Senior Manager, Deal Desk & Contract Management

Commerce•Austin, TX

13d

About The Position

This role sits at the intersection of Sales, Finance, Legal, and RevOps, serving as a strategic partner to the go-to-market organization while ensuring deal integrity, commercial compliance, and operational efficiency across the entire quote-to-cash lifecycle. We are looking for someone that can earn the trust of both Sales and cross-functional partners. Sales sees them as someone who will fight to get the deal done; Legal, FinOps, and Finance trust them to know the playbooks well enough to approve on their behalf — reducing friction without increasing risk. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in deal structuring and contract operations within a SaaS environment, paired with the leadership capability to build and develop a high-performing team.

Requirements

Deeply service-oriented; approaches every interaction with Sales as a partner, not a gatekeeper, focused on finding a path to "yes" while maintaining commercial integrity.
Holds themselves and their team to a high standard of ownership — sets clear expectations, follows through on commitments, and creates a culture where accountability is the norm, not the exception.
10+ years of experience in Deal Desk, Revenue or Financial Operations, Contract Management, or a related commercial operations function within a B2B SaaS or technology company.
5+ years of people management experience, with a track record of building and developing high-performing teams.
Deep familiarity with SaaS commercial models, including subscription pricing, multi-year deals, usage-based structures, and enterprise licensing.
Experience working with CLM tools (e.g., Ironclad, Conga, DocuSign CLM) and CRM platforms (Salesforce required).
Strong understanding of revenue recognition principles (ASC 606) and their practical application to deal structuring.
Proven ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders including Sales leadership, Finance, and Legal without direct authority.
Exceptional attention to detail combined with the ability to operate strategically and manage competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to synthesize complex commercial or legal concepts for non-expert audiences.
Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Legal Studies, or a related field required; MBA or JD a plus.
Thrives in a high-growth, dynamic environment and comfortable operating with ambiguity while building structure.

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary point of escalation and approval for non-standard deal structures, pricing exceptions, discounting, and commercial terms across all segments and regions.
Partner with Sales, Sales Leadership, and Finance to structure complex, multi-product, and multi-year deals that maximize revenue while maintaining commercial controls.
Develop and enforce deal desk policies, approval workflows, and discount guardrails to ensure consistency and protect margin.
Drive deal velocity by managing SLAs, removing friction from the approval process, and proactively flagging risk or opportunity across the pipeline.
Build and maintain deal desk playbooks, pricing matrices, and escalation frameworks used across the revenue organization.
Own the end-to-end contract lifecycle management process, from initial redlines through execution, renewal, and archiving.
Maintain and continuously improve the standard contract playbook, fallback positions, and pre-approved clause libraries in partnership with Legal.
Oversee contract repository hygiene and ensure data accuracy within the CLM system; identify and implement tooling improvements to increase efficiency.
Partner with Legal on non-standard or high-risk contractual terms, ensuring proper escalation paths and timely resolution.
Track contract key dates (renewals, terminations, obligations) and proactively surface risk or opportunity to Sales and Finance leadership.
Act as a trusted advisor to Sales on deal strategy, structuring options, and commercial risk — translating complex policy into actionable guidance.
Collaborate with RevOps, Finance, and Billing to ensure seamless handoffs from signed contract to revenue recognition and invoicing.
Partner with Legal, Compliance, and Security to ensure contracts meet regulatory, data privacy, and company risk standards.
Drive alignment between Sales and Finance on revenue recognition implications of deal structures in accordance with ASC 606.
Contribute to executive level reporting on deal desk metrics, contract compliance, and commercial health.
Recruit, lead, manage, and develop a team of Deal Desk Analysts and Contract Managers.
Set clear expectations for performance, establish team OKRs, and create development paths for individual contributors.
Identify and implement process improvements, automation opportunities, and tooling enhancements across both functions.
Build scalable processes that support the company's growth trajectory across new segments, geographies, and product lines.