supporting procurement of MV electrical packages in dense-urban projects (tight delivery windows, rigging constraints, utility/AHJ interface).

Skills and Attributes

• Extremely organized, process-oriented, and disciplined about document control.
• Low tolerance for ambiguous scope, un-owned lead-time risk, or undocumented commitments.
• Proactive risk management mindset (surfaces issues early with clear options and recommended mitigations).
• Comfortable driving clarity across internal teams and