Contracts Manager

Golden Pass LNG, a joint venture between QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil, has the mission to become the premier LNG export company in North America by bringing clean energy from Texas to power the world. We seek to do this in a way that values safety, integrity, our people, community, and the environment. Headquartered in Downtown Houston, Golden Pass LNG commenced operation of Train 1 in 2026 and continues to progress construction and commissioning on Trains 2 and 3. Once fully operational, Golden Pass LNG will have the capacity to produce over 18 million metric tons of LNG per year.

About the Role

The Contracts Manager will report to the Director, Supply Chain General Services and will be responsible for defining and executing sourcing strategies, leading commercial negotiations, and managing the full contract lifecycle to ensure cost competitiveness, compliance, and business integration.

Responsibilities

• Lead and direct a team of 5–8 Contract Advisors; set individual performance expectations, conduct regular reviews, and maintain accountability for quality, delivery, and commercial standards.
• Define and execute contract and sourcing strategies for all agreements, including competitive bid, renewal, sole source justification, and make/buy analysis.
• Require and document objective evidence of cost competitiveness for every applicable agreement through bid results, benchmarking, market comparison, or a documented negotiation record.
• Lead and direct commercial negotiations; ensure the team actively challenges rates, compensation structures, overtime provisions, and commercial terms.
• Maintain a live contract pipeline with expiration dates, renewal triggers, sourcing lead times, and risk flags. Initiate renewal or replacement sourcing no less than 90 days prior to expiration. No contract is permitted to lapse without a successor in place.
• Own end-to-end contract execution from requirements definition through close-out: scope development, bidding, evaluation, negotiation, award, execution, and handover.
• Own the pre-submission quality review gate for every contract, amendment, RFP, and order before routing—directing verification of commercial terms, scope obligations, template completion, defined terms, approval routing, and executive name and title accuracy.
• Ensure all approval submissions comply with TOFA authority levels and routing protocol. No item is routed for approval without confirmed endorsement from every required organizational level.
• Conduct regular alignment meetings with Operations leadership and supported functions to translate business priorities into contract strategies, advisor workload plans, sourcing schedules, and expiration calendars.
• Present commercial portfolio status, risk summaries, and cost competitiveness data to senior leadership on a defined cadence. Surface risk and escalate early.
• Build and maintain the Contracts function’s visibility across supported organizations. Key stakeholders at every level should clearly understand the value delivered without requiring escalation to obtain results.
• Own the training, coaching, and development of the team on contracting process, commercial skills, governance, and SAP/ERP. When a process gap is identified and corrected, it does not recur.
• Design operating models for complex contracting structures, including variable-price OLAs and call-off frameworks; direct the team to document these models and translate contract terms into SAP/ERP-level process guidance usable by the field.
• Direct the team to maintain the contracts activity log with meaningful entries—status, next action, owner, target date, and risk flag—updated at minimum weekly.
• Identify and implement process improvements and quality control frameworks across the contracting lifecycle.
• Act as the subject matter expert for contracting governance; own the design, implementation, and verification of every process correction.
• Direct and oversee supplier qualification, covering financial standing, safety record, technical capability, IT risk, references, and conflict of interest considerations.
• Lead the Contracts team’s participation in internal assessments and audits; own the remediation of identified gaps through to verified resolution.
• Maintain documentation and records per the company’s records retention policy; maintain SAP and ERP data integrity across the contract portfolio.
• Ensure backup coverage is available for buyer or contract advisor functions as required; direct the team’s participation in Procure-to-Pay activities and identify opportunities for process efficiency and improvement.

Requirements

• Minimum Bachelor’s degree in supply chain, business administration, or other related discipline.
• 10+ years of related contracting, procurement, or supply chain experience.
• Demonstrated commercial negotiation skills with evidence of rate challenge, cost competitiveness analysis, and supplier management.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and SAP or equivalent ERP; ability to translate contract structures into system-level process guidance for field execution.
• Ability to design and document operating models, work instructions, and practical quality control frameworks.
• Strong analytical and commercial assessment capability, including compensation structure analysis and benchmark review.
• Clear written and verbal communication at all levels of management, including executive-level reporting and presentation.
• Proven ability to lead, coach, and develop a team of contract advisors and buyers, including performance management.
• Strong planning, organizing, and pipeline management discipline; reliable task and log hygiene without exception.
• CPSM, CPCM, or equivalent professional certification.

Skills

• Commercial Acumen and Negotiation Discipline
• Proactive Planning and Structured Execution
• Business Integration and Stakeholder Partnership
• Team Leadership, Coaching, and Accountability
• Governance Rigor and Controls Integrity
• Practical Process Design and Problem Solving
• Confident, Effective Communication at All Levels of Management

Schedule

Normal office environment – Monday to Friday, 8 AM–4 PM or 9 AM–5 PM.

Physical Requirements

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times.