Procurement Manager
Hippo Harvest, Pescadero, CA, United States
Overview
In a world increasingly impacted by climate change, pollution, and population growth, conventional vegetable production is unsustainable. Greenhouse hydroponics uses up to 90% less water, increases yields, reduces food waste, uses fewer pesticides, eliminates fertilizer runoff, and enables local production. Still, greenhouse producers remain a niche due to high capital and labor costs and operational complexity.
Hippo Harvest has broken through this barrier by developing the first vertically integrated physical AI platform for growing leafy greens that are cost-competitive with conventional field production. Hippo's products deliver longer shelf life, better flavor, and more reliable supply.
We're looking for a Procurement & Inventory Manager to own the purchasing and materials management function across the company — someone who keeps consumables, parts, and supplies reliably stocked so every team can execute without interruption.
You Will
Own procurement and inventory management across all departments — Operations, Engineering, Development, and Growing. This will include
managing BOMs and component libraries
for robots and automation, including version control across hardware revisions as well as consumables.
Anticipate supply needs before they become gaps —
build and maintain vendor scorecards , establish reorder points and safety stock levels, and keep inventory data accurate enough that others can rely on it to make decisions.
Own the procure-to-pay cycle end to end
— from purchase requisition and PO issuance through receipt, three-way matching, and invoice reconciliation —
working closely with the accounting team to ensure accurate accruals, spend visibility, and budget alignment .
Build and refine the processes behind procurement and inventory, not just execute them —
help design the systems, approval workflows, and controls that make these functions scalable and audit-ready .
Build and maintain a base of easily queryable, objective data to track inventory turns, fill rates, lead times, and procurement performance — and use it to surface gaps and drive improvement proactively.
Serve as a reliable cross-functional partner to growing, engineering, development, and plant science — someone who makes it easier for others to do their jobs well.
You Have
Experience in procurement, inventory management, or supply chain operations — ideally in food, agriculture, manufacturing, or a similarly fast-moving, time-sensitive environment.
Hands-on experience with BOM management software (e.g., Arena, Fishbowl, NetSuite, or similar) — you understand multi-level BOMs, ECO processes, and how BOM accuracy drives purchasing decisions downstream.
Experience working across multiple warehouse management systems (WMS) — you're comfortable with receiving workflows, cycle count programs, lot tracking, and inventory reconciliation regardless of the platform.
Comfort working with finance and accounting teams — you understand how procurement decisions show up on the P&L, can work from spend forecasts and budget templates, and know how to flag variances early.
Genuine comfort with data. You're at home in spreadsheets and know how to build and use metrics that actually tell you something. You use data to inform your judgment.
A track record of operating with minimal direction — you identify what needs doing, figure out how to do it, and follow through.
Genuine comfort with data. You're at home in spreadsheets and know how to build and use metrics that actually tell you something. You are methodical and use data to inform your judgment, not replace it.
Strong risk awareness without being risk-averse. You think ahead, anticipate where things can go wrong, and take practical steps to prevent it — without letting caution slow things down unnecessarily.
Clear, direct communication skills. You can write a crisp update, run an effective cross-functional sync, and adapt your communication style to your audience.
Spanish language skills are a plus.
Why You'll Love It Here
Mission-aligned: Shape the future of sustainable agriculture!
Team-first: We value integrity, empathy, hard work, and results-driven collaboration.
Growth opportunity: Your efforts will define our trajectory; you'll lead first and scale next.
In a world increasingly impacted by climate change, pollution, and population growth, conventional vegetable production is unsustainable. Greenhouse hydroponics uses up to 90% less water, increases yields, reduces food waste, uses fewer pesticides, eliminates fertilizer runoff, and enables local production. Still, greenhouse producers remain a niche due to high capital and labor costs and operational complexity.
Hippo Harvest has broken through this barrier by developing the first vertically integrated physical AI platform for growing leafy greens that are cost-competitive with conventional field production. Hippo's products deliver longer shelf life, better flavor, and more reliable supply.
We're looking for a Procurement & Inventory Manager to own the purchasing and materials management function across the company — someone who keeps consumables, parts, and supplies reliably stocked so every team can execute without interruption.
You Will
Own procurement and inventory management across all departments — Operations, Engineering, Development, and Growing. This will include
managing BOMs and component libraries
for robots and automation, including version control across hardware revisions as well as consumables.
Anticipate supply needs before they become gaps —
build and maintain vendor scorecards , establish reorder points and safety stock levels, and keep inventory data accurate enough that others can rely on it to make decisions.
Own the procure-to-pay cycle end to end
— from purchase requisition and PO issuance through receipt, three-way matching, and invoice reconciliation —
working closely with the accounting team to ensure accurate accruals, spend visibility, and budget alignment .
Build and refine the processes behind procurement and inventory, not just execute them —
help design the systems, approval workflows, and controls that make these functions scalable and audit-ready .
Build and maintain a base of easily queryable, objective data to track inventory turns, fill rates, lead times, and procurement performance — and use it to surface gaps and drive improvement proactively.
Serve as a reliable cross-functional partner to growing, engineering, development, and plant science — someone who makes it easier for others to do their jobs well.
You Have
Experience in procurement, inventory management, or supply chain operations — ideally in food, agriculture, manufacturing, or a similarly fast-moving, time-sensitive environment.
Hands-on experience with BOM management software (e.g., Arena, Fishbowl, NetSuite, or similar) — you understand multi-level BOMs, ECO processes, and how BOM accuracy drives purchasing decisions downstream.
Experience working across multiple warehouse management systems (WMS) — you're comfortable with receiving workflows, cycle count programs, lot tracking, and inventory reconciliation regardless of the platform.
Comfort working with finance and accounting teams — you understand how procurement decisions show up on the P&L, can work from spend forecasts and budget templates, and know how to flag variances early.
Genuine comfort with data. You're at home in spreadsheets and know how to build and use metrics that actually tell you something. You use data to inform your judgment.
A track record of operating with minimal direction — you identify what needs doing, figure out how to do it, and follow through.
Genuine comfort with data. You're at home in spreadsheets and know how to build and use metrics that actually tell you something. You are methodical and use data to inform your judgment, not replace it.
Strong risk awareness without being risk-averse. You think ahead, anticipate where things can go wrong, and take practical steps to prevent it — without letting caution slow things down unnecessarily.
Clear, direct communication skills. You can write a crisp update, run an effective cross-functional sync, and adapt your communication style to your audience.
Spanish language skills are a plus.
Why You'll Love It Here
Mission-aligned: Shape the future of sustainable agriculture!
Team-first: We value integrity, empathy, hard work, and results-driven collaboration.
Growth opportunity: Your efforts will define our trajectory; you'll lead first and scale next.