Job Description

CONTRACT ASSOCIATE 

The Contract Associate is a member of a client sourcing service delivery team, responsible for drafting, negotiating and executing third party supplier agreements, according to Denali client’s corporate policies and business unit procedures.  Contract Associate will thoroughly diagnose client business needs, collaborate with client legal counsel, and work with third-party suppliers to maximize customer value while mitigating risk. Contract Associate will support contract activity that may include client standard contract templates, new master agreements, statements of work, amendments, or require the development of specialized contract vehicles to meet client business goals and objectives. It generally involves independent judgment and analysis of significant issue identification and resolution.  Act as the client focal point for communication with legal, finance, procurement and stakeholders for resolution of contract issues and disputes.   KEY RESPONSIBILITIES / JOB DUTIES:

• Close collaboration with client business stakeholders to secure a thorough understanding of client business needs for the supplier relationship. • Review and prepare third party contracts in accordance with client policy.  

PERFORM STEPS IN BASIC CONTRACT CYCLE:

PROPOSAL REVIEW: 

• Receives supplier proposals from a Client Sourcing Manager and reviews content for any risk not already identified by the Sourcing Manager.

DEFINING SCOPE & BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS: 

• The Contracts Associate engages with the Requester and Sourcing Manager to define the Requester’s business requirements/needs for the contract.

INFORMATION GATHERING: 

• The Contracts Associate interfaces with the supplier to fill-in information gaps

CONTRACT DRAFTING: 

• Once the scope is defined and all requirements have been gathered, the Contracts Associate drafts a Statement of Work using the client template (a.k.a. ‘paper’). 
• Care should be taken to omit terms contained within the proposal that are unfavorable to the client, while still writing an accurate description of the work to be performed.

REVIEW PROCESS: 

• The Contracts Associate presents the draft contract to the Requester, Sourcing Manager, supplier, and Legal team for review and approval (in that order). Incorporates any requested changes, then routes to client’s Legal for final review/stamping, then to supplier for signature.

FACILITATION BETWEEN LEGAL TEAMS: 

• Where differences exist between supplier and client’s preferred Legal terms, Contracts Associate may be asked to play the middle-man and exchange information between both parties. 
• Must be able to understand and summarize each party’s position.

DRIVING CONTRACT PROCESS COMPLETION: 

• The Contracts Associate manages each step of the process working with stakeholders to overcome roadblocks and keep the process progressing to completion.

ADDITIONAL TASKS:

• Tracking all existing contracts and working with requesters to determine when contract amendments (renewals) are necessary

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree
• 5+ years of work experience in operational, procurement or sourcing, and a minimum of 3 years of contract management experience.
• Must have some sourcing knowledge
•  Certified Commercial Contracts Manager (CCCM) and/or Certified Professional Contracts Manager (CPCM) preferred.

Additional Information

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:

CONTRACTING FUNCTIONAL SKILLS:

• Ability to draft moderate to complex, non-routine contractual agreements.
• Ability to review supplier proposals and identify risk and unfavorable business or legal terms proposed.
• Ability to convert ambiguous and/or informal language often contained within proposals or internal requirements documents into tightly-defined contract language.
• Ability to perform contracting strategically in order to reduce contract risk, minimize administrative effort.
• Familiarity with Legal language/terms.
• Use of independent judgment and creativity applied to the resolution of contract issues

BUSINESS FUNDAMENTALS:

• Strong analytical and communication skills.
• Attention to detail.
• Strong writing and grammar skills; ability to write clearly and conciselyStrong interpersonal skills, must be willing to regularly engage in-person and over the phone with internal stakeholders and suppliers.
• Excellent internal and external negotiation skills.

CLIENT SERVICES CAPABILITIES:

• Ability to quickly master client-specific contracting processes, terminology, political environment, systems and unique requirements by various business groups.
• Ability to influence and execute process improvement projects.