Procurement Operations Business Partner, R&D Operations
About this role
Research organizations and special programs often launch with real purchasing needs before standard processes exist, creating friction between rapid scientific discovery and financial control. To solve this, the finance operations team requires a dedicated Procurement Operations Business Partner to manage the intake path for Anthropic's research portfolio in San Francisco or Seattle. This person will guide researchers from initial purchase requests to signed agreements and accurate month-end spend data while helping define what an AI-native procurement function looks like using Claude.
Day-to-day work involves handling a high volume of purchase requests, work orders, and change orders for specialized vendors, hardware, and lab equipment. The ideal candidate combines a strong accounting core with operational empathy, ensuring that every transaction is correctly coded and accrued while keeping processes simple for researchers. Anyone who thrives in a fast-paced environment and wants to shape the future of procurement automation will find a natural fit here.
What you will do
- Manage a high volume of purchase requests, work orders, and change orders each month across research teams and programs, maintaining both speed and accuracy.
- Serve as the primary procurement partner for research teams, guiding requesters from initial demand to a signed agreement and issued purchase order.
- Review every purchase request for vendor records, contracting entities, commercial documents, spend categorization, service dates, and required approvals.
- Launch and track contract reviews with Legal while confirming that executed agreements support the purchase order before it is issued.
- Structure purchase orders to match vendor billing models and accounting needs, ensuring the correct GL account, cost center, and service period are applied.
- Partner with Accounts Payable and Accounting to resolve invoice holds, manage month-end accruals, and maintain an accurate open purchase order book.
- Establish procurement pathways for new research programs and initiatives before high purchasing volume arrives.
What you need
- Demonstrated track record of owning a high-volume purchasing portfolio end-to-end within procure-to-pay and intake platforms.
- Solid working knowledge of accrual accounting as it applies to purchasing, including service periods, cutoffs, prepaids, and general ledger coding.
- Experience supporting outsourced or managed service vendors at scale where scope and volume change month to month.
- Working understanding of how contract review, security, privacy reviews, and financial controls integrate into a purchase.
Nice to have
- 5-7+ years of procurement operations, purchasing, or vendor operations experience supporting research, engineering, hardware, or outsourced services
- Experience as an embedded procurement partner for hyper-scaling data operations, machine learning, reinforcement learning, or lab environments
- Background in accounting, accounts payable, or month-end close processes including three-way match experience
- Direct experience with Zip, Workday Financials, and Ironclad
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the compensation range for this position?
The annual base salary range for this role is $190,000 to $230,000 USD.
Where is the job located?
This role is based out of San Francisco, CA or Seattle, WA.
What tools and software will I use in daily workflows?
The team uses Claude as part of daily workflows and works with tools like Zip, Workday Financials, and Ironclad.
What team does this role sit within?
This position sits inside Finance Operations as part of the Procurement Operations group.