Director of Procurement

Procurement strategy and policy

• Build and own the company's procurement function from scratch – intake, approvals, vendor selection, controls, and spend governance
• Define when to centralize vs. delegate purchasing decisions
• Drive strategic clarity on what the company is buying, why, and at what cost

Vendor lifecycle management

• Own the framework and standards that govern how Headway manages vendor relationships across the organization
• Manage sourcing and selection through contracting, renewals, and performance management
• Ensure department leaders have the structure, visibility, and support to manage vendor relationships effectively

Cost optimization and spend visibility

• Lead strategic sourcing initiatives across third-party spend in SaaS, AI, cloud, and professional services
• Step in directly on the highest-stakes negotiations and renewals
• Build reporting infrastructure for real-time spend visibility

Procurement tooling and operational infrastructure

• Evaluate, implement, and optimize procurement systems including intake tools, P2P platforms, contract management, and vendor management software

Leadership advisory

• Serve as the go-to procurement partner for Finance, Legal, Compliance, IT, Security, and department leaders
• Build governance framework balancing speed, flexibility, cost discipline, risk management, and regulatory compliance

Team and function building

• Hire and develop a lean, high-impact procurement team
• Set the talent bar, define roles and DRIs, and build org structure that scales with company growth

Requirements

• Experience building a procurement function from scratch including intake processes, approval workflows, spend governance, and vendor controls
• Deep category expertise across SaaS, AI, and professional services
• Strong negotiation skills with proven track record of winning high-stakes deals across SaaS, AI, cloud, and professional services
• Experience using AI tools to drive vendor intelligence, spend analytics, and source-to-pay efficiency
• Ability to bring structure to ambiguity and stand up processes proactively