Data Acquisition Lead

What you'll do
Find and qualify providers and partners against our coverage, quality, capacity, and cost requirements

Structure vendor trials, run benchmarks using internal tooling, and analyze results by source, geography, and workload

Compare effective costs across pricing models, including retries, failures, minimum commitments, and overages

Negotiate pricing, service commitments, support arrangements, renewals, and exit terms

Maintain qualified alternatives and identify overlapping infrastructure or correlated failure risks across suppliers

Lead vendor performance reviews and recommend expansion, replacement, or changes in allocation

Coordinate onboarding and sourcing documentation with Engineering, Finance, and Legal

Own vendor contracts and spend, and keep a clear record of vendor status, pricing, and decisions

Partner cross functionally to resolve provider issues quickly

Help build and scale the data acquisition team as Profound grows

Who you are
5+ years of hands-on experience with external data or web data providers and partners, on either the vendor or customer side (e.g. sourcing and managing providers, solutions engineering, or technical account management)

Strong commercial judgment, with examples of negotiations and measurable operating improvements

Familiarity with data contract terms such as DPAs, usage rights, and indemnification

Ability to use SQL and/or Python to inspect results, run evaluations, and challenge vendor claims

Practical understanding of various data provider types, web data APIs, various data collection schemes, and common failure modes

Evidence of introducing a working alternative provider or improving coverage, reliability, or effective cost

Experience with unique data sets is a plus

Excited by the opportunity to own and shape a new function at an early stage

Comfortable in a fast-moving culture with autonomy, trust, and room to grow

Drawn to competitive compensation and meaningful equity