Senior Contract Manager

VEC • San Francisco, CA

7d • Remote

About The Position

The Senior Contract Manager builds and leads VEC's commercial contracting function, owning agreements from intake and negotiation through execution and closeout. The role negotiates directly with general contractor and client legal teams, establishes practical contract standards, and independently resolves matters within approved authority. This is a full-time remote role within the United States, reporting to the VP Administration & Finance, with a base salary range of $140,000 to $165,000. This is a hands-on senior individual contributor role with no direct reports initially, carrying meaningful responsibility for how VEC evaluates risk and commits to client obligations. Project Administrators support intake, tracking, and document coordination, which leaves the Senior Contract Manager free to focus on the substantive work: reading what is actually in front of them, redlining it, and getting to a position VEC can stand behind. A law degree is not required for this role. What matters is substantive negotiation experience and the judgment to know when leadership or specialist advice is needed.

Requirements

• Seven or more years of contract review and negotiation experience, including substantial recent experience in architecture, engineering, construction consulting, or construction technology services.
• Direct responsibility for drafting redlines and negotiating professional-services agreements and proprietary GC subcontract forms with client legal or contracts teams.
• Strong understanding of professional-services standard of care, indemnity and defense, liability limits, consequential damages, construction insurance, intellectual property, and payment protections.
• Experience aligning subconsultant agreements with client obligations.
• Experience building or improving contract processes and execution controls.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent relevant experience.
• Sound independent judgment, with the self-awareness to recognize when leadership or specialist advice is needed.
• Ability to explain a risk position in plain terms to people who are not contract professionals.
• Comfort doing the work personally in a senior individual contributor role, without direct reports initially.
• Willingness to train project teams and be the person they come to before a problem gets expensive.
• Hands-on redlining and drafting of commercial contract language, not review and routing.
• Ability to analyze risk allocation across a full agreement and identify where terms conflict with VEC's obligations elsewhere.
• Working knowledge of execution controls, approval sequencing, and contract recordkeeping.
• Working proficiency across Word redlining, e-signature platforms, prequalification portals, and tracking tools such as Excel or Smartsheet (see Software & Technical Proficiency above).

Nice To Haves

• Experience coordinating business insurance renewals.
• Familiarity with AIA and ConsensusDocs forms.
• Experience with prequalification platforms.
• Experience negotiating data and security terms.
• Experience supporting international service delivery.
• JD, paralegal training, or contract management certification.

Responsibilities

• Review, draft, and negotiate client, GC, subconsultant, and vendor agreements, including amendments, NDAs, and data and security terms.
• Negotiate directly with general contractor and client legal or contracts teams, discussing proposed language and resolving terms rather than routing comments between parties.
• Align subconsultant agreements with the obligations VEC has taken on with its clients.
• Negotiate indemnity, defense obligations, liability limits, insurance requirements, payment protections, intellectual property, and other contractual risks.
• Apply a working position on professional-services standard of care, consequential damages, and construction insurance, and know where VEC can flex and where it cannot.
• Bring leadership clear recommendations on material exceptions, with the risk and the trade-off stated plainly.
• Control approvals, final versions, and signature sequencing.
• Confirm that the signing copy matches the agreed terms before execution.
• Ensure work begins under an executed agreement or an approved exception.
• Maintain reliable contract records and execution controls.
• Own prequalifications, vendor registrations, and compliance questionnaires.
• Coordinate verified responses with internal teams so submissions are accurate and consistent.
• Manage contractual obligations, notices, changes, renewals, disputes, and closeout.
• Track what VEC has committed to and surface obligations before they become issues.
• Build templates and a contract playbook that project teams can actually use.
• Train project teams on contract standards and escalation paths.
• Coordinate the insurance broker and outside counsel, and decide when specialist input is needed.
• Own business insurance renewals: coordinate applications and broker recommendations, obtain officer approval, and maintain current policy records.

Benefits

• VEC is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. In accordance with federal and state laws, VEC does not discriminate in employment because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical and mental disability, marital status, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or related condition, ancestry, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or gender expression, HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Associate degree