Principal, Data Center Supply Chain Lead

DataCenterGuidelines; San Jose, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 248,000 - 331,000; Full time

Job summary

Lambda is seeking a Principal, Data Center Supply Chain Lead in San Jose (Zanker) to own multi-year sourcing and category strategy for datacenter equipment and construction, and to align procurement with project schedules.

You will drive procurement of long-lead infrastructure—generators, switchgear, transformers, UPS, chillers, AHUs—and manage owner-furnished equipment, change orders, and supplier performance across a constrained market.

Qualifications

• 10+ years end-to-end supply chain and sourcing experience.
• Bachelor's degree in a related field.
• Led multi-year category strategies for high-spend, supply-constrained areas.
• Proven negotiator closing challenging contracts with impact.
• Ability to influence executives and cross-functional teams.
• Operate with ambiguity under tight timelines in a constrained market.
• Experience with construction teams and GC/EPC contracts.
• Procured long-lead datacenter infrastructure equipment.

Responsibilities

• Own multi-year sourcing and category strategy for equipment and construction.
• Partner with Construction, Design, and Development through procurement and handover.
• Own procurement of long-lead datacenter infrastructure equipment.
• Lead contracting strategy for construction delivery with GC/EPC and design firms.
• Negotiate master agreements and select commercial models.
• Manage owner-furnished equipment strategy and related logistics.
• Drive change order discipline and assess schedule impact.
• Identify long-term cost reductions via standardization and volume effects.
• Build strategic partnerships with OEMs and contractors.
• Provide executive briefings on execution models, risks, and contingencies.
• Oversee supplier performance management and governance.

Skills

Sourcing strategy

Procurement

Category management

Contract negotiation

Data analytics

Project/program management

Leadership

Stakeholder communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Business, Data Analytics, or Finance

