Director, Contracts

Job Description

Note - qualified candidates will live in the United States or the Greater Toronto Area, Canada.

About the role

The Director, Contracts is the enterprise owner of all Government & Regulated client contracts across North America, with end-to-end accountability from verbal award through contract execution. This role oversees and manages a large, complex contract pipeline (40–100 active contracts at any time) with an aggregate total contract value ranging from $100M to $1B+. The Director ensures that contracts are commercially sound, legally compliant, operationally executable, and delivered at speed.

Core Accountabilities

• Contract Pipeline Ownership & Management

• Maintain real-time visibility into pipeline health, deal status, bottlenecks, and execution readiness.

• Ensure seamless progression from verbal award → drafting → negotiation → approval → execution.

• Establish prioritization frameworks to balance speed, risk, revenue recognition, and operational capacity.

• Drafting, Negotiation & Commercial Leadership

• Lead the drafting and negotiation of agreements, including MSAs, SOWs, amendments, and renewals.

• Partner with stakeholders to shape:

  • Pricing frameworks
  • Delivery timelines
  • Performance obligations
  • Risk allocation and liability structures

• Navigate complex negotiations

• Ensure contract language aligns with:

  • Proposal assumptions
  • Financial models
  • Staffing and delivery plans
  • Regulatory and funding requirements

• Risk Management & Contract Governance

• Ensure all contracts effectively protect the company’s financial, operational, and reputational interests.

• Identify, assess, and mitigate legal, compliance and regulatory risk.

• Identify, assess and mitigate delivery and execution constraints.

• Establish governance frameworks for:

  • Contract approvals
  • Risk escalation
  • Deviation from standards

• AI-Driven Process Optimization & Systems Leadership

• Lead the transformation of the contracts function through AI and automation.

• Design and implement scalable systems for:

  • AI-assisted contract drafting and redlining
  • Automated risk flagging and clause identification
  • Predictive cycle-time and bottleneck analysis
  • Contract abstraction and obligation tracking
  • Own and advance Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) platforms, workflows, and templates.
  • Build standardized playbooks, modular templates, and approval paths to dramatically reduce turnaround time without increasing risk.
  • Continuously evaluate and deploy emerging AI tools to improve accuracy, speed, and consistency.

• Stakeholder Coordination

• Serve as a trusted partner to key stakeholders across the organization.

• Ensure alignment on:

  • Contract terms
  • Commercial expectations
  • Delivery assumptions
  • Risk tolerance

• Maintain strong external relationships with client legal, procurement, and contracting teams.

• Compliance & Regulatory Alignment

• Ensure contracts comply with:

  • Federal, state, and local laws
  • Regulatory requirements
  • Public funding and grant conditions
  • Internal policies and controls

• Proactively adapt contract frameworks in response to regulatory shifts or funding changes.

• Leadership & Team Development

• Lead and develop a high-performing contracts organization.

• Set clear expectations for:

  • Accountability
  • Responsiveness
  • Quality and consistency

• Elevate the team from execution-focused contract administration to strategic contract advisory.

• Build bench strength, succession plans, and scalable team structures to support growth.

Required Qualifications & Experience

• 10+ years of progressive experience in contracts management, legal operations, or commercial negotiations.

• Proven ownership of large, complex, multi-year contracts.

• Direct experience with:

  • Utilities
  • Public agencies
  • State and/or federal government contracts

• Demonstrated success leading contract pipelines at enterprise scale.

• Strong leadership experience managing and developing others.

• Bachelor’s degree required.

• Strongly Preferred:

  • Experience with AI-enabled contracting tools, CLM platforms, or contract automation initiatives.
  • Background in energy efficiency, clean energy, infrastructure, or other regulated industries.
  • Familiarity with federally funded or incentive-based programs.
  • Experience working in matrixed, multi-region organizations.
  • Exposure to Salesforce or enterprise systems supporting opportunity and contract tracking.

Compensation Range

Any offered salary is determined based on internal equity, internal salary ranges, market data/ranges, applicant’s skills and prior relevant experience, certain degrees and certifications (e.g. JD/technology), for example.

Equal Opportunity Employer

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we are committed to ensuring equal employment opportunities for all job applicants and employees. Employment decisions are based upon job-related reasons regardless of an applicant’s race, color, religion, national origin, marital status, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, status as a qualified individual with a disability or protected veteran, or any other protected status. The above job description and job requirements are not intended to be all inclusive. CLEAResult retains the right to make changes or adjustments to job descriptions and/or requirements at any time without notice.