Senior Manager, Procurement & Vendor Management
$128k - $226k USD
About Ethos
Ethos is a leading life insurance technology company on a mission to protect families by democratizing access to life insurance and empowering agents at scale. With its robust three-sided technology platform, Ethos is transforming the life insurance experience for consumers, agents, and carriers alike. Ethos offers instant, accessible products and a seamless online process that requires no medical exams and just a few health questions; it eliminates traditional barriers, making it easier than ever for everyone to protect their families. Ethos is redefining how life insurance is bought, sold, and underwritten.
About the Role
Ethos is seeking a strategic, high-impact Senior Manager, Procurement to build and lead our end-to-end sourcing and vendor management function. You will be the primary architect of how we select, negotiate with, and manage the partners that power our business—from the sophisticated data sets used in our underwriting engines to the SaaS tools that keep our teams agile. You will be a key partner to our Finance, Accounting, Engineering, and Operations leadership, ensuring that every dollar spent drives maximum value and every partnership is built for scale.
Duties and Responsibilities:
- Strategic Sourcing: Lead the selection process for new vendors across all business units, including Tech/SaaS, Underwriting Data, Professional Services, and Marketing.
- Contract Negotiation: Act as the lead negotiator for complex, high-value contracts. You’ll optimize for cost, but also for flexibility, service levels (SLAs), and long-term scalability.
- Lifecycle Vendor Management: Move beyond the "handshake." You will manage the health of existing relationships, conducting regular performance reviews and ensuring vendors meet Ethos' high standards.
- Renewals & Renegotiation: Proactively manage the renewal calendar to prevent "auto-renews" and identify opportunities to consolidate spend or renegotiate terms based on evolving business needs.
- Process Engineering: Design and implement a streamlined procurement workflow that provides transparency and speed without creating unnecessary "red tape" for internal teams.
- Risk & Compliance: Partner with Legal and Security to ensure all vendors comply with data privacy regulations and security protocols—critical in the life insurance space.
Qualifications and Skills:
- Experience: 8+ years in procurement, strategic sourcing, or vendor management, ideally within a high-growth Fintech, Insurtech, or SaaS environment.
- Domain Expertise: Proven track record managing diverse spend categories, with specific experience in Technology/SaaS and Third-Party Data (underwriting or financial data)
- Analytical Rigor: Proficiency in financial modeling and spend analysis tools.
- Communication: Exceptional verbal and written communication skills; ability to present business cases to the C-suite.
- Negotiator: You have a "win-win" mindset but aren't afraid to push for the best possible terms. You understand the nuances of volume-based pricing and data licensing.
- Tech-Savvy Leader: You understand the modern tech stack. You can speak the language of Engineering and Product to ensure we aren't just buying tools, but the right tools.
- Data-Driven Strategist: You use spend analytics to identify trends, leaks, and opportunities for consolidation.
- The Relationship Builder: You can navigate the corporate structures of massive data providers while maintaining the agility to work with early-stage startups.
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Supply Chain, or a related field (MBA preferred).
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The US national base salary range for this full-time position is $128,000 - $226,000. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.
Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only and do not include applicable bonus, equity, or benefits.
You can find further details of our US benefits at https://www.ethoslife.com/careers/
Don’t meet every single requirement? If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. At Ethos we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace.
We are an equal opportunity employer.. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. Pursuant to the SF Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider employment for qualified applicants with arrests and conviction records.
To learn more about what information we collect and how it may be used, please refer to our California Candidate Privacy Notice.
Recruitment Notice: Please be aware of recruitment scams. All legitimate communication from our team will only come from email addresses ending in @ethos.com or @getethos.com.
We will never ask for payment, banking details, or sensitive personal information during the hiring process. If you are contacted by someone claiming to represent us from a different email address, please treat it as fraudulent.