Senior Manager Contract Management

McDermott•Houston, TX

About The Position

Reporting to the Project Director, the Senior Contracts Manager is the focal point for contractual and commercial issues during the pre-award, early works, and execution phases of a large-scale, complex EPCI project valued at more than $1 billion. The role protects contractual entitlement, supports profitable project execution, and integrates the prime contract with a hybrid commercial model, local execution, modularization, marine facilities, licensors, vendors, subcontractors, and country-entry requirements. Delivery will be led from Houston, with global engineering, procurement, and fabrication interfaces and substantial in-country execution in Argentina. The role establishes and implements the project’s contractual and commercial strategy; manages contract obligations, changes, claims, correspondence, and client negotiations; and coordinates contractual inputs across project functions and external stakeholders. It also supports procurement and subcontract strategy and administration, Argentine contracting and compliance requirements, risk and opportunity management, project reporting, and commercial close-out. The role requires mobilization to the job site.

Requirements

At least 15 years of project execution experience in the energy and/or construction industries, including at least 5 years in a contracts or commercial management role.
At least 3 years of management experience.
University degree in Engineering, Construction Management, or a similar field.
Advanced understanding of EPC/EPCI contracting, project lifecycles, schedule and cost interfaces, change control, claims, and dispute avoidance.
Ability to work effectively across cultures, functions, entities, and time zones.
Ability to translate complex contractual issues into practical project actions and clear executive advice.
Strong drafting, negotiation, analytical, and record-management skills.
Commercial awareness, sound judgment, and disciplined protection of contractual rights.
Working knowledge of contract-management systems, document-control platforms, and Microsoft 365 tools.
High standards of ethics, confidentiality, compliance, inclusion, safety leadership, and professional conduct.
Fluency in English and Spanish.
Ability to mobilize to the job site.

Responsibilities

Support the Project Director in establishing or refining the project’s contractual and commercial strategy and implementing it throughout execution.
Review pre-award terms, commercial clarifications, and qualifications for alignment with execution strategy, scope, schedule, pricing, tax and entity strategy, and approved risk positions.
Support transition from tender and FEED activities to early works and full EPC, including contract handover, assumptions and open-item registers, deviations, approvals, and preservation of bid entitlements.
Prepare and maintain contract-management mobilization schedules, contract summaries and plans, responsibility matrices, communication protocols, notices matrices, and deliverables calendars; incorporate relevant lessons learned.
Conduct contractual awareness sessions for project team members and identify sensitive contractual matters requiring Legal support.
Maintain records of contractual obligations, conditions precedent, milestones, payment triggers, review and approval periods, access obligations, owner-furnished information, permits, interfaces, and relief events.
Serve as the initial client contact for contractual issues and establish effective working relationships with client counterparts.
Manage relationships with project and business stakeholders, including Project Management, Engineering, Procurement, Subcontracts, Fabrication, Construction, Marine Installation, Hook Up and Commissioning, JV or consortium partners, QHSE, Legal, Finance, Business Line Management, EXCOM, and the client.
Own allocated registers, notices, correspondence, deliverables, and contractual reporting, ensuring accuracy and timely closure.
Operate change control from identification through notification, impact assessment, pricing, negotiation, approval, implementation, and close-out; maintain change, claim, opportunity, and risk registers linked to schedule and cost records.
Coordinate schedule, productivity, quantity, engineering, procurement, logistics, construction, and commissioning inputs to establish cause, effect, and quantum.
Evaluate individual and cumulative cost and schedule impacts of changes with the Project Contracts Manager, and participate in change-management meetings to identify potential compensation or schedule-relief entitlements.
Prepare or support claims, defenses, counterclaims, and commercial settlements, including factual chronologies and entitlement narratives.
Engage and negotiate with the client to resolve contractual issues, change orders, and contract amendments; brief project and McDermott management on sensitive matters and support dispute escalation when needed.
Draft, review, and administer contractual correspondence, notices, reservations of rights, change requests, requests for information, technical queries with contractual effect, meeting records, and executive decision papers.
Coordinate client correspondence and timely notifications to preserve contractual rights; monitor notice periods and substantiation requirements in the main contract and subcontracts and advise project leadership about delay implications.
Assist with weekly and monthly progress reports and provide updates for reporting, risk and opportunity reviews, and commercial-management meetings.
Contribute to risk and opportunity management; coordinate with Corporate Finance on contractual requirements, insurance, and guarantees; follow up on Completion Certificates; and coordinate main-contract commercial close-out, including guarantees and retentions.
Prepare flow-down plans and ensure relevant obligations and liabilities, including guarantees, warranties, and insurance, are passed to subcontractors and vendors.
Align procurement and subcontract teams with prime-contract obligations for relief, liability, schedule, warranty, insurance, compliance, records, audit, and disputes.
Support package strategy, bidder qualifications, commercial evaluations, negotiations, award recommendations, and contract formation for equipment, module fabrication, logistics, marine, and in-country packages.
Ensure supplier and subcontractor events are promptly captured for upstream notice and recovery, support administration of vendor and subcontract correspondence, and pursue external changes and backcharges promptly.
Coordinate contract-management inputs for the Argentine contracting entity, local registration, RIGI participation, tax, customs, import and export, currency, banking, and corporate authorizations.
Maintain a permit and approval matrix for owner, contractor, and subcontractor responsibilities and monitor allocation, sequencing, and schedule effects.
Integrate local-content, sustainability, labor, human-rights, ethics, and compliance obligations into plans, procurement, and records.
Support contracting and administration of in-country construction and services, including local-language and local-law interfaces where required, in coordination with Argentine counsel and authorized translators.
Plan contractual close-out from project commencement, including completion evidence, punch-list administration, acceptance, final account, security release, claims resolution, warranty transition, and record retention.
Coordinate close-out of client billing, insurance, and guarantees while preserving rights for unresolved matters.
Capture and communicate lessons learned for future Argentina, LNG, NGL, and complex EPC pursuits.
Participate in project management reviews, functional reviews, legal meetings, risk reviews, and commercial-management meetings; provide dashboards on exposure, entitlement, decisions, and actions.
Maintain audit-ready records in the approved document-management system and ensure correspondence and approvals are traceable.
Provide manpower and bid forecasts to Business Line Management as necessary.