Director, Contracting Systems, Governance and Operations

Bristol Myers Squibb • Princeton, NJ

1d

About The Position

The Director, Contracting Systems, Governance and Operations owns the strategy, governance, technology enablement, process design, knowledge management, and operational performance of Bristol Myers Squibb’s enterprise contracting function. The role leads both the Contract Operations team—which manages templates and template governance, playbooks and fallback guidance, Icertis administration, legal intake and escalation, reporting, and facilitator enablement—and the transformation to a single, integrated, AI-enabled contracting ecosystem.

The Director partners with Law, Procurement, Enterprise Technology, Data & AI, Finance, Compliance, and business functions to develop a scalable, data-driven contracting model that improves speed, consistency, risk management, and user experience across the contract lifecycle, from intake through execution and post-signature management. The role combines operational leadership with transformation, technology, and data expertise, building the enterprise contracting capability while keeping current operations running.

The position leads the transformation roadmap and program team; establishes lifecycle workflows, decision rights, routing rules, service models, controls, and performance standards; and drives adoption across internal functions and third parties contracting on BMS’s behalf. It oversees AI-enabled contracting capabilities and the integrated technology roadmap, including BMS Claude, Icertis, Databricks, SAP, Ariba, DocuSign, third-party risk management processes, repositories, and data products. It also owns contracting playbooks, templates, governance, central legal intake, Icertis administration, contract data strategy, reporting, risk controls, continuous improvement, and the Contract Operations and transformation teams.

The role requires a bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience, extensive experience in contracting or related operations, and a record of leading teams or large cross-functional programs. A JD or other advanced degree is preferred. Compensation for Princeton, New Jersey is listed at $221,340–$268,212, with potential eligibility for discretionary cash incentives and stock opportunities.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required, or equivalent experience in contracting, legal operations, or procurement operations.
• Typically 10+ years of experience in contracting, legal operations, or procurement operations.
• Typically 5+ years leading teams or large cross-functional programs.
• Demonstrated people leadership, including managing managers and building teams from the ground up.
• Track record delivering enterprise transformation or technology implementations and designing end-to-end processes and operating models.
• Deep knowledge of contract templates, playbooks, fallback frameworks, and risk-tiered review models.
• Experience in the pharmaceutical or a similarly regulated industry.
• Working knowledge of contract data and analytics, AI governance, data privacy, and information security considerations in contracting technology.
• Excellent business judgment, executive presence, and communication skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate across Law, Procurement, Technology, and business functions.
• High integrity, resilience, and commitment to BMS values of integrity, innovation, urgency, accountability, inclusion, and passion.

Nice To Haves

• JD or other advanced degree.
• In-house experience.
• Experience with contract lifecycle management or AI-assisted drafting and review implementations.
• Familiarity with Icertis or similar contract lifecycle management platforms and AI drafting tools.

Responsibilities

• Own the enterprise contracting transformation roadmap, driving simplification, standardization, and digital enablement across the contract lifecycle.
• Serve as process owner for the enterprise contracting lifecycle, establishing workflows, decision rights, routing rules, service models, controls, performance standards, risk-tiering thresholds, and review SLAs.
• Build and lead the enterprise contracting transformation program team, establishing its structure, roles, and operating cadence.
• Onboard Functional Delivery Owners and attorney towers to the new model, including contract type and PO inventories, routing rules, risk criteria, templates and fallback submissions, and retirement of legacy intake channels and shadow templates.
• Lead change management, training, and adoption across Law, Procurement, the business, and third parties contracting on BMS’s behalf.
• Lead deployment and governance of AI-enabled contracting capabilities, including intelligent intake, drafting, redlining, escalation management, knowledge management, and continuous learning.
• Manage relationships with contracting technology vendors and Technology teams, including requirements, architecture, data and security considerations, pilots, and go-live readiness.
• Own the integrated contracting technology roadmap across BMS Claude, Icertis, Databricks, SAP, Ariba, DocuSign, TPRM processes, repositories, and data products.
• Own vendor and budget strategy for contracting technology and service providers, including performance, cost, and contract management.
• Maintain enterprise contracting playbooks, decision frameworks, fallback positions, approval authorities, and governance standards.
• Own the governed template library, template selection guidance, and change-control process for template and fallback updates, including the monthly template-improvement sweep.
• Set standards for capturing SME dispositions and converting them into governed fallback positions and counterparty-history guidance.
• Lead facilitator enablement through training, job aids, and guidance to support Procurement facilitators and reduce unnecessary legal escalations.
• Own contracting policies and guidance, including Global Contracting Hub content, in coordination with Procurement, Finance, Legal, and Compliance.
• Own the central legal intake model and escalation framework, including uniform intake, escalation routing, template selection guidance, and criteria for Procurement escalations to Legal.
• Own Icertis administration and provide centralized contract operations support across contracting towers.
• Lead repository mapping and decisions about the future contract repository, including controls connecting payment to agreements identified in the mapped repository.
• Establish and oversee contract data strategy, including metadata standards, extraction frameworks, reporting models, contract intelligence, and analytics.
• Own contracting reporting and metrics, including volume, cycle time, time in stage, escalations, fallback adoption, and template and playbook adoption.
• Develop and maintain enterprise contracting knowledge assets so approved positions, templates, and playbooks are captured, governed, and reused.
• Implement operational controls, approval frameworks, human checkpoints, AI governance mechanisms, and risk-management processes, including TPRM and financial review touchpoints, in partnership with Privacy Law & Compliance and AI & Data Governance.
• Drive ongoing contracting process optimization using analytics, user feedback, cycle-time reduction, and automation opportunities, feeding learnings into templates and playbooks.
• Maintain audit readiness and clear interfaces with Procurement, Finance, and business owners to clarify accountability and prevent duplication.
• Lead, develop, and retain the Contract Operations team and enterprise contracting transformation program team, building a shared culture and operating rhythm.
• Set team priorities, performance expectations, and succession plans, and fill open roles.

Benefits

• Potential eligibility for discretionary incentive cash and stock opportunities.
• Comprehensive benefit plans, including wellbeing support, retirement and financial protection benefits, and medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance offerings.
• Flexible Time Off for eligible U.S.-based exempt employees, subject to manager approval.
• 11 paid company holidays each year.
• Depending on eligibility, paid sick leave, up to two paid volunteer days per year, summer hours flexibility, and leaves of absence for medical, personal, parental, caregiver, bereavement, or military needs.
• Eligible employees may receive an annual Global Shutdown between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director