Senior Manager, Procurement and Vendor Management

DAT

• $154K — $196K *
Business Services
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 6-8 years in Procurement or Strategic Sourcing, preferably in a high-growth SaaS environment.
  • Proven experience leading a Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) implementation and ERP/P2P system design.
  • Strong contract negotiation skills, particularly with SaaS, MSA, and DPA terms.
  • Exceptional communication skills to translate complex requirements into actionable strategies.
  • Experience with AI governance and vendor risk management specific to AI-powered SaaS.
  • A builder mindset with the ability to work independently and make high-stakes decisions.
  • Curiosity and innovation in problem-solving.

Responsibilities

  • Build and lead a center of excellence for procurement and vendor management.
  • Operationalize the Procure-to-Pay workflow in NetSuite ERP.
  • Drive negotiations with technology and indirect spend vendors.
  • Integrate a Contract Lifecycle Management platform with existing workflows.
  • Review and negotiate key commercial contract terms to expedite legal review.
  • Direct procurement integration for recent acquisitions to identify cost synergies.
  • Advise department heads on spend visibility and strategic procurement.

Benefits

  • Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, and AD&D insurance
  • Paid Parental Leave
  • Flexible Time Off
  • 10 additional holidays of paid time off per year
  • 401k matching with immediate vesting
  • Employee Stock Purchase Plan
  • Short- and Long-term disability sick leave
  • Flexible Spending Accounts and Health Savings Accounts
  • Employee Assistance Program
  • Free TriMet transit pass for Beaverton Office
  • Collaborative and supportive team culture
  • Opportunity to work on impactful projects in a cutting-edge environment
Full Job Description
Application Deadline: 11/30/2026

The Opportunity

DAT Freight & Analytics ("DAT") is the backbone of the transportation industry. Currently a $500M powerhouse on a rapid trajectory to $1B, we have acquired four companies in the past 18 months and are scaling our infrastructure to match our ambition.

We are seeking a Senior Manager of Procurement and Vendor Management to own the entire "Procure to Pay" (P2P) function across DAT. DAT currently manages a portfolio of >$30M of commercial contracts, and this is a build role: you will have executive sponsorship and a clear mandate to design and stand up modern procurement infrastructure and governance from the ground up over your first 18 months.

What You'll Do
  • Department Ownership: Build and lead the center of excellence for procurement and vendor management. Lead your team of a Procurement Ops Manager and Procurement Specialist to streamline day-to-day operations and controls while you focus on high-level strategy and integration.
  • P2P Workflow in NetSuite: Partner with FP&A, Accounting, and our NetSuite admin to operationalize the Procure-to-Pay workflow inside our NetSuite ERP, including establishing Tropic as our system of record for spend tracking.
  • Vendor Strategy & Benchmarking: Drive world-class negotiations with technology and indirect spend vendors. Utilize Tropic and other benchmarking data to ensure optimal commercial terms and service levels.
  • Legal/Contracts & CLM Partnership: Lead the integration of a Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) platform with our Tropic workflow, in close collaboration with DAT's Legal/Contracts team.
  • Contract Risk Triage & Negotiation: Personally review and negotiate key commercial contract terms across DAT's vendor portfolio (SaaS agreements, MSAs, DPAs), performing a first-pass red-flags analysis - indemnification, Artificial Intelligence clauses, liability, data protection, termination, auto-renewal - before handing contracts to the Legal/Contracts team, so review cycles move faster and risk is caught earlier, not later.
  • M&A Integration: Direct the procurement integration for our four recent acquisitions, identifying immediate cost synergies and migrating legacy contracts into the DAT ecosystem.
  • Cross-Functional Leadership: Act as a key advisor to department heads, providing spend visibility and ensuring procurement is viewed as a strategic partner rather than a hurdle.

Strategic Evolution
  • SaaS Ecosystem Optimization: Partner closely with the Technology team to audit and rationalize the software stack across all business units and acquired entities, identifying vendor consolidation opportunities created by our four acquisitions over the past 18 months, eliminating redundancies and capturing immediate EBITDA improvements.
  • AI Council Partnership: Serve as procurement's representative on DAT's AI Council, partnering with Architecture and InfoSec to govern the selection, onboarding, and ongoing review of third-party AI tools and platforms - and bring procurement's recommendation on vendor selection, contract terms, and risk for AI-related spend, which is growing faster than DAT's current governance can track.
  • Cloud FinOps Partnership: Partner with Engineering and DevOps to manage Cloud infrastructure spend (AWS/Azure), driving transparency and cost-efficiency in our primary COGS drivers.
  • Risk & Compliance Framework: Refine and manage a robust Vendor Risk Management (VRM) program in collaboration with Security and Legal to ensure all third-party partners meet DAT's rigorous data privacy and security standards.

The Skills and Experience You'll Bring
  • Experience: 6-8 years in Procurement or Strategic Sourcing, specifically within a high-growth SaaS or software environment.
  • Technical Expertise: Proven experience leading a CLM implementation and partnering on major ERP/P2P system design. Familiarity with Tropic and NetSuite is highly preferred.
  • Contract Acumen: Comfortable reading and negotiating complex commercial contract language independently - SaaS, MSA, and DPA terms - and performing an initial risk read (a red-flags first pass) before formal legal review.
  • Communication: Exceptional ability to translate complex financial and legal requirements into actionable business strategies for stakeholders at all levels.
  • AI Governance Exposure: Experience participating in or advising cross-functional AI governance or procurement councils, with a point of view on vendor risk specific to AI-powered SaaS - selection, data handling, and contract terms.
  • Autonomy: A "builder" mindset with the ability to work independently, make high-stakes decisions, and own the department's roadmap.
  • Curiosity: Seek to understand the "why". Bring innovation of thought to solving problems for the long term.

  • Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, and AD&D insurance
  • Paid Parental Leave
  • Flexible Time Off
  • An additional 10 holidays of paid time off per calendar year
  • 401k matching (immediately vested)
  • Employee Stock Purchase Plan
  • Short- and Long-term disability sick leave
  • Flexible Spending Accounts
  • Health Savings Accounts
  • Employee Assistance Program
  • Additional programs - Employee Referral, Internal Recognition, and Wellness
  • Free TriMet transit pass (Beaverton Office)
  • Competitive salary and benefits package
  • Work on impactful projects in a cutting-edge environment
  • Collaborative and supportive team culture
  • Opportunity to make a real difference in the trucking industry
  • Employee Resource Groups

For Oregon-based candidates, in compliance with Oregon's Pay Equity and Transparency Act (effective January 2024), the salary range for this role is $154,536 - $196,039. DAT considers factors such as scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's work experience, education and training, core skills, internal equity, and market and business elements when extending an offer.

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