Director, Infrastructure Procurement

About this role

This position is responsible for strategic sourcing of IT Infrastructure categories for the IT sector, which is Coupang's core business across the enterprise. This is an important role in Coupang's procurement transformation and must work closely with key business partners to take ongoing challenges to drive and implement category management, strategic and operational sourcing, and supplier management activities.

The Director / Sr. Principal, Procurement will lead the strategic sourcing, category management, supplier management, and procurement transformation initiatives across Coupang's global IT Infrastructure organization.

This leader will own the end-to-end procurement strategy for critical technology categories including:

• Data Centers & Co-location

• AI Infrastructure (GPU, Compute, Storage)

• Network Infrastructure

• Cyber security

• IT Hardware & Software

• Physical Security

• IT Maintenance Services

• Data Center Construction & Facilities

The role partners closely with Engineering, Infrastructure Operations, Data Center, Finance, Legal, Security, Architecture, and Executive Leadership teams to drive cost optimization, supply continuity, operational scalability, and long-term business growth.

In their role, successful candidates leverage traditional strategic sourcing models, including cost analysis of Coupang's IT Infrastructure projects, short-term/long-term category planning, integration, vendor score cards, and vendor management. Coupang's sourcing process includes several steps from building a category strategy to identifying specific sourcing opportunities, bidding, contract negotiations, issuing purchase orders, and implementing them. This process includes steps such as preparing for global market research, price/cost analysis, model "costs", TCO, industry trends, product best practices, and industry benchmarking.

Responsibilities:

Strategic Procurement Leadership

• Define and execute global sourcing strategies across all assigned IT Infrastructure categories.

• Build category roadmaps aligned with business growth, capacity demand forecasts, and technology evolution.

• Lead procurement transformation initiatives to establish best-in-class sourcing practices, governance, and supplier management frameworks.

• Develop long-term procurement strategies balancing cost, quality, supply assurance, scalability, innovation, and risk mitigation.

Category Management

Own sourcing strategy and supplier portfolio for:

• AI Infrastructure (GPU, accelerated computing, storage)

• Data Center Co-location and Cloud Services

• Enterprise Network Infrastructure

• Cybersecurity Products and Services

• IT Hardware and Software

• Data Center Facilities and Critical Infrastructure

• IT Professional Services and Maintenance

Supplier Relationship Management

• Build and manage executive-level relationships with global strategic suppliers.

• Establish supplier performance management programs including scorecards, QBRs, KPI tracking, and continuous improvement initiatives.

• Evaluate supplier capability, financial health, capacity commitments, and supply chain risks.

• Develop global supplier diversification and resiliency strategies.

Commercial & Contract Leadership

• Lead complex commercial negotiations involving multi-year strategic agreements.

• Deliver measurable TCO improvements through pricing optimization, demand management, standardization, and supplier consolidation.

• Negotiate industry-leading commercial terms, SLA structures, service credits, and risk allocation provisions.

• Support capacity reservation and long-term supply agreements for critical infrastructure categories.

Risk & Supply Assurance

• Anticipate supply chain disruptions and develop mitigation strategies.

• Manage supplier risk related to geopolitical events, semiconductor shortages, logistics constraints, and capacity limitations.

• Ensure continuity of supply for business-critical infrastructure programs.

Stakeholder Management

• Serve as a trusted advisor to Infrastructure, Engineering, Operations, Finance, and Executive Leadership.

• Drive alignment across cross-functional teams to support sourcing decisions and strategic initiatives.

• Present business cases, sourcing recommendations, and procurement outcomes to senior leadership.

Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing procurement team.

• Foster an ownership culture focused on delivering business impact.

• Set clear objectives, performance expectations, and succession plans.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Supply Chain, Engineering, Finance, Accounting, or related field.

• 12+ years of procurement, strategic sourcing, or supply chain experience.

• 5+ years of leadership experience managing procurement professionals and cross-functional teams.

• Proven experience sourcing IT Infrastructure categories including:

• Data Center

• Network

• Cloud

• AI Infrastructure

• Software

• Security

• Strong experience leading complex negotiations and strategic supplier relationships.

• Deep understanding of TCO modeling, should-cost analysis, benchmarking, supplier evaluation, and category strategy development.

• Excellent executive communication and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Degree from a top tier university with a major in finance, accounting, supply chain, business management; MBA preferred

• Experience in hyper-scale cloud, e-commerce, technology, telecommunications, or data center industries.

• Experience purchasing AI infrastructure including GPUs, high-performance compute, storage, and networking.

• Global sourcing experience across APAC, North America, and EMEA.

• Experience with Procurement Transformation and Source-to-Pay implementation programs.

• Knowledge of co-location contracts, data center economics, and hyperscale infrastructure procurement.

• Ability to establish a strategic sourcing plan considering the internal and external…