Commercial Contracts Manager

Nooks•Colorado Springs, CO

About The Position

Nooks is pioneering Classified-Infrastructure-as-a-Service (CIaaS), designing, building, and operating Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs) and other secured, classified environments for the defense and national security community. The company works with agencies, contractors, and mission-driven organizations, and is growing across multiple markets. The Commercial Contracts Manager owns the contract cycle for Nooks’ commercial contracts, reviewing, redlining, and negotiating third-party agreements from first draft through signature and handling amendments and revisions as needed. The role aims to move agreements to signature faster without conceding terms under deadline pressure. The manager will develop the commercial contract playbook with outside counsel and apply it to each deal. The position reports to the VP of Growth, takes legal direction from outside counsel, and is a full-time individual-contributor role. Priorities may shift in the fast-moving startup environment, so the role calls for initiative and comfort with ambiguity. The manager works independently across locations and lifecycle phases. No commercial contract playbook currently exists, so the role will establish the standard and then apply it to every deal. Occasional travel for company events and select customer negotiations is expected. Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States; an active security clearance is preferred but not required. Pricing, government contracts, regulatory flow-down clauses, and security classification requirements belong to other owners and should be routed to them rather than resolved by this role. Success means an approved playbook governs customer negotiations; routine terms are resolved by the Growth team without unnecessary review; agreements reach signature on a predictable, tracked cycle; deviations are documented and escalated before signature; and executed agreements, amendments, renewals, and key dates are maintained in a complete record. Leadership should have clear information before closing about which terms Nooks is accepting and why.

Requirements

Five or more years reviewing, redlining, and negotiating commercial agreements with substantial independence.
Working command of core commercial terms, including liability limits, indemnification, insurance, termination, service levels, and payment.
Track record of negotiating directly with customer legal and procurement teams while holding positions and keeping deals moving.
Ability to understand business requirements and translate them into agreement terms.
Experience drafting or maintaining contract templates or playbooks with defined standard and fallback positions.
Plain-language writing skills to explain contract risk to non-lawyers and frame clear escalation recommendations.
Comfort working independently while soliciting direction from Legal, Growth, and Government delivery functions.
Authorization to work in the United States.

Nice To Haves

J.D. or Paralegal certification.
Experience contracting with defense contractors or other cleared-industry customers.
Experience managing a contracts process using a Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) system or structured contract repository.
Active security clearance.

Responsibilities

Review, redline, and negotiate commercial customer agreements—including service agreements, NDAs, and teaming agreements—against approved playbook positions.
Decide non-material terms within guidelines and escalate material terms, such as price and duration, to the VP of Growth with a recommendation.
Draft and negotiate amendments, extensions, and renewals of executed commercial agreements, keeping changes consistent with current playbook positions.
Draft the commercial contract playbook, including standard, fallback, and walk-away positions, for approval by the VP of Growth and outside counsel.
Maintain commercial templates and the playbook, proposing updated positions when negotiation patterns or counsel guidance indicate a standard no longer holds.
Train the Growth team on playbook positions so routine terms can be resolved during sales conversations.
Prepare contract content for proposals, including terms, exceptions, and representations and certifications, and contribute broader proposal content when needed.
Maintain complete records of commercial agreements in a contracts lifecycle management tool, including executed versions, approvals, key dates, and renewal triggers.
Track and report contract cycle time and playbook deviations to the VP of Growth, identifying terms or steps that slow deals.
Review all commercial customer, vendor, and supplier agreements for the company.
Partner daily with Growth and negotiate directly with customer legal and procurement teams.
Follow outside counsel’s legal direction and route pricing, government contracts, regulatory flow-down clauses, and security classification requirements to their designated owners.