Senior Contract Specialist

TÜV SÜD; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 200,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

TÜV SÜD Middle East LLC is seeking a regional lead for contract governance, risk management, and operational review workflows. You will bridge Business Units, Legal Counsel, and Executive Leadership to elevate standards across client contracts, NDAs, MOUs, and intercompany agreements.

You will establish governance processes, oversee renewals and insurance requirements, and provide guidance to stakeholders while coordinating with legal counsel for complex issues.

Qualifications

• Minimum 8 years of experience in commercial contract management or advisory.
• Bachelor's degree in Law or related; LLB preferred.
• Strong knowledge of contractual risk assessment and negotiation, with Middle East experience.

Responsibilities

• Review commercial contracts, tender agreements, NDAs, and framework agreements to identify risks.
• Provide initial legal and contractual guidance to business stakeholders and escalate matters for formal legal opinion.
• Support contract negotiations and recommend amendments and risk mitigation measures.
• Establish and maintain contract governance processes and central repository of agreements.
• Monitor renewal dates, notice periods, insurance requirements, and key contractual milestones.
• Prepare periodic reports for COO on significant contractual risks and obligations.
• Oversee insurance policies (PI and PL) management and renewals.

Skills

Contract governance

Risk assessment

Negotiation

Legal advisory

Contract review

Education

Bachelor's degree in Law

LLB or equivalent

Job description

I. Position Summary

This position serves as the functional lead for regional contract governance, pre-approval risk management, and operational review workflows. The position acts as the primary bridge between Business Units, Legal Counsel, and Executive Leadership Responsible for elevating departmental standards, this role manages complex regional contract portfolios (covering client contracts, NDAs, MOUs, partnership structures, agency, and intercompany agreements), establishes operational SOPs, and oversee daily contract administration across the region.

II. Responsibility and Authority

• Review and assess commercial contracts, tender agreements, NDAs, framework agreements, service agreements and other business-critical agreements, identifying key commercial and contractual risks.
• Review contractual provisions relating to liability, indemnities, warranties, penalties, payment terms, termination, confidentiality, intellectual property, insurance, dispute resolution and governing law.
• Support Tendering and Business teams in identifying and managing contractual risks during the tender and negotiation stages, including review of client terms and proposed deviations.
• Provide initial legal and contractual guidance to business stakeholders and escalating matters requiring formal legal opinion to the appropriate legal counsel.
• Support contract negotiations and recommend appropriate amendments, qualifications and risk mitigation measures in line with the Company's commercial interests.
• Establish and maintain contract governance processes, including contract registers, approval workflows, contractual risk assessments, deviation tracking and key obligation monitoring.
• Monitor critical contractual obligations, renewal dates, notice periods, guarantees, insurance requirements and other key contractual milestones.
• Maintain a central repository of executed agreements and ensure appropriate documentation, version control and accessibility of contractual records.
• Manage business-critical insurance policies, particularly Professional Indemnity (PI) and Public Liability (PL), including renewals, coverage assessment, claims coordination and liaison with brokers and insurers.
• Review insurance requirements under commercial contracts and ensure alignment with the Company's insurance coverage and risk exposure.
• Prepare periodic reports for the COO and management on significant contractual risks, material deviations, claims, insurance matters and key contractual obligations.
• Identify recurring contractual and commercial risks and recommend improvements to contract templates, processes, governance and risk management practices.

III. Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Law, Commercial Law, Contract Management, Business Administration or related discipline. LLB or equivalent legal qualification is strongly preferred.
• Minimum 8 years of relevant experience in commercial contract management, contract review, legal/commercial advisory, tender contracts or a similar role, preferably within TIC, engineering, technical services, construction, consulting or professional services.
• Strong knowledge of commercial contracts, contractual risk assessment, negotiation and legal/commercial principles, with practical experience in the Middle East.

Work Area: Others

Country/Region: United Arab Emirates

Job Location: Abu Dhabi

Working Model : Onsite

Employment Type: Full time / regular

Company: TÜV SÜD Middle East LLC