Senior Contract Lead

Blend

6d•$112,000 - $132,000

About The Position

This is the person our sales team brings its hardest negotiations to. The job is to get deals to signature on terms we can live with, and to do it without a queue forming behind you. You will own redlines end to end, draft the language yourself, and handle the order form mechanics that decide what we actually agreed to. It is a senior individual contributor seat. There are no direct reports and no process empire to build. We are hiring judgment and throughput. This is a Go-to-Market role, not a Legal role: it reports to the Manager of the Deal Desk, with full ownership of getting deals to signature – looping in Legal as an escalation point only when genuinely warranted.

Requirements

10+ years negotiating commercial technology agreements, with substantial enterprise SaaS experience on the vendor side.
Genuine depth across the clauses that stall deals: limitation of liability, indemnification, IP and data ownership, data security and privacy exhibits, audit and examination rights, insurance, termination for convenience, most-favored-nation and benchmarking, source code escrow, and assignment. You should not need to research these.
Real drafting range. You can write a clause that solves the commercial problem, not just strike the counterparty’s.
Demonstrated autonomy. You take a deal, work it, and return with it done. You know which questions are worth your manager’s time and which are not.
Composure and throughput at quarter end.
A JD or a senior paralegal / contract manager background. Both are fully in scope; we care about what you have closed.

Nice To Haves

Contracting with banks, credit unions, mortgage lenders, or other regulated financial institutions, including their third-party risk and vendor management processes.
Familiarity with Salesforce, a CLM such as Ironclad, and e-signature tooling.
Prior General Counsel, Associate General Counsel, or head of commercial legal experience, in a candidate who now wants to negotiate rather than manage people or practice law.

Responsibilities

Own redlines from first pass to final turn on MSAs, order forms, DPAs, NDAs, security and privacy exhibits, and amendments.
Draft the language. Write the fallback and compromise positions rather than only flagging the problem and sending it upstream.
Own order form specifics: scope and product definitions, term and renewal mechanics, ramps, payment and invoicing terms, usage and overage definitions, SLA and service credit constructs, and exhibit cross-references.
Negotiate directly with customer counsel, procurement, and third-party risk teams, on calls and in the document.
Decide within delegated authority. Escalate to Legal on the genuinely novel or materially risky, and only then. Coordinate directly with Security, Finance, Product, and other stakeholders without the need for Legal to serve as intermediary.
Exercise sound judgment on behalf of Deal Desk as to whether and when to escalate, and own the outcomes of those decisions.
Keep a durable record of positions taken and why, so the next negotiation starts from a known place instead of from scratch.
Give Sales fast, plain-English answers on what a term means and what it will cost us.

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision benefits, with a generous employer contribution that helps keep your medical insurance costs low.
Company-paid life, short-term, and long-term disability coverage
Generous PTO, holidays, and maternity/parental leave
Employee Assistance Program (EAP): mental health, legal, childcare & eldercare, financial planning, college search, and more
Voluntary benefits: accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity, identity theft, and legal insurance
Monthly wellness stipend for fitness, mental health, and well-being
Milk Stork
Pet insurance
Paid volunteer time off
401(k) retirement plan with company match
Pre-tax savings: healthcare & dependent care FSAs, Limited Purpose FSA, and HSA