Procurement Ops Specialist

About Pleo

Messy spend management is tricky business. And tedious processes are a lose-lose situation for all involved, not just finance. At Pleo, we're changing that. We build spend solutions that make managing money seamless, empowering, and surprisingly effective for finance teams and employees alike - with a vision to help all businesses ‘go beyond’.

The word ‘Pleo’ actually means ‘more than you’d expect’, and living by that mantra has been the secret to our success over the last 10 years.

Now, we’re at a pivotal moment in our journey; every move we make has a direct impact on our 40,000+ customers, our business, and our collective success. We need people who take pride in uncovering customer needs, who turn complex problems into simple solutions, challenge the way things are done (respectfully), and always aim high. With great ambitions driving us forward, we can’t say we’ve got this whole thing figured out. And frankly, that’s half the fun! What we can say is that we’re a driven, progressive, and, importantly, a kind bunch of 850+ people from over 100 nationalities, all committed to delivering the future of business spending, together.

About the role

We're looking for a Procurement Operations Specialist to join our Procurement team at Pleo. In this role, you'll manage the day-to-day operations of procurement end-to-end, driving ticket workflows, purchase requests, vendor due diligence, and keeping approvals moving seamlessly across the business. You will also own the critical final stages of the procurement lifecycle, managing contract workflows, approvals, and contract signatures. You won't just keep the operational wheels turning; you'll also act as a process architect, partnering with our Omnea CSM to optimize, streamline, and scale our procurement workflows to be faster, leaner, and fully compliant. Procurement at Pleo is still taking shape, so you'll have real ownership and high visibility, regularly partnering with function leaders and C-level executives. If you are highly methodical, thrive on managing multiple moving parts simultaneously, and are excited to shape an efficient way of buying, this could be your next step.

Who you’ll be working with and reporting to

You'll report to our Head of Procurement and work closely with Finance, Legal, Compliance, Cybersecurity, and function leaders across the company. You'll also work closely with our dedicated CSM at Omnea (our procurement platform) to drive system and process continuous improvements. As the main point of contact for day-to-day procurement operations, you will be the bridge between internal teams, C-level stakeholders, and external vendor representatives.

What you’ll be doing

As a Procurement Operations Specialist, you will:

• Manage Daily Procurement Operations: Own the intake and lifecycle of procurement tickets and purchase requests, ensuring every step from initial request to final sign-off runs smoothly.

• Drive Contract Management & Signatures: Lead the end of the procurement process by managing contract execution, coordinating internal/external signatures, and ensuring executed agreements are properly archived and tracked.

• Proactively Drive Approvals & Diligence: Actively chase approvals, coordinate cross-functional handoffs (Legal, Compliance, Cybersecurity, Finance), and ensure rigorous vendor due diligence is executed without letting requests stall.

• Architect & Optimize Processes: Continually evaluate our procurement workflows to eliminate bottlenecks, working in a project-manager capacity alongside our Omnea CSM to make our end-to-end buying journey leaner, faster, and more efficient.

• Maintain Compliance & Quality: Embed regulatory standards, security requirements, and risk mitigation steps directly into daily workflows, making compliance frictionless and standard for stakeholders.

• Engage High-Level Stakeholders: Confidently communicate and align with function leaders, department heads, and C-level executives to clear blockers and maintain clear alignment.

• Support Tactical Negotiations: Provide ad-hoc negotiation support on day-to-day purchases and renewals to secure fair commercial terms when needed.

What you bring

You'll thrive in this role if you have:

• Exceptional Organizational & Methodical Skills: You excel at multitasking, prioritizing high ticket volumes, and tracking complex workflows simultaneously without letting details slip through the cracks.

• Contract Management Expertise: Hands-on experience navigating the final stages of the procurement lifecycle, including managing contract reviews, driving approval workflows, and ensuring timely contract execution and signatures.

• Proactive Stakeholder Management: You are comfortable communicating across all seniority levels (including C-suite executives) and aren't afraid to proactively follow up to get approvals over the finish line.

• Process Design & Project Management Ability: You naturally analyze workflows, identify operational friction, and take initiative to redesign processes for speed, scalability, and compliance.

• Operational Procurement Experience: You've managed daily procurement ops, vendor due diligence checks, and purchase request approvals in a fast-paced environment.

• Tool & System Familiarity: Comfortable using and navigating procurement platforms, with hands-on experience using tools like Omnea (or similar procurement management platforms) to manage intake and workflow execution.

Why is this role a good fit for you

This role is a total match if:

• You are a master of momentum: You get a legitimate rush from clearing tickets, knocking out blockers, and bringing pure order to operational chaos.

• You’re direct, proactive, and zero-percent intimidated: You have no problem nudging a C-level exec or function leader with a friendly, high-energy, "Hey, I need your sign-off on this so we can keep moving."