Job description

# Principal, Data Center Supply Chain Lead· San Jose Office (Zanker)PowerFullTimeremotePosted 30 Sept 2026USD 248,000-331,000 / yearLambda, The Superintelligence Cloud, is a leader in AI cloud infrastructure serving tens of thousands of customers. Our customers range from AI researchers to enterprises and hyperscalers. Lambda's mission is to make compute as ubiquitous as electricity and give everyone the power of superintelligence. One person, one GPU. If you'd like to build the world's best AI cloud, join us. \\*Note: This position requires presence in our San Francisco/San Jose/Bellevue office location 4 days per week; Lambda's designated work from home day is currently Tuesday. What You'll Do - Own the multi-year sourcing and category strategy for the equipment and construction scopes that deliver Lambda's datacenter capacity - long-lead electrical and mechanical equipment, construction, and trade packages - Partner with Construction, Design, and Development teams from site selection and basis-of-design through procurement, construction, commissioning, and handover, ensuring sourcing strategy and construction schedule are built against the same dates - Own procurement of long-lead datacenter infrastructure equipment - generators, switchgear, transformers, UPS, busway, chillers, air handling units, and cooling distribution - sequencing awards and deliveries to protect the critical path - Lead the contracting strategy for construction delivery: select and negotiate with general contractors, EPCs, design firms, and specialty trades, and choose the commercial model (lump sum, GMP, cost-plus, design-build) that fits each project's risk profile - Serve as Lambda's lead negotiator on the highest-value construction and equipment agreements - setting negotiation strategy, driving consensus on goals and success criteria internally and externally, and partnering with Legal on master agreement terms - Own the owner-furnished equipment strategy - deciding what Lambda buys directly versus through the contractor, and managing the logistics, storage, warranty, and installation interfaces that decision creates - Drive change order discipline across active construction projects: assess claims and schedule impacts against the underlying business case, partner with Construction Management and Legal on resolution, and adjust impact models cross-functionally - Identify systematic, long-term cost reduction opportunities across equipment and construction categories - standardization, volume aggregation across sites, early buys, and design-to-cost - and lead the cross-functional effort to realize them - Build and own strategic partnerships with OEMs, contractors, and trade partners that secure capacity and delivery slots in a constrained market, and drive innovation, prefabrication, and schedule compression - Negotiate and provide strategic oversight of delivery commitments, milestones, and SLAs across equipment vendors and construction partners; own compliance end to end and cascade expectations into the business - Set standards for procurement and contract execution across the construction program, serve as the escalation point on pricing and delivery issues, and deliver executive-level briefings on execution models, anticipated risks, and contingency plans - Partner with stakeholders, contractors, and suppliers to identify threats to schedule, cost, and safety, determine which alternative solutions or policy changes best mitigate them, and drive remediation - Oversee supplier and contractor performance management - including quality and safety deliverables - through audits, site walks, and business reviews, and ensure governance keeps sourcing and contract data current - Define and execute the strategy for industry and ecosystem engagement across the datacenter construction supply base, articulate business cases that earn leadership buy-in, and influence decisions that deploy across the portfolio You - Have deep, hands-on experience across end-to-end supply chain (planning, sourcing, logistics, fulfillment) and strategic sourcing, procurement, or category management - typically 10+ years, or 8+ with a Master's degree - Hold a Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Business, Data Analytics, Finance, or a related field, or have equivalent experience - Have owned multi-year category strategies for complex, high-spend, supply-constrained areas with material cost and continuity-of-supply impact - Are recognized as a lead negotiator - you have personally closed the hardest contracts, not directed someone else to - Have set process, policy, or governance standards that an organization adopted, and have driven policy change to mitigate real business risk - Have led through influence at scale: 3+ years of informal or indirect team leadership, coaching senior practitioners, and driving consensus across functions you do not own - Brief and persuade executives comfortably, internally and across the supplier base, and can build the business case that earns the decision - Are fluent with data and use it to anticipate risk, model change-order impact, and defend decisions - Operate well in ambiguity, on compressed timelines, in a supply-constrained market - Have worked shoulder to shoulder with construction teams - general contractors, construction managers, design and engineering firms, and specialty trades - Have led construction contracting and contract administration: selecting delivery models, negotiating GC/EPC and trade agreements, and managing change orders, claims, and closeout through to project completion - Have procured long-lead datacenter or critical-facility infrastructure equipment and sequenced it against a live construction schedule Nice to Have - Category management experience with datacenter infrastructure equipment - Generators, Switchgear, Chillers, Air Handling Units, etc. - Program management experience delivering datacenter capacity at scale, from equipment sourcing and procurement through project execution - Experience negotiating master agreements and resolving contract disputes alongside Legal in a high-growth company - Experience standing up sourcing process, governance, or supplier management practice where little existed - Experience applying AI and automation tooling to supply chain or procurement workflows Salary Range Information The annual salary range for this position has been set based on market data and other factors. However, a salary higher or lower than this range may be appropriate for a candidate whose qualifications differ meaningfully from those listed in the job description. About Lambda - Founded in 2012, with 500+ employees, and growing fast - Our investors notably include TWG Global, US Innovative Technology Fund (USIT), Andra Capital, SGW, Andrej Karpathy, ARK Invest, Fincadia Advisors, G Squared, In-Q-Tel (IQT), KHK & Partners, NVIDIA, Pegatron, Supermicro, Wistron, Wiwynn, Gradient Ventures, Mercato Partners, SVB, 1517, and Crescent Cove - We have research papers accepted at top machine learning and graphics conferences, including NeurIPS, ICCV, SIGGRAPH, and TOG - Our values are publicly available: https://lambda.ai/careers - We offer generous cash & equity compensation - Health, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents - Wellness and commuter stipends for select roles - 401k Plan with 2% company match (USA employees) - Flexible paid time off plan that we all actually use Equal Opportunity Employer Lambda is an Equal Opportunity employer. Applicants are considered without regard to race, color, religion, creed, national origin, age, sex, gender, marital status, sexual orientation and identity, genetic information, veteran status, citizenship, or any other factors prohibited by local, state, or federal law.## Detected skills* Commissioning* HVAC* UPSJob collected from the employer's public career site.