Contracts Manager

CEG Solutions•Arlington, VA

5d•Remote

About The Position

CEG Solutions is a leading national Energy Service Company (ESCO) delivering transformative sustainability and infrastructure projects. Originating as a general contractor, we pair deep construction expertise with rigorous data analysis to provide turnkey, design-build energy and water efficiency solutions at no upfront cost to our clients. With over $1 billion in projects awarded or in development, we partner with federal, state, and local governments, as well as healthcare and education sectors, to modernize complex facilities. Following our recent 2025 merger with Iconergy, we continue to expand our mission to improve the built environment through innovation, technical excellence, and guaranteed results. The Role CEG is seeking a Contracts Manager to lead negotiations and drive execution across our portfolio, including prime contracts, subcontracts, vendor agreements, and proposal/RFP terms. This role owns the contracting process end-to-end: intake, review, redlines, negotiation strategy, internal alignment, approvals, and signature. You are a pragmatic, firm negotiator who can protect CEG’s non-negotiables, reduce unnecessary customization, and craft smart compromises when exceptions are required. You’ll work closely with sales/business development, project development, construction, consulting, finance, and risk/insurance (coordinating with senior leadership and outside counsel as needed) to move agreements to signature quickly without compromising risk posture.

Requirements

5–10+ years of experience in contracts/subcontracts management, commercial contracting, procurement/vendor contractor, and/or construction/energy services agreements.
Proven track record leading negotiations (not just processing paperwork) and driving contracts to signature.
Strong command of core contract clauses, including indemnity, insurance, limitation of liability, warranties, dispute resolution, termination, payment, schedule/LDs, flow-downs, and change management.
Strong judgement and the ability to set negotiation strategy, hold firm on critical terms, and align stakeholders on smart compromises when needed.
Exceptional written communication, redline discipline, and ability to synthesize complex risk into clear recommendations.
Highly organized and comfortable building and maintaining contract trackers, dashboards, and contracting workflows.
Demonstrated ability to balance AI tools for speed while validating accuracy and applying independent judgement.
Bachelor’s degree in business, law, engineering, construction management, business, or related field (or equivalent practical experience).

Nice To Haves

Preferred: experience in ESCO/EPC/construction environments, public-sector or federal contracting, and/or contract flow-downs.
Familiarity with bonding/surety concepts and risk/insurance coordination.
Experience partnering with outside counsel and managing expectation approvals in a fast-moving environment.

Responsibilities

Negotiation Leadership
Contract Review: Analyze third-party agreements (primes, RFPs, subcontracts, POs, PSAs, consulting) and amendments.
Risk Mitigation: Identify legal, financial, and operational risks; provide actionable redlines aligned with CEG frameworks.
Active Negotiation: Lead counterparties through language and risk allocation, including scope, payment, and flow-downs.
Strategic Escalation: Enforce critical terms and manage exceptions via defined approval processes with clear recommendations.
Process Management: Drive negotiations to closure using disciplined tracking, documented rationale, and clean redlines.
Final Execution: Verify that all approved terms and redlines are accurately reflected in final copies and attachments.
Prime Contract Support & Flow-Down Governance
Flow-Down Management: Review prime contracts to ensure all obligations and protections are accurately mirrored in subcontract and vendor agreements.
Proposal Strategy: Support RFP responses by auditing T&Cs, drafting exceptions, and aligning commercial terms with pricing and delivery assumptions.
Operational Alignment: Partner with leadership to ensure commitments (notices, LDs, acceptance, reporting) are understood and operationally executable.
Contract and Subcontract Lifecycle Management
Pipeline Ownership: Manage the "contracts for execution" pipeline by removing blockers and driving momentum toward final signatures.
Real-Time Logging: Maintain a comprehensive log capturing status, values, key clauses, insurance/bonding, flow-downs, and critical dates.
Internal Coordination: Facilitate cross-functional reviews and approvals among project, operations, finance, risk, and legal teams.
Centralized Storage: Ensure executed agreements are organized in a searchable repository and project-specific folders with strict version control.
Risk and Terms Governance
Governance Tools: Develop and maintain negotiation playbooks, clause libraries, fallback positions, and escalation/signature authority protocols.
Key Term Negotiation: Validate and negotiate critical terms, including indemnity, LoL, warranties, LDs, payment, bonding, and IP/security provisions.
Process Improvement: Identify recurring friction points in clauses to drive template updates and accelerate execution speed.
Compliance Oversight: Ensure all agreements adhere to local, state, and federal requirements along with industry standards.
AI-Enabled Efficiency (With Reasonable Controls)
Augmented Review: Utilize AI for accelerated issue spotting, clause comparisons, and drafting while maintaining independent validation and expert judgment.
Governance Framework: Establish "safe use" guidelines, including confidentiality controls, verification protocols, and approved use cases for contract AI.
Workflow Automation: Develop lightweight automations for clause extraction, status reporting, and redline checklists to enhance speed and consistency.