Procurement Manager

About Primer

Fixing our K-12 education system is a civilizationally-important problem. We believe that all of our problems including the ones that dominate the headlines are downstream of education.

We have a simple thesis on how to solve it : empower 1000s of educators to launch microschools in their communities.

We believe the historical tradeoff between price (tuition) and quality is a false dichotomy.

PrimerOS automates and eliminates much of the costs of traditional schools. Microschools have a structural advantage asset-light real estate which means much lower capex and opex. You put it together and you get something thats never existed before : a world-class education thats accessible to normal American families and can rapidly scale.

About the Role

Primer is seeking an experienced Procurement Manager to establish and operate a scalable procurement function in support of our growing national school network. Reporting to the Head of Finance this is a hands-on individual-contributor role with end-to-end ownership of sourcing purchasing workflows and vendor management. Youll be our first dedicated procurement hire responsible for building structure while maintaining speed and flexibility in a fast-growing environment.

This role will partner closely with Finance Accounts Payable Facilities and Operations to drive disciplined purchasing vendor standardization and on-time delivery across a diverse set of spend categories playing a critical part in improving cost discipline reducing last-minute purchasing and creating consistency as we scale.

Responsibilities

Own procurement intake demand planning and purchase order execution across all departments and spend categories

Partner closely with Finance and Accounts Payable to ensure purchases align with approved budgets accounting controls and payment processes

Establish and maintain lightweight procurement workflows intake processes and purchasing standards to support consistency and financial controls without slowing operations

Lead procurement planning for new school launches annual refreshes and mid-year needs across the campus lifecycle

Develop and maintain standardized bills of materials (BOMs) for each stage of campus operations spanning instructional supplies furniture technology and equipment

Drive vendor consolidation and bulk purchasing strategies by sourcing and negotiating with commercial suppliers to improve pricing reliability and service levels

Transition organizational spend (>

90% target) from retail or ad hoc purchasing to standardized commercial vendor relationships through preferred vendor programs

Own procurement and contract administration for curriculum and instructional vendors including books software and subscription-based services

Partner with the education team to source negotiate issue purchase orders and manage renewals for curriculum providers in alignment with academic and budgetary priorities

Monitor vendor performance manage relationships and drive continuous improvement in procurement efficiency and cost savings

What were looking for

4 years of progressive experience in procurement strategic sourcing or vendor management within an asset-heavy or multi-site organization (education experience is a plus but not required)

Demonstrated experience supporting facilities real estate or operations-driven purchasing categories with comfort owning the full procurement lifecycle

Strong working knowledge of Excel and experience working within ERP and spend-management tools (e.g. NetSuite Ramp or similar)

Proven stakeholder-management skills with the ability to balance end-user needs while enforcing budget discipline and procurement standards

Comfortable operating as a team-of-one and energized by building structure where little exists

Excited to own a broad and diverse purchasing portfolio across multiple spend categories with a hands-on approach that blends strategy with day-to-day execution

Why this role may not be a fit

If you prefer working within an established procurement team with defined processes rather than building a function from the ground up

If youre seeking deep specialization in a single subdomain (e.g. construction-only equipment-only or software-only procurement) rather than managing diverse spend categories

If you prefer a purely strategic role over one that requires hands-on day-to-day execution and operational ownership

If youre looking for a role with direct reports or management responsibilities in the near term (this will be an individual contributor role for the next 1218 months)

If youre uncomfortable with ambiguity and prefer highly structured environments with established workflows and clear precedents

Primer is a mission-first company. We believe our mission is the highest-leverage way we can create positive service of that we keep work centered on mission execution and avoid social or political activism at work thats unrelated to the mission. If that energizes you wed love to see you apply.

Required Experience :

Manager

Key Skills

Purchasing,Sourcing,Procurement,Vendor Management,HR Sourcing,Procurement Management,Supply Chain Experience,Contract Management,Contract Negotiation,E-procurement,negotiation,Contracts

Employment Type : Full-Time

Department / Functional Area : Finance

Experience : years

Vacancy : 1