Principal Contracts Strategist (Pre-Award)

Onebrief

13d • $170,000 - $220,000

About The Position

Onebrief is hiring a Principal Contracts Strategist to join its Contracting Team in a foundational, senior individual contributor role. The position owns complex, high-impact contract strategy and execution while developing scalable systems that support sales and business growth. It reports to the Head of Contracts and works closely with contract administration, partnerships, legal, finance, sales, and customer relations. The role combines hands-on contracting work with strategic ownership to guide critical decisions, resolve ambiguity, and align contracts with business and customer needs. It has no direct people-management responsibilities but carries significant ownership, visibility, and influence across the organization.

The position focuses on federal government contracting and pre-award strategy, including contract analysis, negotiation, risk mitigation, lifecycle management, and acquisition approaches that support business goals and customer mission outcomes. The strategist will build and maintain scalable pre-award workflows, frameworks, playbooks, and decision models, and improve processes through automation and operational efficiency. The role also involves addressing immediate contracting challenges while creating durable processes and frameworks for an evolving organization.

Requirements

• Deep expertise in federal government contracting, including acquisition processes and regulations.
• Experience supporting software or technology-enabled products, including contracting models that support rapid delivery, enterprise adoption, and long-term mission outcomes.
• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field.
• At least 10 years of related experience as a contracts professional supporting contract strategy and administration.
• Experience designing and executing flexible acquisition approaches, such as OTAs, hybrid vehicles, and novel contract structures, while managing risk.
• Experience scaling contracting functions in a high-growth environment, building and refining systems and processes, and translating strategy into roadmaps and execution.
• Strong business judgment, analytical and problem-solving skills, and attention to detail.
• Excellent written, verbal, negotiation, interpersonal, and time-management skills, including in distributed or primarily asynchronous environments.
• Ability to lead through influence, build trust across functions, and operate independently with integrity and adaptability in a fast-paced environment.
• Willingness to travel as needed.
• Ability to obtain a U.S. Government security clearance.
• U.S. citizenship is required.

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience as a federal government contracting officer, ideally with at least 8 years in that capacity.
• Experience scaling contract strategy and execution internationally.

Responsibilities

• Partner with the Head of Contracts to shape contract strategy, translate it into clear, sequenced priorities, and support transparent, seamless contract awards.
• Own complex contract analysis, negotiation, risk mitigation, and lifecycle management, aligning acquisition approaches with business goals and customer mission outcomes.
• Build and maintain reliable, scalable pre-award workflows, contracting frameworks, playbooks, and decision models.
• Continuously improve contracting processes through automation and operational efficiency.
• Coordinate across contract administration, partnerships, legal, finance, sales, and customer relations to align priorities, identify dependencies, resolve blockers, and mitigate risks.
• Advance critical contract negotiations and awards, making risks, tradeoffs, and decisions clear to stakeholders.
• Strengthen pre-award workflows through clear ownership, reliable handoffs, and visibility into progress and dependencies.
• Develop and implement contracting frameworks, playbooks, and decision models that improve consistency and support scalable execution.
• Build trusted cross-functional partnerships and implement practical process or automation improvements that reduce friction while maintaining contract quality and appropriate risk controls.

What This Job Offers

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