Senior Procurement Specialist, UK

Verda; Greater London; On-site; GBP 75,000 - 105,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Cash & equity

Healthcare

Lunch

Wellbeing

Fringe benefits

Job summary

Verda, a global hardware and cloud infrastructure company, is seeking a Senior Procurement Specialist to own the UK operations. Based in London, you will source components, manage suppliers, and coordinate logistics for our UK data center while working closely with our Finland team.

This is an on-site, full-time role requiring strong negotiation skills, vendor management, and fluency in Mandarin and English.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in procurement or vendor management.
• Experience in hardware, data center, or infrastructure.
• Independent end-to-end procurement ownership.
• Strong negotiation and pricing skills.
• Logistics, Incoterms, and customs knowledge.
• On-site work; five days a week.
• Proficiency in Mandarin and English.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end procurement for UK operations: sourcing components and servers, issuing RFQs, evaluating quotations, and placing orders.
• Define and execute sourcing strategies, identify vendors, and build supplier relationships.
• Manage supplier relationships day-to-day: performance tracking, lead times, escalations, and RMAs.
• Coordinate inbound and outbound logistics for the UK data center, customs clearance, shipment tracking.
• Support CAPEX planning and procure forecast with Finland team and Finance.
• Review contracts and supply agreements; coordinate with Legal on escalation.
• Maintain procurement documentation: POs, invoices, contracts, supplier records.
• Develop new vendors and monitor hardware pricing trends.

Skills

Procurement management

End-to-end procurement

Negotiation

Logistics coordination

Contract review

On-site coordination

Mandarin language

English language

Job description

At Verda, we're building a full-stack AI cloud, covering everything from data centers and hardware to our own cloud platform that the world's leading AI teams use to do serious AI work.

We strive to make a positive mark on the world through the infrastructure we build and give leading teams a service they can truly depend on. Headquartered in Helsinki, we operate globally with offices in London and San Francisco.

Join Verda while it’s still being built - not once it’s finished.

Why Verda

• Cash and equity compensation along with various fringe benefits (healthcare, lunch, wellbeing, and more).

• Profitable operations with rapid, sustained growth.

• 40+ nationalities, with 6 different ones on the management team.

• A real chance to make an impact and work alongside world class engineers, researchers, and partners across the global AI ecosystem.

Practicalities

• On-site: Given the operational nature of the role on-site coordination, logistics, and hands-on procurement work, we expect full-time office presence 5 days a week. This isn't a remote or hybrid position.

• Employment type: Full-time and permanent.

About the role

Verda has a data center in the UK and a hardware supply chain that spans Taiwan, Japan, the US, and Europe. The UK is one of our top-priority markets and the Senior Procurement Specialist here will own it independently, sourcing hardware, managing suppliers, coordinating logistics, and handling the commercial agreements that keep everything moving.

This is a role for someone who thrives with ownership. You'll be Verda's procurement presence in the UK, working closely with the central team in Finland while running UK operations with a high degree of independence. The expectation is that you bring the judgment and drive to make things happen locally and reach out when you need to, not because you have to.

Your responsibilities

• Own end-to-end procurement for UK operations: sourcing components and servers, issuing RFQs, evaluating quotations, negotiating pricing, placing orders, and tracking delivery through to invoice reconciliation.

• Define and execute sourcing strategies for key hardware categories, identifying the right vendors, developing new supplier relationships, and building the supply options that give Verda flexibility and competitive pricing.

• Manage supplier relationships day-to-day: performance tracking, lead time management, issue escalation, and RMA coordination.

• Coordinate inbound and outbound logistics for the UK data center, customs clearance, shipment tracking, and resolving delivery issues before they become operational problems.

• Support CAPEX planning and procurement forecasting in close coordination with the Finland-based procurement team and Finance.

• Review and manage procurement contracts and supply agreements, covering delivery terms, SLAs, liability, and price escalation, coordinating with Legal when escalation is needed.

• Maintain accurate procurement documentation: purchase orders, invoices, contracts, and supplier records.

• Develop new vendors and maintain a market view on hardware pricing, availability, and supply trends relevant to Verda's hardware categories.

Your key competencies

• 5+ years in procurement, supply chain, or vendor management in a hardware, technology infrastructure, or data center environment.

• Proven ability to run end-to-end procurement independently, from receiving a purchase request through to delivery confirmation and invoice reconciliation. You don't need a process to be handed to you.

• Strong negotiation skills: you've negotiated hardware supply agreements, volume pricing, and delivery terms and can evidence the outcomes.

• Comfortable with logistics coordination and international shipping, customs clearance, Incoterms, freight forwarding, and the practical reality of moving hardware across borders.

• Able to review and manage commercial contracts without routing everything through Legal first — you understand what you're signing and what exposure it creates.

• Given the operational nature of the role, on-site coordination, logistics, and hands-on procurement work. We expect full-time office presence five days a week. This isn't a remote or hybrid position.

• Proficiency in both Mandarin and English.

Strong plus

• Experience procuring GPU servers, AI accelerators, or data center infrastructure hardware. Familiarity with server ODMs and the supply dynamics of this market.

• Understanding of Asian supply chains, ODM and OEM procurement from Taiwan, Japan, or mainland China, including lead time and allocation dynamics.

• Experience in a scaling startup or high-growth environment where structure was still being built while work was being executed.

• Additional languages relevant to our supply chain: Japanese, or a major European language.