Director, Procurement

Role Description:

The Director, Procurement will facilitate ShipBob's strategic sourcing and procurement function across multiple categories. This is a senior leadership role responsible for developing and sustaining a high-performing procurement capability, driving meaningful cost improvement, and ensuring supplier relationships, contract frameworks, and category strategies are aligned with ShipBob's rapid growth trajectory. The Director brings deep commercial judgment, strong negotiation capability, and the ability to manage complexity across multiple categories simultaneously. Given the small size of the current team, the Director must be hands-on and highly adaptable including operating in the detail as readily as at the strategic level and flexing to changing priorities as the business evolves. This role manages the Procurement Manager and reports to the VP Global Controller.

What you’ll do:

As the senior leader responsible for procurement across ShipBob's global operations, you will have the following responsibilities:

• Define and own ShipBob's procurement strategy across multiple categories, growing a function that is proactive, analytically rigorous, and commercially credible.
• Manage and develop the procurement team, setting clear performance standards, operating frameworks, and a culture of data-oriented outcome.
• Build and sustain executive-level relationships with strategic suppliers, ensuring ShipBob is positioned as an intelligent, sophisticated buyer across all categories.
• Facilitate the most complex and commercially significant negotiations across ShipBob's supplier base in technology, facilities, and corporate services .
• Design and execute structured RFx processes with full analytical rigor: market intelligence, benchmarking, scenario modelling, supplier assessment, and documented recommendation with supporting evidence.
• Develop category strategies that are grounded in market data, total cost of ownership analysis , and ShipBob's operational requirements not historical spend patterns.
• Build and maintain a vendor performance management framework with defined KPIs , governance cadence, and escalation protocols that hold suppliers accountable without creating adversarial relationships.
• Review, redline, and negotiate contractual agreements across all categories ensuring favorable commercial terms, appropriate risk allocation, and long-term value protection.
• Partner closely with Finance, Legal, Operations, and Technology to ensure procurement choices are integrated into ShipBob's planning and budget cycles.
• Partner as needed with ShipBob's transportation and partner network procurement functions, coordinating across category boundaries while this role focuses on indirect, technology, facilities, corporate, and professional services spend.
• Drive procurement process scalability, building systems, tools, and workflows that support ShipBob's growth without linear headcount growth in the function.
• Facilitate change management initiatives required to implement process and structural improvements, including stakeholder alignment, communication, and adoption tracking. Central to this is driving a cultural shift as the function evolves — embedding discipline around compliance and rigorous review into how the organization buys, rather than optimizing for speed alone.
• Ensure compliance with ShipBob's SOX, SOC II , and other regulatory requirements as they apply to the procurement function.
• Use data analytics, industry benchmarking, and strategic sourcing methodologies to continuously identify and capture cost savings, risk reduction, and value-creation opportunities.
• Additional duties and responsibilities as necessary.

What you’ll bring to the table:

• Minimum 10 years of progressive procurement experience , with at least 3 years in a senior leadership role with direct management responsibility.
• Proven track record leading strategic procurement across multiple categories, particularly technology/SaaS/AI, indirect, and professional services .
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex, high-value negotiations with outcomes supported by documented market intelligence, benchmarking, and total cost analysis , not intuition alone.
• Experience building or significantly upgrading a procurement function: establishing operating frameworks, performance standards, and team capability in a fast-growth environment, including leading the cultural shift toward compliance and disciplined review rather than speed alone.
• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Finance, or related field ; MBA or CPSM/CPM preferred .
• High EQ and executive presence. Credible at the CFO and SVP level, able to translate complex commercial situations into clear recommendations and influence choices without direct authority.
• Analytically rigorous. Every recommendation is supported by data, benchmarking, and documented study. Presenting a deal as 'good' without supporting evidence is not a standard this leader operates to.
• Strong problem-solving and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple high-priority workstreams simultaneously in a complex, rapidly changing environment.
• Hands-on and adaptable. Comfortable rolling up sleeves and operating without a large support structure, flexing readily to changing priorities given the small team size.
• Deep understanding of US market dynamics, contract structures, cost drivers, and supplier landscape across multiple categories.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Able to write a clear, well-structured recommendation memo as readily as running a negotiation room.
• Ability to cover core US hours with availability for occasional international coordination.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite ; experience with P2P platforms such as ZipHQ preferred ; comfort working with AI, data tools and BI platforms .