Procurement Advisory Services (contract)

About the role

This contract role advises DuckDuckGo's Partnerships team on vendor selection, procurement and negotiations across collaboration, AI, SaaS, analytics, developer tooling and professional services. It is delivered by an independent procurement advisory practice rather than an individual employee.

What you'll do

• Advise on needs scoping for vendor purchases.
• Provide guidance on vendor identification and vendor conversations.
• Advise on price negotiation strategies and benchmarks.
• Provide guidance on proposed contract terms.
• Manage deal advisory work for an estimated 3 to 5 deals per month, each with a different internal owner.
• Work asynchronously with client teams across North American and European time zones.
• Advise on procurement and vendor selection across collaboration tools, AI services, SaaS, analytics and data tools, developer tooling, and professional services.
• Provide guidance on the scope of work for each deal, including needs scoping.
• Work remotely on the practice's own schedule with working sessions scheduled by mutual agreement.
• Invoice DuckDuckGo monthly under the statement of work.
• Use the practice's own equipment, tools, and methods to deliver advisory services.

What you'll need

• 10+ years advisory practice in procurement, strategic sourcing, or vendor management, with a focus on software and SaaS.
• Experience providing direction on hundreds of contracts.
• Deep experience advising on order forms, MSAs, and DPAs terms.
• Time-tested methodology for vendor comparison.
• Proven track record working across legal, security, finance, product, and engineering.
• Capacity to advise many small deals in parallel.
• Deep deal advisory experience across collaboration, recruiting, analytics, developer tooling, data and research subscriptions, and professional services.
• Track record of building trust quickly with client teams and providing clear communications.
• Experience navigating data handling and security issues with clients and vendors.
• Established business: an operating entity or registered sole proprietorship with other current clients, its own professional liability insurance, and client references available on request.
• Practice located in the US.
• Must pass DuckDuckGo's standard vendor due diligence, including privacy and security review.
• Personnel assigned must have passed a background check conducted by the practice.
• Deep experience providing guidance on the leverage points in vendor contracts.
• Operate as an independent business-to-business consultant responsible for its own taxes, insurance, and business expenses.
• Able to communicate effectively and work asynchronously across multiple time zones in North America and Europe.