[Hiring] Procurement Operations Specialist @UpGuard Inc.

Role Description

We are seeking an organized, detail-oriented, and collaborative Procurement Operations Specialist to serve as the end-to-end owner of our vendor management process. Based in the Philippines, this role serves as a vital operational bridge connecting internal application owners with Finance, Legal, IT Operations, and Security teams to ensure seamless vendor onboarding, renewals, and financial processing.

The ideal candidate possesses financial acumen and actively leverages AI tools and digital automation to drive speed, accuracy, and efficiency across procurement and finance workflows.

What will you do?

• Vendor Management & Process Ownership
  • Process Ownership: Serve as the end-to-end owner of the vendor management process, ensuring a smooth, compliant, and efficient procurement lifecycle.
  • Subject Matter Expertise: Act as the internal Subject Matter Expert (SME) for all things related to vendor procurement, renewals, and contract expansions.
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with Finance, Legal, IT Operations, and Security teams to ensure all vendor agreements meet financial, legal, technical, and security requirements.
  • Internal Liaison: Act as the primary bridge between internal application owners and the various cross-functional teams required to action and approve vendor requests.
  • External Partner Management: Serve as the main point of contact and liaison with our third-party procurement consultant to maximize savings.
• Financial Administration & Budget Control (Essential)
  • Budget Verification: Conduct preliminary budget checking for all incoming vendor requests to ensure alignment with department allocations prior to commercial commitments.
  • PR & PO Management: Take ownership of initiating Purchase Order (PO) creation, and tracking approvals through the finance pipeline.
  • Financial Accuracy: Match vendor invoices against contracts/POs to identify and resolve cost variances in close collaboration with the Finance team.
• Process Automation, AI & Innovation
  • Process Automation & Innovation: Collaborate with our automation engineering team to continuously review, optimize, and improve the vendor workflows.
  • Leveraging AI Tools: Actively utilize AI and modern digital tools (e.g. Claude), analyze spend data, and accelerate daily administrative workflows.
• Inventory & Asset Management
  • Inventory & Asset Management: Meticulously maintain our centralized contract and application inventory, ensuring data integrity for renewals and compliance.
  • Support GRC team and associated projects related to supplier management: Provide operational support to the GRC team on supplier management initiatives.

Qualifications

• Strong fundamental understanding of business finance, budget tracking, purchase requisitions (PRs), and basic accounting principles.
• Demonstrated experience using or strong enthusiasm to adopt AI tools and automation software to optimize day-to-day productivity and data analysis.
• 1–3 years of experience in procurement/SAAS support, finance operations or vendor management within a fast-paced environment.
• Proven ability to manage meticulous records, contract databases, or asset inventories with high attention to detail.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; comfortable acting as a primary liaison across internal global teams and external partners.
• Exceptional precision in data entry and record maintenance.
• Experience coordinating multi-stage procurement projects from initiation to completion.
• Proven ability to work effectively across different business units and time zones.

What would give you an edge?

• Familiarity with software/SaaS operating models and commercial terms.

Benefits

• Monthly Lifestyle subsidy: Use this for financial, physical, and mental well-being.
• WFH set-up allowance: To ensure you have the right environment to work in, we will help you get set up within your first 3 months at UpGuard.
• $1500 USD annual Learning & Development allowance: To support your career development, all team members will be able to expense development opportunities against this allowance.
• Annual leave: PTO plus two additional UpGuardian leave days to give you time to recharge your batteries.
• 18 weeks paid Parental Leave: Irrespective of parenting role.
• Personal Leave Allowance: This includes sick & carer’s leave.
• Fully remote working environment: While we have physical offices in Sydney & Hobart, we do not mandate compulsory attendance.
• Top-spec hardware: All team members will be provided with top-spec laptops for their role.
• Generative AI subsidy: UpGuard provides paid subscriptions for all team members to access generative AI tools to support their work.