Procurement Operations Business Partner, R&D

About Anthropic
Anthropic’s mission is to create reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. We want AI to be safe and beneficial for our users and for society as a whole. Our team is a quickly growing group of committed researchers, engineers, policy experts, and business leaders working together to build beneficial AI systems.
About Anthropic
Anthropic's mission is to create reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. We want AI to be safe and beneficial for our users and for society as a whole. Our team is a quickly growing group of committed researchers, engineers, policy experts, and business leaders working together to build beneficial AI systems.
About the Role
We are seeking an R&D Strategic Sourcing Business Partner to lead strategic sourcing initiatives that enable our cutting-edge research and development capabilities. This role will develop and execute comprehensive sourcing strategies for compute infrastructure, cloud platforms, human data annotation services, and emerging research technologies. You'll build strategic supplier relationships that go beyond cost optimization to drive innovation, competitive advantage, and operational excellence. As a key strategic partner to R&D leadership, you'll translate research objectives into sourcing strategies that accelerate breakthrough AI development while building sustainable supplier ecosystems.
Responsibilities:
Strategic Category Management
Develop comprehensive sourcing strategies for R&D categories including compute infrastructure, cloud platforms, human data annotation, research software, and emerging AI technologies
Conduct market analysis and competitive intelligence to identify optimal supplier strategies and emerging opportunities
Create total cost of ownership models for complex R&D technology investments and strategic partnerships
Strategic Supplier Relationship Management
Build and manage strategic partnerships with key technology suppliers including cloud providers, GPU manufacturers, research platform vendors, and data annotation services
Negotiate complex, multi-year agreements that optimize cost, innovation, and strategic value
Establish supplier innovation programs and collaboration frameworks to accelerate R&D capabilities
Strategic Procurement Leadership
Lead sophisticated RFP processes for high-value, complex R&D infrastructure and services
Manage strategic contract negotiations including master agreements, enterprise partnerships, and innovation collaborations
Develop supplier performance management frameworks and strategic scorecards
Market Intelligence & Innovation
Continuously monitor emerging technologies, supplier capabilities, and market trends relevant to AI/ML research
Identify opportunities for strategic supplier partnerships that drive competitive advantage
Evaluate and onboard innovative suppliers that can accelerate research capabilities
Strategic Business Partnership
Partner with R&D leadership to align sourcing strategies with research roadmaps and technical objectives
Collaborate with Finance, Legal, and Security teams to ensure strategic sourcing supports business objectives
Present strategic sourcing recommendations and business cases to executive leadership
You may be a good fit if you have:
5-7+ years of strategic sourcing experience with focus on technology, infrastructure, or R&D services
Demonstrated experience developing category strategies and managing complex supplier relationships
Proven track record of negotiating high-value, strategic technology agreements (multi-million dollar contracts)
Experience with strategic supplier relationship management and innovation partnerships
Strong analytical skills for market analysis, total cost of ownership modeling, and strategic business case development
Executive communication capabilities with experience presenting to senior leadership
Experience in high-growth technology companies or AI/ML environments
Strategic thinking ability with talent for translating business objectives into sourcing strategies
Strong candidates may have:
MBA or advanced degree in Business, Engineering, or related field
Professional certifications in strategic sourcing or procurement (CPSM, CSCP)
Experience with cloud platform strategic sourcing and enterprise-scale infrastructure agreements
Background in human data annotation strategic sourcing and quality management frameworks
Knowledge of AI/ML research requirements and emerging technology landscape
Experience building strategic sourcing functions from startup through scale
Track record of driving supplier innovation and strategic partnerships beyond traditional sourcing
Requirements:
Strategic sourcing methodology expertise
Contract negotiation & management for complex technology agreements
Market research & analysis capabilities
Executive-level communication and presentation skills
Financial modeling for strategic sourcing decisions
Supplier relationship management at strategic level
The expected salary range for this position is:
Annual Salary:
$190,000—$230,000 USD
Logistics
Education requirements: We require at least a Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent experience.

Location-based hybrid policy: Currently, we expect all staff to be in one of our offices at least 25% of the time. However, some roles may require more time in our offices.
Visa sponsorship: We do sponsor visas! However, we aren't able to successfully sponsor visas for every role and every candidate. But if we make you an offer, we will make every reasonable effort to get you a visa, and we retain an immigration lawyer to help with this.
We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet every single qualification. Not all strong candidates will meet every single qualification as listed. Research shows that people who identify as being from underrepresented groups are more prone to experiencing imposter syndrome and doubting the strength of their candidacy, so we urge you not to exclude yourself prematurely and to submit an application if you're interested in this work. We think AI systems like the ones we're building have enormous social and ethical implications. We think this makes representation even more important, and we strive to include a range of diverse perspectives on our team.
How we're different
We believe that the highest-impact AI research will be big science. At Anthropic we work as a single cohesive team on just a few large-scale research efforts. And we value impact — advancing our long-term goals of steerable, trustworthy AI — rather than work on smaller and more specific puzzles. We view AI research as an empirical science, which has as much in common with physics and biology as with traditional efforts in computer science. We're an extremely collaborative group, and we host frequent research discussions to ensure that we are pursuing the highest-impact work at any given time. As such, we greatly value communication skills.
The easiest way to understand our research directions is to read our recent research. This research continues many of the directions our team worked on prior to Anthropic, including: GPT-3, Circuit-Based Interpretability, Multimodal Neurons, Scaling Laws, AI & Compute, Concrete Problems in AI Safety, and Learning from Human Preferences.
Come work with us!
Anthropic is a public benefit corporation headquartered in San Francisco. We offer competitive compensation and benefits, optional equity donation matching, generous vacation and parental leave, flexible working hours, and a lovely office space in which to collaborate with colleagues. Guidance on Candidates' AI Usage: Learn about our policy for using AI in our application process