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
  • 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.