Procurement & Finance Operations Manager

Planet Pharma; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Planet Pharma in Menlo Park, CA is seeking a Procurement & Finance Operations Manager to build and scale the procurement, inventory, and operational finance infrastructure for a fast-growing R&D organization.

This role sits at the intersection of science, supply chain, and finance. You will own end-to-end purchasing, supplier management, budgeting, forecasting, spend analytics, and cost modeling while collaborating with scientists and engineers to enable experimentation with financial discipline.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in procurement, supply chain, operational finance, or related roles.
• Experience supporting scientific, technical, or R&D-focused organizations.
• Strong budgeting, forecasting, financial planning, spend management, and analytics.
• Experience with purchasing operations, vendor relationships, and sourcing strategies.
• Experience working with POs, accounting, ERP, or spend management systems.
• Ability to build or improve operational processes and systems.
• Strong analytical skills to forecast requirements and support financial decisions.
• Excellent communication and collaboration with technically minded stakeholders.
• Highly organized with attention to detail; able to adapt in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead procurement operations across lab consumables, materials, chemicals, and equipment.
• Develop strategic sourcing initiatives and supplier solutions for evolving needs.
• Build inventory forecasting and material planning for increasing throughput.
• Manage supplier relationships, pricing negotiations, lead times, and agreements.
• Own purchasing workflows, POs, invoices, approvals, and controls.
• Partner with finance to develop budgets, forecasts, and long-range planning.
• Track expenditures vs. budget and provide spend analytics and reporting.
• Develop systems to assess true cost of experimentation across resources.
• Design scalable procurement, inventory, and operational finance processes.
• Identify automation opportunities and improve dashboards and workflows.
• Collaborate with scientists, engineers, and leadership to meet needs efficiently.
• Identify bottlenecks and implement solutions to improve reliability and scalability.
• Support growth, including potential management of procurement and operations staff.

Skills

Budgeting

Forecasting

Spend management

Operational analytics

ERP systems

Vendor relationships

Process improvement

Communication

Organization

Stare decisis (fast-paced)

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Tools

ERP systems

Job description

Procurement & Finance Operations Manager

Location: Menlo Park, CA (Onsite)
Education: Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experience
Relocation Assistance: Available for qualified candidates.

About the Role

We are seeking a highly analytical and systems-oriented Procurement & Finance Operations Manager to build and scale the procurement, inventory, and operational finance infrastructure that supports a rapidly growing R&D organization.

This role sits at the intersection of scientific operations, supply chain, and finance. You will partner with world-class scientists and technical leaders to ensure critical materials, equipment, and operational resources are available to support aggressive experimentation goals while maintaining financial discipline and operational efficiency.

The ideal candidate is a high-performing operator who enjoys building processes from the ground up, thrives in fast-paced environments, and is equally comfortable discussing sourcing strategies, inventory planning, budgeting, and operational forecasting. This is a hands-on role requiring a “roll up your sleeves” mentality and a willingness to develop scalable systems as the organization grows.

You will own the full lifecycle of procurement and operational finance activities, including purchasing, supplier management, inventory strategy, budgeting, forecasting, spend analytics, and cost modeling. You will also help create the infrastructure necessary to understand and optimize the true cost of experimentation across materials, equipment, compute resources, and operational overhead.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead procurement operations across laboratory consumables, specialty materials, chemicals, gases, capital equipment, software, and operational supplies.
• Develop strategic sourcing initiatives and creative supplier solutions to support evolving scientific and technical requirements.
• Build inventory forecasting and material planning processes that support rapidly increasing experimental throughput while minimizing stockouts and excess inventory.
• Manage supplier and vendor relationships, including pricing negotiations, contract discussions, lead-time management, and purchasing agreements.
• Own purchasing workflows including purchase orders, invoice reconciliation, approvals, and procurement controls.
• Partner with finance teams to develop budgets, forecasts, and long-range operational planning for laboratory and R&D activities.
• Track operational and capital expenditures against budget and provide ongoing spend analysis and reporting.
• Develop systems to understand and monitor the true cost of experimentation, including materials, equipment utilization, compute costs, and operational overhead.
• Design and implement scalable procurement, inventory management, and operational finance processes to support company growth.
• Identify automation opportunities and improve workflows through dashboards, reporting tools, inventory tracking systems, and process optimization initiatives.
• Collaborate closely with scientists, engineers, laboratory operations, and leadership teams to ensure operational needs are met efficiently and effectively.
• Identify operational bottlenecks and implement solutions that enhance reliability, scalability, and organizational efficiency.
• Support future organizational growth, including the potential management and development of procurement and operations personnel.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in procurement, supply chain, operational finance, laboratory operations, or related operational roles.
• Experience supporting scientific, technical, engineering, manufacturing, or R&D-focused organizations.
• Strong understanding of budgeting, forecasting, financial planning, spend management, and operational analytics.
• Experience managing procurement activities, vendor relationships, purchasing operations, and sourcing strategies.
• Experience working with purchase order, accounting, ERP, or spend management systems.
• Demonstrated ability to build or improve operational processes and systems.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to evaluate spending patterns, forecast requirements, and support financial decision-making.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work effectively with highly technical stakeholders.
• Highly organized with exceptional attention to detail and follow-through.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, evolving environment with changing priorities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting laboratory, biotech, advanced materials, semiconductor, robotics, hardware, or other high-technology environments.
• Experience building procurement, inventory management, or purchasing systems from the ground up.
• Experience implementing inventory tracking solutions, including barcode or QR-based systems.
• Experience with operational finance, manufacturing finance, cost accounting, or COGS analysis.Experience supporting high-throughput research, development, or experimental environments.
• Familiarity with workflow automation, business intelligence tools, reporting platforms, or operational dashboards.
• Financial modeling and forecasting experience.
• Experience scaling operational processes within startup or high-growth organizations.

What Success Looks Like

• Reliable procurement and inventory systems that eliminate disruptions to scientific work.
• Accurate forecasting and budget management across lab and R&D operations.
• Strong supplier relationships that improve cost, quality, and lead times.
• Clear visibility into the true cost of experimentation and operational spending.
• Scalable processes that support significant growth in research and development activities.
• Operational infrastructure that enables scientists and engineers to focus on innovation rather than administrative challenges.

This opportunity is ideal for a highly motivated operations professional who enjoys building systems, solving complex problems, partnering with exceptional technical talent, and playing a critical role in scaling a cutting-edge R&D organization.