Travel & Entertainment Contracts Analyst

Department: Business & Financial Services (Controller)

Position type: Full-time (100%), exempt, hybrid

Budgeted salary range: $81,600 – $98,150/year (full range up to $147,800/year based on qualifications and experience)

Schedule: Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Benefits: Full UC benefits package

About the role

The Travel, Entertainment, and Compliance Contract Specialist serves as the primary subject-matter expert responsible for the end-to-end lifecycle of travel, entertainment, and event-related agreements across the University. This role blends expert contract negotiation with strict labor and policy compliance, ensuring all university-sponsored events, catering, lodging, and facility agreements align with institutional standards and legal frameworks. A key focus is managing compliance for UC Contracting Out for Covered Services (Regents Policy 5402 / AFSCME Article 5). The incumbent proactively partners with Employee & Labor Relations (ELR), Procurement, and external vendors to mitigate financial and legal risks, audit vendor invoices for wage parity, and manage tracking systems like AgileOne. Acting as a trusted strategic partner, this role provides dynamic customer service, develops training materials, manages a digital helpdesk intake system (ServiceNow), and guides campus departments through complex policy landscapes.

Responsibilities

• Contract Negotiation and Review (55%)
  • Negotiate, review, analyze, and execute all travel and entertainment-related agreements, including hotel room blocks, event coordination, facility use agreements, hotel rates, catering and restaurants, banquet event orders (BEOs), travel agencies, and film permits.
  • Develop and improve agreement templates.
  • Serve as a strategic partner to University business and academic units, providing practical advice on agreements.
  • Analyze agreements objectively, derive logical conclusions, and resolve conflicts to make timely, high-quality decisions.
  • Ensure agreements comply with relevant laws, UC policies, and travel and entertainment policies and rates.
  • Review agreements for financial terms, usage restrictions, cancellation rights, liability, and indemnification requirements.
  • Identify potential adverse implications in agreements and recommend risk-reduction strategies.
  • Consult with Risk Management, Policy Office, Procurement, or other UC campuses as needed.
  • Interpret the varying objectives and needs of the University, personnel, and outside parties to provide dynamic customer service.
  • Negotiate agreements with suppliers, customers, colleagues, and representatives of industry or government for mutual resolution.
  • Maintain accurate record-keeping and track all contracts in compliance with UC quality protocols and record retention requirements.
  • Provide functional advice, training, and guidance to campus departments.
  • Create and maintain a website for information related to Travel & Entertainment contracts, Covered Services, and submission/request instructions.
  • Exercise sound decision-making and judgment in execution of duties.
  • Process, execute, and issue agreements as authorized by the Materiel Manager’s delegation of authority.
  • Perform and document all required contract-based procurement transactions in compliance with Federal regulations, State law, and University policy.
  • Attend meetings and training as required by the Materiel Manager.
• Compliance for Covered Services (30%)
  • Manage travel and entertainment processes related to compliance with Regents Policy 5402, Article 5 of the AFSCME collective bargaining agreements, California Senate Bills 820 and 27, and other systemwide policies regarding limitations on contracting out for covered services.
  • Proactively partner with Employee & Labor Relations (ELR) and Procurement to ensure campus compliance, issue reporting to UCOP, and provide responsive documents for RFIs.
  • Lead, prepare, and edit training materials for campus trainings on Travel & Entertainment contracts and Contracting Out for catering.
  • Communicate regularly with campus customers to reduce risk and ensure departmental compliance with UC Contracting Out for Covered Services policy.
  • Review catering invoices for compliance with Wage and Benefit parity rates and ensure timely submission of supplier employee hours in AgileOne, UC’s Covered Services tracking system.
  • Stay informed on changing legislation and arbitration developments affecting University operations.
  • Recommend and assist with implementation of procedural changes.
  • Serve as the University’s Subject Matter Expert for Contracting Out for Covered Services.
  • Work with catering vendors to ensure compliance and remediate wage payment discrepancies.
  • Develop and maintain advanced spreadsheets to support analysis and ensure appropriate internal controls.
• Customer Service and Special Projects (10%)
  • Manage a contract and helpdesk intake system (e.g., ServiceNow), answer incoming tickets, and self-manage assignments.
  • Respond to public records requests for signed contracts.
  • Complete work in support of ELR, Procurement, and Budget & Planning initiatives.
  • Participate in departmental and campus-wide committees, task forces, and work groups.
  • Perform reporting for Business & Financial Services and ELR as needed.
  • Participate in professional development and training.
  • Train staff as appropriate and help create an effective team environment.
• Duties as Assigned (5%)
  • Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a related area and/or equivalent experience/training.
• At least 5 years of experience working within higher education or government operations.
• Proven expertise in drafting, analyzing, and negotiating complex travel, entertainment, lodging, and facility use agreements to minimize institutional liability.
• Strong working knowledge of labor compliance, collective bargaining agreements, and policies regarding contracting out for covered services (e.g., UC Regents Policy 5402 or similar state/institutional mandates).
• Demonstrated ability to review financial terms, audit vendor invoices for wage and benefit parity, and manage advanced spreadsheets for compliance reporting.
• Proficiency in managing digital contract intake queues (e.g., ServiceNow) and centralized compliance tracking databases (e.g., AgileOne).
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with a track record of partnering effectively with Risk Management, Legal Counsel, and Labor Relations departments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience navigating University of California (UC) systemwide business policies, procurement protocols, and record retention requirements.
• Experience designing, editing, and delivering training materials and compliance workshops for diverse campus departments and external vendors.
• Familiarity with processing and managing formal public records requests for executed contracts and related documentation.
• Experience creating and maintaining informational websites or internal resource portals to provide guidance on submission and contract instructions.

Special Conditions of Employment

• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without employee sponsorship.
• Satisfactory criminal history background check required.
• Must comply with the University of California Policy on Vaccination Programs as a condition of employment.
• Final candidate must disclose any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining they committed misconduct at a previous employer.