Specialist / Senior Procurement Specialist

Lila Sciences, Inc.; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 68,000 - 117,000; Full time

Job summary

Lila Sciences in Cambridge, MA seeks a Specialist / Senior Procurement Specialist to lead the new buying desk for an AI-driven R&D organization. You will own requisition-to-purchase-order execution, vendor onboarding, and real-time throughput, collaborating with scientists and lab teams.

The role emphasizes process ownership, accuracy, and strategic supplier management, with exposure to Coupa/Ariba/Jaggaer and a base salary range of $68,000 to $117,333 USD.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Life Sciences or related field or equivalent practical experience.
• Three or more years of procurement, purchasing or procurement operations experience.
• Experience with a major procurement platform such as Coupa, Ariba or Jaggaer (Coupa strongly preferred).
• Ability to sequence a queue that arrives overloaded and urgent requests.
• Accurate coding, approvals, lead times, and vendor management.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end requisition-to-purchase-order execution: review, clarify, place, confirm, close.
• Serve as the primary procurement partner for assigned research and operating teams.
• Sequence the daily queue based on impact and urgency.
• Maintain order accuracy and compliant terms.
• Grow catalog and punch-out coverage for self-service buying.
• Own supplier onboarding and vendor master maintenance.
• Resolve supplier delivery, quality and pricing issues proactively.
• Collaborate with FP&A on budget checks and month-end accruals.

Skills

Procurement experience

Vendor onboarding

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Coupa

Ariba

Jaggaer

Job description

Specialist / Senior Procurement Specialist

Cambridge, MA USA

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
• 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

Compensation

We offer competitive base compensation with bonus potential and generous early-stage equity. Your final offer will reflect your background, expertise, and expected impact.

U.S. Benefits. Full-time U.S. employees receive a comprehensive benefits program including medical, dental, and vision coverage; employer-paid life and disability insurance; flexible time off with generous company wide holidays; paid parental leave; an educational assistance program; commuter benefits, including bike share memberships for office based employees; and a company subsidized lunch program.

International Benefits. Full-time employees outside the U.S. receive a comprehensive benefits program tailored to their region. USD salary ranges apply only to U.S.-based positions; international salaries are set to local market.

Expected Base Salary Range

$68,000 - $117,333 USD

About LILA

Lila Sciences is building Scientific Superintelligence™ to solve humankind's greatest challenges. We believe science is the most inspiring frontier for AI. Rather than hard-coding expert knowledge into tools, LILA builds systems that can learn for themselves.

LILA combines advanced AI models with proprietary AI Science Factory™ instruments into an operating system for science that executes the entire scientific method autonomously, accelerating discovery at unprecedented speed, scale, and impact across medicine, materials, and energy. Learn more at www.lila.ai.

Guided by our core values of truth, trust, curiosity, grit, and velocity, we move with startup speed while tackling problems of historic importance. If this sounds like an environment you'd love to work in, even if you don't meet every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply.

Lila Sciences iscommitted to equal employment opportunityregardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

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