Associate Director, Contract Management

Responsibilities

• Lead the day-to-day activities of the Contract Management team, including workload prioritization, matter assignment, escalation management, coaching, and operational support.
• Mentor and develop junior Contracts staff on contract review, negotiation approach, issue spotting, escalation judgment, use of templates and playbooks, and effective business partnering.
• Establish, monitor, and manage service-level expectations, including responsiveness, turnaround time, contract aging, workload, quality, and other relevant performance measures.
• Drive consistent and proper use of the CLM system across Contracts staff and internal business clients, reinforcing required intake, workflows, approvals, documentation practices, and system standards.
• Partner with the Executive Director, Contracts to establish and maintain contracting standards, operating procedures, templates, playbooks, governance practices, and escalation protocols.
• Analyze service-level data and team metrics to identify trends, bottlenecks, resource constraints, and opportunities to improve contract velocity and client service; hold team members accountable while providing coaching and support.
• Serve as a resource on complex, non-standard, or sensitive matters; promote consistency in negotiation practices and escalate legal issues to the Executive Director, Contracts or other attorneys as appropriate.
• Develop and deliver training for Contracts staff and business clients on CLM processes, contracting procedures, system navigation, and best practices.
• Partner with Legal Operations to develop and maintain dashboards and reporting on service levels, workload, cycle times, aging, CLM adoption, and other key performance indicators; recommend process, system, training, or resource solutions based on trends.
• Foster a culture of accountability, responsiveness, consistency, professional development, and high-quality client service, while directly handling selected strategic or escalated matters as appropriate.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree or relevant professional certification preferred.
• 10+ years of progressively responsible contract management, legal operations, or related experience, preferably in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life sciences, or another highly regulated industry.
• Demonstrated experience leading, supervising, mentoring, or developing contracting professionals and managing team performance, workload, or service levels.
• Significant experience drafting, reviewing, negotiating, and managing a broad range of agreements, including confidentiality agreements, MSAs, SOWs/work orders, consulting, vendor/service, research, clinical, technology, and other commercial agreements.
• Strong understanding of contract principles, risk allocation, privacy, compliance, and legal/regulatory considerations relevant to the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry, including sound judgment regarding escalation to Legal counsel.
• Strong process discipline, project-management, and organizational skills, with demonstrated ability to lead process improvements and cross-functional initiatives.
• Able to use data, metrics, and reporting to evaluate performance, identify trends, support resource decisions, and improve service delivery.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex contracting issues clearly and influence stakeholders at all levels.
• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills, including the ability to build trust, coach experienced team members, address performance or process-compliance issues constructively, and operate independently while maintaining alignment with Legal leadership.