Delivery Alignment and Team Leadership

• Align procurement schedules with construction, commissioning, and go-live milestones across EMEA sites.
• Take ownership of equipment lead-time risks before they affect operational delivery.
• Lead and grow the EMEA procurement organization, including the UK and Finland Team Leads and their specialist teams.
• Prioritise the recruitment of the UK Team Lead.
• Feed regional market intelligence into the global procurement strategy, including pricing, availability, lead times, and the supply of equipment supporting power infrastructure.

What Success Looks Like in the First Year

• A consolidated European procurement team, with both country leads in place and clear areas of accountability.
• Long-lead equipment and hardware sourced on time and within budget, aligned with European site go-live milestones.
• Framework agreements established with core European vendors, replacing ad hoc purchasing across individual countries.
• Measurable year-on-year savings against a baseline established during the first quarter.
• Accurate, trusted CapEx forecasting that Finance and the COO’s office can use for planning.

Essential Experience and Requirements

• At least 10 years of experience in procurement, supply chain, or commercial leadership within data centers, IT hardware, critical infrastructure, or a comparable mission-critical environment.
• Demonstrated ownership of large-scale CapEx portfolios, ideally covering data centers, IT hardware, or critical infrastructure.
• A track record of leading major commercial negotiations for large-scale investments, including long-term and volume-based agreements.
• An established European network of vendors, OEMs, and contractors.
• Strong knowledge of international logistics, EU and UK customs and import requirements, Incoterms, and supply chain risk.
• Experience managing procurement across multiple countries and legal entities.
• Proven ability to build and lead procurement teams within a high-growth environment.
• The ability to review commercial contracts and assess contractual exposure, including terms, service-level agreements, liability, and price escalation.
• Mandarin language capability to work directly with Asian manufacturing operations and the ODM/OEM partners supplying the European buildout.
• A commercial leadership profile, with ownership of procurement decisions, negotiations, and outcomes.

Desirable Experience and Qualifications

• A master’s degree, such as an MBA or MSc, in Supply Chain, Finance, or Strategy.
• Professional certification such as CPSM, CIPS, CSCP, or equivalent. Contract and commercial management certifications would also be advantageous.
• Direct experience sourcing GPUs or server hardware.
• Additional European languages, particularly German.
• Experience scaling procurement within a fast-growing startup with an evolving organizational structure.

Ways of Working

This is a high-intensity environment with a strong emphasis on ownership and delivery. Leaders are expected to set the pace and execution standards for their teams.

The role involves long hours during critical ramp-up periods, with outcomes prioritized over fixed schedules. Significant travel is required to sites, vendors, and manufacturing partners across Europe and Asia.

Although Europe-based, the position is not office-bound. You will be expected to work wherever the business requires, making this an opportunity for someone comfortable with demanding delivery schedules, frequent travel, and substantial commercial responsibility.

What the Opportunity Offers

• Ownership of the annual EMEA data center and hardware CapEx portfolio, with authority to define regional sourcing strategy and vendor frameworks.
• The opportunity to consolidate and scale a regional procurement function in the business’s most active construction market.
• Leadership of major commercial negotiations and the ability to shape the European preferred supplier ecosystem.
• A long-term role supporting a multi-year data center expansion and hardware refresh program, with responsibilities growing alongside the business.
• Equity participation and the opportunity to establish procurement governance and cost discipline across the region.