• You love fixing broken things: You don't just follow a process; you look at it, spot the friction, and say, "We can make this so much faster." You'll love playing process architect alongside our Omnea partners to build a world-class procurement engine.

• You take pride in seeing things through to the finish line: From the very first ticket request all the way down to final vendor due diligence, contract execution, and the ink drying on the signature, you own it end-to-end.

This role is not a good fit for you if:

• You just want to be a grand-strategist negotiator: If your dream day is spending 8 hours negotiating million-dollar deals while handing off all the operational groundwork, ticket management, and contract admin to an assistant, you'll be bored here.

• You like rigid, set-in-stone playbooks: We're actively building and refining how we buy. If you need a 200-page manual on day one to tell you exactly how to breathe, this fast-paced environment might feel too fluid.

• Jugglings lots of balls makes you sweat: If tracking 20 active purchase requests at once feels overwhelming instead of an exciting puzzle, this isn't the right fit.

How you’ll develop in this role

In your first months at Pleo, you'll:

• Take ownership of our renewals calendar and deliver your first round of negotiated savings

• Ship the first version of procurement reporting so the business can see spend and savings in one place

• Work with Finance and Legal to tighten our procurement policy and roll it out to the teams who buy

We're committed to helping you develop your career, whether that means taking on bigger categories, stepping into leadership as the function grows, or deepening your expertise in vendor and contract strategy.

The location

This role is hybrid and we're expecting the person to be in either our Lisbon or Madrid office 3 times a week.

Show me the benefits!

💳 Your own Pleo card (no more out-of-pocket spending!)

🍜 Lunch is on us for your work days - enjoy catered meals or receive a lunch allowance based on your local office

🏥 Comprehensive private healthcare - depending on your location, coverage options include Vitality, Alan or Médis

🌴 We offer 25 days of holiday + your public holidays

🏠 For our Team, we offer both hybrid and fully remote working options

🏖️ Option to purchase 5 additional days of holiday through a salary sacrifice

❤️‍🩹 We use MyndUp to give our employees access to free mental health and well-being support with great success so far

👶 Paid parental leave - we want to make sure that we're supportive of families and help you feel that you don't have to compromise your family due to work

The interview process

We want to ensure you are set-up for success and understand what will be expected of you. If your application is successful, our interview process is as follows:

• Intro call: A 30-minute chat with our Talent Partner to discuss the role and your background.

• Hiring Manager Interview: 1 hour with the hiring manager talking through the expectations of the role and how you can deliver in a complex and demanding environment.

• The Pleo Challenge: A live work scenario with will show us how you manage multiple priorities and work with key stakeholders.

Transparency is important to us so we also wanted to share some insights about what we’re looking for in applications to ensure you can set yourself up for success!

Last time we hired a Procurement Ops Specialist, we received an incredibly high total of applications but can only interview a finite number. With this in mind, we want to help you understand what we really care about when reviewing your application:

• CV writing and content: we receive a lot of CVs, and many of them are AI-generated. We love seeing people leverage AI (it’s a big focus for us internally too) but without human intervention, these CVs can sometimes become generic and fail to show a candidate in the best light. What we're really looking for is the specific details of real impact that only you know from your previous experience. A top tip from us is to use the “Achieved X, as measured by Y, by doing Z” formula (credit: Laszlo Bock, ~2014) to give a really clear picture of what you’ve worked on. A final note: including links to your previous companies' websites is a huge help and allows us to truly understand your background!

• Application care: every single application we receive is reviewed by a human (yes, hundreds of them) because we believe that candidates' efforts should be matched by an equal level of human care. This means that we expect a similar level of attention put into your application. Read and answer the application questions carefully, they make a huge difference in our decision-making process.

• Profile to role fit: highlight most important aspects of the role, points that might get misunderstood, any specific industry requirements etc.

About your application

• English first. Since it's our company language, please submit your application in English. You’ll be using it a lot if you join us.

• A fair look for everyone. Our talent team reads every single application to ensure the process is fair. To keep things running smoothly, we only accept applications through our system—our support team can’t pass on calls or emails.

• Diversity drives us. We can only reach our goals if our team reflects the world around us. That starts with you hitting apply, even if you don't tick every single box. We encourage people from all backgrounds and experiences to join us.

• Interview at your best. We want you to feel comfortable throughout the process. If you have any accessibility requirements or need a specific format, email belonging@pleo.io. We’ll design a process that works for you.

• Your data is safe. When you apply, we process your personal data as a data processor. For more information on how Pleo processes personal data, read our Privacy Policy here.

• Applying for multiple roles? Nothing is stopping you, and we assess every role independently. However, we do look for alignment, so make sure you can explain why your interest and experience are right for each specific role.

• Reapplying. If you’re applying for the same role again, please wait six months from your last decision before hitting submit.