Procurement Manager

About the role

As the first dedicated Procurement Manager at Upvest, you will move our vendor management from a decentralized model to a centralized, professional powerhouse. You will own the entire lifecycle of our partnerships - from initial sourcing and technical vetting to contract expiration management. Reporting to the Head of Network, you will bridge the gap between operational needs, financial discipline, and regulatory compliance.

What you'll do

• Act as the sole lead for all procurement activities at Upvest. You will manage the full lifecycle for Indirect Spend (SaaS, IT, Services) and provide strategic and administrative support for Direct Spend (Trading, Custody, Market Data).
• Act as the company-wide "go-to" person and administrator for our procurement tool. You will be responsible for its further setup, creating internal work instructions, and training stakeholders to ensure the tool is used effectively across the organization.
• Build and enhance Upvest's procurement policies and processes. This includes implementing a risk-tiered decision tree (e.g. Legal review thresholds by contract value), a fast-track review path for expanded use cases of already-approved tools, and standardised business case templates.
• Proactively manage contract expirations and notice periods through our procurement tool. You will partner with internal business owners well in advance of deadlines to ensure informed "renew vs. cancel" decisions.
• Work closely with our 2nd-line Outsourcing Management to ensure compliance with MaRisk/DORA/NIS2/KRITIS.
• Leverage your understanding of cloud infrastructure (e.g., GCP) to challenge technical spend and negotiate favorable Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

What you'll need

• 5+ years in procurement or strategic sourcing, ideally within a high-growth Fintech or a regulated financial institution.
• An understanding of IT infrastructure and cloud providers. You speak the language of both Finance and Engineering.
• You are deeply detail-driven and thrive on creating order out of chaos. You enjoy writing policies and ensuring they are followed, but you remain practical and solution-oriented.
• You are comfortable setting the procurement strategy while simultaneously handling the administrative execution.
• Procurement Automation Tools experience.
• You know how to drive adoption across teams. You introduce structure without creating friction, and you get buy-in through clarity and partnership rather than enforcement.
• Fluent in English and German.
• Based in Berlin (mandatory).

What they offer

• €20,000 per year to spend on the best AI tools available.
• 30 days of annual leave and sports benefits.
• Access to confidential professional coaching and flexibility to work remotely abroad for up to 183 days a year.
• UpRest: one-month fully paid sabbatical after every 4 years at Upvest.
• Personal development budget.
• Hybrid or remote work across Europe from Berlin, London or Tallinn hubs.