Product Engineer Procurement

Job Description

A little about us

Container xChange is building the distribution channel for global container trading.

We operate in a huge, fragmented and still highly inefficient market. Our ambition is to make it dramatically easier to access the right inventory, compare opportunities, transact and fulfil container purchases across sellers and locations globally.

To win, we need to get a few things exceptionally right: more of the right containers, in the right locations, at better prices - from sellers who are fast, reliable and easy to trade with.

That is where you come in.

The Role

As Product Engineer - Procurement, you will own our Procurement function end-to-end in close collaboration with our CEO Christian.

This is a hands-on commercial builder role: you run Procurement, improve the economics, and build the processes, automations and product solutions that make the function scale.

You will start hands-on: run day-to-day procurement, work directly with sellers, negotiate prices and promotions, support Sales on supply opportunities and understand where our current processes work well - and where they break.

But your mandate goes further: Build a Procurement function that becomes a competitive advantage for xChange.

We want you to constantly ask: How can we improve the economics? How can we make this process faster? What can we standardize? What can we automate?

You will use Claude and other tools to build lightweight solutions yourself, experiment with deterministic and agentic automation, and work closely with Engineering where solutions need to become part of our core product.

Over time, repetitive operational work should decrease while your focus on Seller Performance, Procurement strategy, automation and product improvements grows.

Location

This is a position based in Hamburg, where you will work closely with our Sales, Product and Engineering team as well as directly with our CEO Christian.

Requirements

Your Impact

Ultimately, your work should help xChange transact more containers at better margins, while allowing Procurement to scale without scaling manual work at the same rate.

You will:

• Own and run day-to-day Procurement and tactical Seller Management, using what you learn from operating the processes yourself to continuously improve, streamline and automate the function.
• Improve our buying economics and Seller Performance by identifying pricing opportunities, negotiating with sellers, driving promotions and improving listing quality, reply speed, release speed and reliability.
• Use Claude and other tools as part of your day-to-day work to solve problems faster and improve our processes and systems.
• Build lightweight, bootstrapped solutions yourself when they can solve an immediate problem - from deterministic workflows to agentic solutions.
• Work closely with Engineering when those solutions need to become more robust, scalable or part of our core product.
• Build a more systematic, data-driven view of Procurement, so we can identify and prioritize the biggest opportunities across our seller portfolio.
• Drive larger strategic initiatives such as gatebuy, future pickups and new ways of sourcing inventory that help us build a structurally better trading engine.

What Makes You a Great Fit?

We are looking for someone who combines commercial intuition, strong execution and a product/automation mindset.

You are likely a great fit if you:

• Get genuine satisfaction from negotiating a better deal and spotting commercial opportunities others might miss.
• Have a passion for trading, pricing and markets - whether that comes from work, the stock market, sports betting or simply how you think.
• Are commercially confident enough to own seller relationships, make decisions independently and push back when needed.
• Perform well under pressure and at speed - matching the pace of Sales without sacrificing accuracy.
• Are highly structured and operationally reliable: fast without becoming sloppy.
• Enjoy getting your hands dirty and executing the work yourself.
• Think beyond individual cases and naturally ask how a process can be improved at a system level.
• Can balance short-term execution with long-term improvement - improving processes, automation and scalability over time.
• Are data-driven and comfortable using metrics to identify opportunities.
• Already use AI to solve real-world problems and are excited about building prototypes, workflows and automations.
• Can translate a business problem into something Engineering can work with.
• Have strong ownership, drive and the learning velocity to grow further into product and automation.

You do not need to be a software engineer. We care much more about your ability to understand a problem deeply, imagine a better solution, prototype where possible and collaborate effectively with Engineers.

Deep container knowledge and traditional Procurement experience are also not prerequisites.

This role might not be for you if…

• You prefer having perfect information before making decisions - this role requires fast judgment under uncertainty.
• You don’t enjoy working in a high-pressure, fast-moving commercial environment where Procurement needs to match the pace of Sales.
• You prefer staying at one level of the problem rather than switching between what needs to happen now, what needs to change commercially, and what needs to improve in the process or product.
• You prefer clearly bounded responsibilities over end-to-end ownership - we expect you to take decisions, push back on sellers when needed, and stay accountable until the issue is actually resolved.

What to Expect

• A rare combination of commercial and product ownership: You will understand and improve the full Procurement system - from the economics of individual trades to the processes and technology behind the function.
• A role that evolves with you: You will initially spend significant time running Procurement hands-on. As you improve and automate the function, your role should increasingly shift toward Seller Performance, Procurement economics, product and automation.
• Direct exposure to the business: You will work closely with our CEO Christian and have direct visibility into how supply, pricing and seller performance translate into containers transacted and margin.
• Build rather than inherit: You are not joining a mature Procurement function with a fixed playbook. You will help define how Procurement at xChange should work in the future, from how we manage sellers today to how much of the function can eventually be automated.
• AI as a real working tool: We expect you to use tools such as Claude to increase your own leverage and continuously challenge which parts of your job still need to be done manually.
• The long-term opportunity is to help build a Procurement engine that becomes one of xChange’s core competitive advantages.

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