Specialist / Senior Procurement Specialist

Your Impact at LILA

We are looking for a Procurement Specialist to run the buying desk for our fast-paced, AI-driven research and development organization at Lila Sciences.

Reporting to the Senior Manager, Procurement, this is a hands-on role for someone who wants to own throughput. You will keep the ordering process real time and efficient, and you will own vendor onboarding for the suppliers behind those orders.

This is the first dedicated buying desk at Lila. You will define how it runs rather than inherit it, working closely with scientists, lab managers and technical teams across the organization.

What You'll Be Building

• Own requisition-to-purchase-order execution end to end: review, clarify, place, confirm, close
• Serve as the primary procurement partner for assigned research and operating teams
• Sequence the daily queue on impact, not on who applied the most pressure
• Hold order accuracy: correct coding, approval path, sound terms, honest lead times
• Grow catalog and punch-out coverage so routine buying becomes self-service
• Own supplier onboarding and offboarding, and keep the vendor master clean and current
• Resolve supplier delivery, quality and pricing issues before they reach the requester
• Partner with FP&A on budget checks, project coding and month-end accruals

What You'll Need to Succeed

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Life Sciences or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
• Three or more years of procurement, purchasing or procurement operations experience, ideally supporting research organizations
• Experience with a major procurement platform such as Coupa, Ariba or Jaggaer. Coupa strongly preferred
• Hands-on supplier onboarding experience: qualification, screening, compliance documentation, vendor master management
• Proven ability to sequence a queue that arrives already overloaded, where most requests are marked urgent
• Accuracy under volume, and a service instinct paired with the judgement to refuse non-compliant orders
• Ability to travel up to 10%

Bonus Points For

• Experience coordinating with demand or materials planning
• Experience in biotech, pharma, diagnostics or research-driven startups
• Familiarity with CRO and CDMO engagements and lab operations
• Experience sourcing scientific materials, equipment and research services
• Professional certifications such as CPSM, CPM or CSCP