Contract Manager

Energy Project Partners, LLC•Collierville, TN

5d•Remote

About The Position

Energy Project Partners (EPP) is seeking a Contract Manager to serve as its engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts subject-matter expert. This role will be embedded within a client's project organization, acting as a liaison between the client's legal and project execution departments. The Contract Manager will translate legal intent into actionable terms for project teams and translate field realities into language understandable by legal teams. The position is involved from the pre-construction phase through the entire contract life cycle, including assembling RFP packages, managing contract exhibits, interpreting bid responses, leading negotiations, and facilitating the change order and change management process. This is a strategic role focused on contract structuring and risk management, requiring strong organizational skills and the ability to integrate across various client departments. A fully performing Contract Manager will manage two to three active contract negotiations concurrently while administering existing contracts.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Business, Supply Chain, Finance, or a related field, or equivalent demonstrated experience.
7+ years of EPC contract administration, contract management, or commercial management experience on utility-scale or major capital projects, with meaningful time on the owner’s side of the table.
Demonstrated ownership of at least one full EPC contract life cycle — RFP package through negotiation, execution, change management, and closeout.
Fluency with standard EPC and EPCM contract forms and owner-drafted agreements, including lump-sum turnkey EPC, EPCM, balance-of-plant, and equipment or module supply agreements, and their interfaces with transportation, interconnection, warranty, and long-term service or O&M agreements.
Working familiarity with the FIDIC, ConsensusDocs, and AIA contract families.
Working command of the commercial terms that drive project risk: liquidated damages, performance guarantees and testing, warranty, indemnity, limitation of liability, insurance, force majeure, change and claims provisions, security instruments, suspension, termination, and dispute resolution.
Proven independent negotiation experience — building a negotiation strategy, leading redline exchanges, and closing terms with a counterparty.
Demonstrated exhibit and document control discipline, with the organizational rigor to keep a large exhibit set accurate through many revision cycles.
Ability to run two to three active negotiations concurrently while administering executed contracts, without losing track of commitments or deadlines.
Strong written communication and sound commercial judgment; able to produce clear, decision-ready analysis for legal, executive, and field audiences.
Proficiency with Microsoft 365, document management and contract lifecycle systems, and working literacy in Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project sufficient to evaluate schedule impacts.
Ability to work effectively as an embedded resource inside a client organization — self-directed, credible with senior stakeholders, and comfortable with dual accountability to EPP and to the client’s project leadership.

Nice To Haves

J.D., paralegal certificate, or formal contract-law coursework (not required).
NCMA certification (CPCM, CFCM, or CCCM), CCM, or comparable contracts or commercial-management credential.
Prior experience in the contracts or commercial group of an independent power producer, developer, utility, or other major capital project owner.
Experience across utility-scale generation, storage, or transmission project types — for example wind, solar, battery energy storage, thermal generation, substations, or high-voltage transmission.
Experience with contract lifecycle management (CLM) platforms, Procore, Deltek Vantagepoint, or LCPtracker.
Claims preparation, claims defense, or dispute resolution experience.
Experience supporting interconnection agreements, tax equity or financing diligence, or lender technical advisor requests as they affect EPC contract terms.

Responsibilities

Own the assembly of the EPC RFP package, including the agreement form, instructions to bidders, scope of work, technical specifications, and all exhibits.
Organize, number, and control all contract exhibits, ensuring internal consistency and absence of conflicts.
Maintain the master exhibit register, revision control, and manage the bidder question-and-answer log.
Advise on contracting strategy and delivery models, and how they reallocate risk, interface responsibility, and schedule float.
Interpret bid responses, normalize proposals, and identify commercial and technical exceptions.
Build and maintain the exceptions and qualifications matrix, translating deviations into owner risks.
Support bid clarification meetings and prepare the contractual portion of award recommendations.
Serve as the client’s contracts subject-matter expert on risk allocation, including terms related to scope, payment, liquidated damages, performance guarantees, warranty, indemnity, limitation of liability, insurance, force majeure, change and claims, suspension, termination, dispute resolution, and security instruments.
Develop negotiation strategies, define owner positions, and align with the client’s legal department.
Lead or co-lead negotiation sessions with EPC contractors.
Escalate genuine legal risk to the client’s legal department with a clear framing of the commercial trade-off.
Manage two to three active negotiations concurrently.
Own the redline process, maintaining the authoritative working draft and controlling versions.
Maintain the open issues list through negotiation and drive it to closure.
Confirm that agreed positions are accurately and consistently reflected in the contract body and exhibits.
Prepare clean and comparison drafts for review and signature, and assemble the final executed conformed set.
Produce the conformed contract set at execution and run a structured contract handover and kickoff with the project execution team.
Build and maintain the contract obligations and deliverables register.
Monitor compliance with contractual notice provisions.
Maintain organized, audit-ready contract records and correspondence.
Facilitate the change management process end to end, including intake, entitlement assessment, cost and schedule evaluation, negotiation, approval routing, and execution of change orders.
Evaluate change requests against the contract to establish contractual entitlement.
Coordinate technical, cost, and schedule review of change requests.
Negotiate change order pricing and terms.
Maintain the change log and report change status, exposure, and trends.
Manage early warning, claims, and dispute avoidance.
Operate as an integrated member of the client’s organization, building relationships across departments.
Understand departmental decision rights, review cycles, and approval thresholds.
Communicate contractual positions in language each audience can act on.
Serve as a coaching resource to project managers and field leadership on contract interpretation and compliance.
Represent EPP professionally within the client’s organization and keep EPP leadership informed.