Strategic Sourcing Lead

About Mercor Mercor’s mission is to organize human intelligence for the AI economy. We build the infrastructure that enables frontier AI labs and enterprises to train, evaluate, and improve AI on real-world professional work. More than five million experts have joined our network, and we pay out over $5 million daily for their knowledge and expertise. We built our training and evaluation infrastructure alongside the world’s leading AI labs. Now, we’re bringing those capabilities to enterprises across industries, enabling them to train, evaluate, and improve AI using their own expertise and standards. Our APEX benchmarks measure how AI performs on economically valuable work, while our enterprise evaluations and post-training capabilities turn those insights into measurable improvements across real-world workflows. Our work sits at the intersection of frontier AI, human expertise, and real-world application. We’re solving problems few companies have encountered, with the opportunity to influence what the world’s most advanced AI systems become capable of doing. We’re looking for people who bring different perspectives, take ownership, exercise sound judgment, and hold themselves to an exceptionally high standard. You’ll have the opportunity to do consequential work alongside talented colleagues who challenge one another, collaborate openly, and share a commitment to excellence. Mercor is profitable and recently raised a $750 million Series D at a $20 billion valuation. We work in person five days a week in San Francisco, New York, and London. About the Role Procurement at Mercor helps shape how we invest, adopt new technologies, and scale one of the world’s largest AI-powered expert networks. As Strategic Sourcing Lead, you’ll be the Head of Procurement’s lead sourcing partner, with ownership of our most complex negotiations and a central role in setting sourcing priorities and building the function. You’ll work closely with Engineering, Security, Product, Finance, Legal, IT, and Operations to develop commercial strategies that support rapid growth. Your primary focus will be technology, AI, cloud, and infrastructure, with additional business-critical sourcing needs prioritized by impact. You’ll help leaders evaluate tradeoffs, structure agreements that scale, and turn decisions into signed deals. This is a hands-on role for someone who can set direction and execute independently. You’ll start as a senior individual contributor, with the opportunity to build and lead a sourcing team as the business and function grow. What You’ll Do Shape sourcing strategy. Partner with the Head of Procurement to set priorities, develop category strategies, and anticipate supplier needs as the business grows. Lead our most important negotiations. Own end-to-end sourcing and commercial negotiations across technology and business-critical vendors, including multi-million-dollar strategic agreements. Structure agreements that scale. Develop pricing models, commitments, and commercial terms that balance cost, flexibility, speed, and long-term value. Influence vendor and investment decisions. Partner with technical and business leaders to assess requirements, evaluate alternatives, and make clear recommendations grounded in financial analysis and market insight. Drive execution. Lead competitive sourcing, negotiations, and renewals, coordinating with Legal, Security, Finance, and other partners to resolve issues and keep agreements moving. Manage strategic supplier relationships. Hold suppliers accountable to commercial commitments, address emerging risks, and identify opportunities to strengthen value over time. Build the sourcing function. Create practical playbooks, benchmarks, and processes that improve negotiation outcomes and help the business move quickly. Shape the future sourcing team. Partner with the Head of Procurement to define hiring priorities, establish sourcing standards, and build the foundation for a growing team, with a path to people leadership as the function scales. What We’re Looking For 8+ years of relevant experience in strategic sourcing, procurement, or commercial negotiations, or equivalent experience demonstrating comparable scope and ownership. A strong track record independently leading complex software, SaaS, cloud, AI, or infrastructure negotiations, including multi-million-dollar agreements. Strong commercial judgment, including the ability to evaluate consumption models, growth assumptions, minimum commitments, and the financial and operational implications of contract terms. Experience earning credibility with technical teams and senior leaders, challenging assumptions constructively, and aligning stakeholders around decisions. Strong analytical and financial skills, with the ability to turn incomplete information into clear recommendations and negotiation strategies. A hands-on builder’s mindset: you can set direction, prioritize competing demands, and carry work through to completion in a fast-moving environment. An interest in developing others and building a sourcing team over time. Prior mentoring, team-building, or people leadership experience is a plus. Compensation Base cash compensation from $200K – $240K Benefits: Generous equity grant vested over 4 years Health, dental, and vision insurance 401(k) with company match Unlimited paid vacation and sick days Parental leave for birthing and non-birthing parents Free mental health services $200 monthly wellness reimbursement $1.5K monthly meal stipend $200 monthly laundry reimbursement Free Equinox membership Up to $15K relocation bonus Mercor is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to providing equal opportunity to all employees and applicants. Mercor does not discriminate based on actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, sex or gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions and lactation), gender identity or gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, military service and veteran status, disability, protected medical condition as defined by California or local law, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, California, or local laws and ordinances. Further, Mercor prohibits discrimination, harassment, and retaliation based on any combination of protected characteristics. This Policy applies to all areas of employment, including recruitment, hiring, training, promotion, compensation, benefits, discipline, termination, and all other privileges, terms, and conditions of employment. This Policy and the law prohibit employment discrimination against any employee or applicant based on any legally protected status.