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 1,000's 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 that's never existed before: a world-class education that's 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. You'll 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 we’re 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 you're 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 you're looking for a role with direct reports or management responsibilities in the near term (this will be an individual contributor role for the next 12–18 months)
• If you're uncomfortable with ambiguity and prefer highly structured environments with established workflows and clear precedents

If this sounds like you, please apply!