Manager, Supplier Relationships

Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Bethesda (MD); Hybrid; USD 122,000 - 152,000; Full time

Job summary

Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, MD, is seeking a Manager, Supplier Relationships to lead the full sourcing cycle across HHMI labs and administrative groups. You will research the market, issue RFPs, negotiate contracts, and manage supplier relationships from open to close using AI tools to move faster while applying sound judgment.

This role also involves directing the sourcing team, coordinating with the Office of General Counsel, and ensuring competitive, ethical sourcing.

Qualifications

• Eight+ years procurement experience, ideally in academic/research settings.
• Ability to negotiate contracts and manage supplier relationships.
• Experience with AI-assisted procurement tools.
• Collaborative and capable of coaching a team.
• Strong data analysis and ROI calculations.
• Knowledge of OGC processes.

Responsibilities

• Own the sourcing cycle from market research to supplier selection and contract closure, using AI tools and sound judgment.
• Direct the sourcing team to meet productivity, efficiency, and accuracy targets.
• Coordinate with the Office of General Counsel to negotiate contracts and ensure compliance.
• Manage supplier relationships and performance evaluations, including renewals and risk assessments.
• Set AI agenda for sourcing and align priorities with organizational goals.
• Track spend and ROI, and update procurement policies and templates as tools evolve.
• Read data insights and translate them into actionable procurement decisions.
• Maintain current procurement processes, templates, and due diligence questionnaires.

Skills

Negotiation instincts

AI in procurement

Coaching

Institutional experience

Data-driven

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

CPM/CPSM/CPIM certifications

Tools

Contract management software

Microsoft Office

Job description

Primary Work Address: 4000 Jones Bridge Road, Chevy Chase, MD,20815

Current HHMI Employees, click here to apply via yourWorkday account.

HHMI is focused on supporting and moving science forward in avariety of different ways ranging from conducting basic biomedicalresearch, empowering educators, inspiring students, developing thenext generation of scientists – even stretching into film and mediaproduction. Our Headquarters is in the greater Washington, DC metroarea and is home to over 300 employees with expertise ininvestments, communications, digital production, biomedicalsciences, and everything in between. The work housed here supportsand augments the groundbreaking research conducted in HHMI labsacross the nation. As HHMI scientists continue to push boundariesin laboratories and classrooms, you can be sure that yourcontributions while working here are making a difference.

This is a role for someone who treats a supplier relationship as along game, not a transaction to close and forget.

The Manager, Supplier Relationships sits inside HHMI's Procurementteam, supporting every lab and administrative group across theInstitute. Whoever needs a supplier vetted, a contract negotiated,or an escalated problem resolved gets the same level of support,whether they sit at Headquarters or in a lab three time zones away.Procurement at HHMI runs at real scale, and the tools available todo it well, including AI-assisted contract review and spendanalysis, are moving fast. This role is expected to keep pace withthem and bring the rest of the sourcing team along.

The role runs the full sourcing cycle: researching the market,issuing RFPs, collaborating with the Office of General Counsel(OGC) to negotiate contracts, and managing the relationship aftersignature, using AI throughout to move faster while relying onsound judgment for the calls that matter. It also involvesdirecting a team, translating procurement strategy into day-to-daywork, and giving people the kind of feedback that actually changeshow they perform.

This position works on a hybrid schedule, reporting in-personthree days a week to our headquarters in Chevy Chase,Maryland.

What you will actually do

• Own the sourcing cycle. Lead market research, RFPdevelopment, and supplier selection from open to close, using AItools to speed up the process and sound judgment to close itout.


• Set the AI agenda. Work with procurement leadership todecide how AI fits into sourcing and supplier management, and keepthe team’s AI priorities aligned with where the Institute isheaded.


• Negotiate and manage contracts. Negotiate pricing,service levels, and terms; manage renewals; and run regularsupplier performance and risk evaluations.


• Direct the sourcing team. Assign work, hold it toproductivity, efficiency, and accuracy targets, and coach a smallteam through the decisions they face day to day.


