Contracts & Procurement Manager

The Helper Bees•Austin, TX

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Contracts & Procurement Manager is responsible for the review, negotiation, and consistency of customer contracts, vendor agreements, and non-disclosure agreements across The Helper Bees. This role protects margin, manages contractual risk, supports deal velocity, and serves as the single point of accountability for how our contracts get handled. We sell to health plans and long-term care insurance carriers. What we agree to with a carrier determines what Operations has to deliver, what our vendors are held to, and what we can commit to next. Today those terms get negotiated one deal at a time with no shared position. Your job is to change that. You will partner closely with Sales, Operations, Implementation, Finance, and Security, and you will know when a question is genuinely non-standard and needs outside counsel rather than a judgment call. Both halves of this job matter. A contract that costs us more than it earns is a failure. So is one that sits unsigned for three months. This is hands-on. No analyst, no contract lifecycle management system, no team under you. Moving a deal through a large health plan means asking questions across teams and chasing the answers yourself, and it is as much project management as negotiation.

Requirements

Demonstrated ability to negotiate directly with enterprise counterparties and hold a position under pressure
Comfort operating inside large-organization procurement processes without getting stalled by them
Sound judgment about when a question is above your line
Comfort using AI tools in your day-to-day work, and a genuine curiosity about how emerging technology applies to your role
Exceptional interpersonal skills with the ability to interact professionally with employees at all levels
Ability to prioritize multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment
Strong organizational skills with excellent attention to detail
Ability to maintain strict confidentiality with sensitive client, contract, and company information
Ability to problem-solve
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Ability to work both independently and collaboratively as part of a team
Must be 18 years of age or older
Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience required
5+ years in contracts, procurement, vendor management, or deal operations, including enterprise B2B agreements, required
Healthcare industry experience: health plan, payer, provider, or healthcare services company, required
Experience negotiating with or working inside a large health plan or carrier procurement organization required
Working familiarity with HIPAA and business associate agreements required
Experience owning contracts independently rather than supporting a legal or procurement team required
Experience on the buying side of enterprise procurement preferred
CPSM, CPCM, CCCM, paralegal certificate, or similar credential preferred
Working knowledge of Medicare Advantage and Medicaid program requirements preferred

Responsibilities

Own the close-to-signature stretch. Take agreements from Sales once the deal is won and drive them to execution.
Manage redline rounds with the carrier's procurement and legal teams, track versions, keep the timeline visible, and know when a delay needs escalation on their side or ours.
Clear the gates to signature. Large health plans won't execute until their vendor risk review clears, we're registered in their supplier system, and they have insurance certificates naming them as additional insured. You will track those requirements and keep them moving, working with Security on their risk and questionnaire process, Finance on tax and payment documentation, and our broker on certificates of insurance.
Learn each carrier's process so the second deal moves faster than the first.
Hand off cleanly. Our Implementation team owns everything from signed contract to go-live. Your job is to make sure they inherit a documented set of commitments rather than having to reconstruct what was promised.
Negotiate commercial terms. Pricing structures, payment terms, service levels, renewal and termination provisions, and performance credits.
Before we commit to anything operational, bring Operations and Implementation into the conversation to confirm we can actually deliver it. Nobody should be finding out what we promised after the contract is signed.
Own our standard positions. Document what we accept, what we push back on, and where our walk-away line sits across the terms that come up every time. Apply it consistently so rounds three and four stop re-litigating the same clauses.
Vendor agreements and BAAs. Run our side of vendor contracting end to end. Negotiate new agreements, review terms, and pay particular attention to whether what we're getting downstream actually supports what we've committed to upstream.
Own business associate agreement coverage in both directions.
Vendor renewals and spend. Own the renewal calendar so we're negotiating months ahead of a deadline rather than days after one.
Track what we're paying, what we're actually using, and where we're carrying seats or tiers we don't need. Come to renewals with usage data and a position, not a signature.
Contract operations. Own the contract repository and obligation tracker across both client and vendor agreements. Make sure we can answer what we committed to, what we're owed, and when it comes due without anyone digging through email.
Escalation judgment. Know the difference between a term you can resolve and one that needs a lawyer. When something is genuinely non-standard, flag it and get outside counsel involved rather than guessing.