Senior Legal & Contracts Manager

Cerebras; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 350,000 - 700,000; Full time

Job summary

Orbitworks in Abu Dhabi is seeking a Senior Contracts Manager to lead the full lifecycle of contracts with suppliers and customers in the space industry, defining templates, standards, and risk positions for complex procurements.

You will partner with Finance, Engineering, Legal, Supply Chain, and Program teams to align terms with schedule, cost, and risk, and you will negotiate multi-million dollar agreements while protecting IP and export controls.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of contract management experience in space or similarly complex tech industries.
• Proven experience negotiating large, multi-million dollar procurements and customer contracts.
• Strong understanding of satellite systems or related space technologies.
• Ability to collaborate with engineering teams on technical scope.
• Solid knowledge of contract law principles.
• Experience working with international suppliers and customers (US/Europe preferred).
• Experience negotiating with large organizations.
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead full lifecycle of contracts from drafting to amendments.
• Negotiate supplier and customer contracts, ensuring IP protection and risk mitigation.
• Work with Finance, Engineering, Legal, and Supply Chain to align terms with schedules and costs.
• Develop and implement negotiation frameworks and templates.

Skills

Contract management

Negotiation

Communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Risk assessment

Export controls

Legal knowledge

Stakeholder management

Job description

Wanna join the adventure?

The Senior Contracts Manager will lead and manage all contractual activities at Orbitworks, with a focus on complex, high-value procurements and customer agreements. This role will serve as the primary owner of contract strategy across the business, defining commercial standards, templates, negotiation frameworks, and risk positions for both suppliers and customers. This position requires strong contractual expertise, commercial judgment, and the ability to operate in a technically driven environment within the space industry.

About This Role:

Contract Lifecycle Management

• Own the full lifecycle of contracts, including drafting, negotiation, execution, and amendments
• Develop and standardize contract templates, playbooks, and baseline commercial positions
• Ensure alignment with company objectives, compliance requirements, and risk tolerance

Supplier & Procurement Contracts

• Lead negotiations for complex, high-value procurements (e.g., satellite buses, subsystems, payloads, launch services, ground station services)
• Partner with Engineering to ensure technical scope and specifications are clearly defined
• Work closely with Supply Chain and Program teams to align contract terms with schedule, cost, and risk objectives

Customer Contracts

• Structure and negotiate customer agreements for hardware and services
• Support Sales and leadership in shaping commercially sound deal structures
• Ensure customer contracts protect company IP, liability positions, and delivery risk

Risk & Commercial Strategy

• Identify contractual risks and define mitigation strategies
• Manage liability allocation, warranties, termination clauses, export control considerations, and flow-down requirements
• Develop negotiation frameworks that support long-term scalability

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Finance, Engineering, Legal, Supply Chain, and Program Management
• Translate contractual terms into operationally enforceable outcomes
• Ensure contract obligations are clearly understood across teams

Market & Industry Awareness

• Stay informed on industry trends, regulatory requirements, and evolving space market dynamics
• Provide commercial insights and recommendations to leadership

Must Haves:

• 10+ years of experience in contract management within the space industry or similarly complex, technical industries
• Proven experience negotiating large, custom, multi-million dollar procurements and customer contracts
• Strong understanding of satellite systems or related space technologies
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with engineering teams on technical scope
• Solid working knowledge of contract law principles
• Experience working with international suppliers and customers (U.S. and Europe preferred)
• Experience negotiating with large organizations
• Strong communication and negotiation skills

Nice to Haves:

• Experience in space, aerospace, or deep-tech industries
• Background supporting Supply Chain in complex procurement environments
• Experience in start-up or scaling environments
• Strong commercial judgment
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity in a growing company
• Confident negotiator able to balance risk and speed

Orbitworks' mission is to make space simple for organizations that want to deploy physical and virtual missions to space. Building on Loft Orbital's heritage, Orbitworks will be the first commercial firm in the United Arab Emirates to mass-manufacture satellites. Orbitworks aims to manufacture tens of satellites annually and operates out of a 50,000-square-foot facility in Abu Dhabi.