Location: Los Angeles, CA — onsite, based in the Los Angeles office with regular presence at our Encino and North Hollywood locations
Reports To: Sr Director of Operations
Direct Reports: None, this is an individual contributor role
Position Type: Full-Time
Compensation: $110,000 – $135,000 base
Position Overview
The Center for Rheumatology is one of Southern California’s leading rheumatology practices, combining a busy multi-site clinical operation with an active research program of more than 25 ongoing clinical trials in lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and related conditions. We operate three Los Angeles–area locations with approximately 40 staff and 11 providers, and we are growing through both new location launches and the acquisition of independent practices.
We are hiring our first Supply Chain & Procurement Manager to own everything the practice buys and everything it holds in inventory, across all three locations: infusion and clinical supplies, laboratory supplies, medications and infusion drugs, office supplies, and the equipment behind them. This is a supply chain, procurement, and vendor management role. It is not a pharmacy or clinical position — no pharmacist or pharmacy technician license is required, and this position does not dispense medication or provide patient care.
The first half of the mandate is cost, with real opportunity in every category; the catheters, tubing, and pumps in a standard infusion set-up; laboratory supplies and the vendors behind them; clinical consumables; routine office stock; and the medications that make up our single largest spend. We want someone who will question every line, source alternatives, hold vendors to their pricing, and show the savings.
The second half is control. Ordering, counting, receiving, and chasing deliveries currently sit with the Founder/CEO, office managers, infusion nurses, and administrative staff. This role consolidates that work into one accountable owner and puts real inventory discipline behind it. It is hands-on: the right person is as comfortable counting a stockroom and chasing a late delivery as building the par-level model and presenting a sourcing recommendation to the executive team.
What Success Looks Like In The First Year
- Every significant spend category — infusion supplies, laboratory, clinical consumables, medications, and office — has been competitively shopped at least once, with documented savings and a clear record of what was tested and why the winner won.
- The cost of a standard infusion set-up is materially lower than it is today, with no compromise in clinical quality.
- There is one trusted system of record for inventory, and on-hand quantities can be relied on by everyone who depends on them.
- Ordering is planned rather than reactive: par levels are set and maintained, and expedited or emergency orders become rare.
- Counting, ordering, and delivery-chasing work is off the plates of office managers, infusion nurses, and administrative staff, and escalations to the CEO fall to near zero.
- Written standards established for receiving and storage, cold chain and temperature excursion, wastage and expiry, returns and recall, and inter-site transfer.
Key ResponsibilitiesProcurement & Cost Management
- Competitive Sourcing: Price-shop every significant category on a defined cycle — infusion supplies, laboratory supplies, clinical consumables, medications, office supplies, and equipment. Identify alternatives, run the comparison, and bring recommendations with the numbers attached.
- Infusion Supplies: Review and rebuild the infusion supply standard — IV catheters, tubing, pumps, and everything else in a standard set-up — with an explicit target of reducing cost per treatment while maintaining clinical quality.
- Laboratory Supplies & Vendors: Own laboratory consumables and the vendor relationships behind them, evaluating alternative products and pricing on the same cycle as every other category.
- Vendor Ownership: Own every supplier, distributor, courier, and related vendor relationship — pricing, terms, service levels, escalation, and periodic competitive review — including group purchasing and contract compliance.
- Contract & Invoice Integrity: Verify that invoices match contracted pricing, pursue credits and rebates owed, and review contract compliance on a regular cadence.
- Cost Reporting: Track and report spend, unit costs, and realized savings by category and by site.
Inventory & Supply Operations
- End-to-End Ownership: Own inventory across all sites and all categories — demand planning, purchasing, receiving, storage, distribution, usage records, returns, and reconciliation.
- System of Record: Own the inventory platform as the single source of truth. Set and maintain par levels, drive purchasing from scheduled demand, and enforce lot and expiration capture at receipt and at use.
- Reconciliation: Run reconciliation to a defined cadence at every site, resolve variance to root cause, and keep the practice’s two medication programs reconciled to one another.
- Expiry, Returns & Recalls: Manage short-dated stock, expiry, wastage, returns, and credits, and coordinate product recalls across all locations.
- Shortages & Backorders: Track manufacturer backorders and shortages, source alternatives, and give clinical staff enough notice to adjust.
- Take Back The Time: Replace the current distributed manual count process with a standard the sites can execute in minutes, or absorb it into this role where that is the better answer.
- New Sites: Stand up purchasing and inventory operations at new locations and acquired practices, so each site opens with vendor accounts, par levels, storage, and standards already in place.
Medication Supply
Medications and infusion drugs are the largest single category this role buys, and they carry requirements the others do not.
- Distribution & Cold Chain: Own the inter-site medication distribution model and the couriers behind it, and establish and enforce cold chain standards across all sites and in transit — storage, temperature monitoring, alarms, excursion response, and documentation.
- Sourcing Standard: Partner with the prior authorization team to maintain the payer-by-drug sourcing standard that determines how each patient’s medication is supplied, keeping it current as payer rules change and resolving the exceptions that today escalate to the CEO.
- Lower-Cost Equivalents: Surface biosimilar and alternative-product options for clinical and finance review. Payer contracts and reimbursement remain with Finance and the billing team; this role owns the cost side and supplies the data behind the decision.
- Working With The Pharmacist-in-Charge: Partner with the Pharmacist-in-Charge on anything requiring pharmacist judgment or licensure. This role supports the Pharmacist-in-Charge on operations; it does not replace or perform licensed duties.
Reporting, Compliance & Support
- Reporting: Produce a monthly supply and spend report and a deeper quarterly review, covering spend by category, savings realized, inventory value, turns, days on hand, expired and wasted product, and stockouts.
- Compliance: Maintain supply chain records, storage, handling, and disposal practices to federal and California standard, and serve as the operational point of contact for related inspections and audits.
- Training & Support: Train site staff on inventory and receiving standards, and serve as the single point of contact for any supply question at any location.
Qualifications & Experience
- Experience: 5+ years owning purchasing, procurement, or supply chain operations in healthcare — multi-site physician practice, infusion center, ambulatory surgery, laboratory, or medical products distribution. Experience purchasing infusion drugs or managing buy-and-bill medication supply is a strong advantage.
- A Supply Chain Role, Not A Pharmacy Role: No pharmacist or pharmacy technician license is required. This position does not dispense medication or provide clinical care.
- Cost & Sourcing Track Record: Demonstrated savings from competitive sourcing, vendor negotiation, and contract compliance — able to show what was changed and what it saved.
- Vendor Management: A track record of holding suppliers, distributors, and couriers to price, terms, and service.
- Systems: Strong with inventory or purchasing platforms and advanced Excel or Google Sheets. Experience implementing or cleaning up an inventory system is particularly relevant.
- Working Style: Organized, detail-obsessed, and self-directed. Comfortable being the only person in the seat — building the process and then running it — and credible with physicians and clinical staff.
- Education: Bachelor’s degree preferred; equivalent practical experience will be considered.
Additional Details
- Onsite in Los Angeles with regular presence at Encino and North Hollywood. Reliable transportation and a valid driver’s license are required; the role involves local driving between sites.
- The Center for Rheumatology is an equal opportunity employer.
Pay: $110,000.00 - $135,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
