Procurement Lead (AI)

Location: San Francisco, United States; hybrid with in-person attendance required 2–3 days per week

Salary: $190K–$240K USD annually, plus equity. USD salary ranges apply only to U.S.-based positions; international salaries are set according to the local market.

Company

Perplexity is a high-growth technology company building its procurement function.

What you will do

• Lead high-impact vendor deals across software, cloud services, data, and professional services, covering alternatives, pricing, terms, and signature.
• Structure committed-spend, usage-based, and multi-year agreements that scale with usage while preserving flexibility.
• Own strategic vendor relationships, including performance tracking, business reviews, and renewal negotiations.
• Design procurement workflows, policies, approval thresholds, and supporting tools, including AI automation.
• Use AI workflows and agents for intake, contract review, spend analysis, and reporting.
• Build visibility into spend and contracts and drive savings through consolidation, right-sizing, and renegotiation while partnering with Legal, Security, and Accounting.

Requirements

• 5–7+ years of procurement or strategic sourcing experience at a high-growth technology company, including building or scaling the function.
• Track record of personally negotiating multi-million-dollar software, cloud, or data agreements, managing vendors through renewal, and delivering measurable savings.
• Experience building procurement processes, policies, and systems from scratch.
• Ability to run multiple deals simultaneously with incomplete information and exercise sound judgment about when to move quickly or escalate.
• Comfort using AI tools to accelerate work and improve workflows.
• Low-ego, hands-on approach to projects of varying size and to cross-functional collaboration.
• Strong communication skills, ability to influence senior leaders, and a reputation for being commercially tough and fair.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time U.S. employees receive equity and benefits covering health, dental, vision, retirement, fitness, commuter, and dependent care accounts.
• Full-time employees outside the U.S. receive benefits tailored to their region of residence.
• Hands-on role with scope expected to grow as the company grows.
• In-person work in San Francisco is required 2–3 days per week.