• Coordinate the supplier lifecycle. Manage requests toadd, change, or retire suppliers, and set up the administrative andcatalog support that keeps ordering running once a contract issigned.


• Partner across the Institute. Work with the OGC to keepcompetitive sourcing fair, ethical, and consistent, and withpurchasing leadership and stakeholders to turn business needs intoprocurement requirements.


• Read the data and act on it. Track spend, benchmarkcost, and calculate ROI on sourcing decisions, using AI to speed upthe analysis and sound judgment to decide what it means.


• Keep the process current. Review procurement policies,RFP templates, and due diligence questionnaires on a regular cycle,and update them as the work and the tools change.

What we are looking for

• A negotiator's instinct. Knowing what a strong SLA lookslike versus a weak one, and how to walk into a renewal withleverage instead of hope.


• AI alongside judgment, not instead of it. Comfortableusing AI tools to speed up contract review, spend analysis, andsupplier research, and knowing when to trust the output and when tocheck it yourself before it goes external.


• A real coaching habit. Able direct a team's work, givefeedback that changes behavior, and hold people to a standardwithout micromanaging them.


• Institutional fluency. Eight or more years inprocurement, ideally somewhere with the complexity of an academicor research institution, developing the ability to move a sourcingdecision through OGC and stakeholders without losing thethread.


• Hard conversations, done well. Able to hold a supplieraccountable in a difficult conversation, or push back on aninternal stakeholder's ask, without burning the relationship.


• Fluent in the numbers. Cost analysis, spendbenchmarking, and ROI calculations are part of how this personthink s through a sourcing decision, not an afterthought handed offto someone else.

Nice to have

• Experience with contract management software beyond coreMicrosoft Office tools.


• Exposure to sourcing or procurement in a research or academicsetting.

What this role is not

• A role where AI makes the call. AI is used throughout sourcing,contracting, and spend analysis, but the decisions on pricing,risk, and supplier wins remain owned by the Manager, SupplierRelationships.


• A purely tactical buying role. This is not just processingpurchase orders. It is setting sourcing strategy, running RFPs, andsitting at the negotiating table.


• A role you run solo. Every competitive sourcing process heremoves through the OGC and depends on stakeholders across theinstitute. This role keeps that coordination moving, rather thanworking in isolation.

Practical details

This role is based at HHMI Headquarters and reports to theDirector, Procurement. It requires a bachelor's degree, CPM, CPSM,or CPIM certification, and eight or more years of progressivelyresponsible procurement experience, preferably in an academic orresearch environment.

Physical Requirements

Remaining in a normal seated or standing position for extendedperiods of time; reaching and grasping by extending hand(s) orarm(s); dexterity to manipulate objects with fingers, for exampleusing a keyboard; communication skills using the spoken word;ability to see and hear within normal parameters; ability to moveabout workspace. The position requires mobility, including theability to move materials weighing up to several pounds (such as alaptop computer or tablet).

Persons with disabilities may be able to perform the essentialduties of this position with reasonable accommodation. Requests forreasonable accommodation will be evaluated on an individualbasis.

Please Note

This job description sets forth the job’s principal duties,responsibilities, and requirements; it should not be construed asan exhaustive statement, however. Unless they begin with the word“may,” the Essential Duties and Responsibilities described aboveare “essential functions” of the job, as defined by the Americanswith Disabilities Act.

Compensation and Benefits

Our employees are compensated from a total rewards perspective inmany ways for their contributions to their mission, includingcompetitive pay, exceptional health benefits, retirement plans,time off, and a range of recognition and wellness programs. Visitour Benefits at HHMI site to learn more.

Hiring Pay Range

$121,823.94 - $152,279.92

Pay Type:

Annual

The posted range reflects HHMI’s good faith estimate of theanticipated hiring salary range for this role at the time ofposting. Actual hiring compensation is determined by a candidate’squalifications, experience, and internal equity.

HHMI is an Equal Opportunity Employer

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