Senior Contracts Manager

Shield AI; City of Melbourne; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI seeks an experienced Senior Contracts Manager to lead end-to-end contracting for Australian Defence procurements, international government programs, direct commercial sales, and strategic partnerships involving complex defence products and autonomous systems.

The role serves as a principal adviser to Business Development, Programs, Finance, Legal, and Trade Compliance, with emphasis on ASDEFCON compliance, international agreements, and high-value negotiations across multiple time zones.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience in a related discipline.
• Minimum eight years of progressively responsible contracts or commercial-management experience, including defence/aerospace.
• Experience with Australian Defence contracting frameworks and Commonwealth Procurement Rules.
• Experience negotiating hardware and software product contracts, including IP and data rights.

Responsibilities

• Lead the preparation, review, negotiation, and administration of contracts supporting Australian Defence, allied governments, prime contractors and commercial customers.
• Support Australian Government and Defence tenders, including review of solicitation requirements, preparation of compliance matrices, identification of qualifications and departures and development of commercial assumptions.
• Negotiate and administer contracts using Australian Defence contracting frameworks, including ASDEFCON templates and schedules, and the Commonwealth Procurement Rules.
• Lead negotiations involving material commercial risks, including IP, technical data, software rights, liability, indemnities, insurance, warranties, acceptance, delay, liquidated damages, performance remedies, audit rights, termination, governing law, and dispute resolution.
• Draft and negotiate international commercial agreements, including product-sale agreements, framework agreements, teaming agreements, reseller and representative or agreements, memoranda of understanding, nondisclosure agreements and statements of work.
• Negotiate software-development and licensing arrangements, including evaluation and trial licences, development licences, SDK and API access, professional services, software integration, and third-party software terms.
• Develop and negotiate intellectual-property structures addressing background and foreground IP, technical data and software rights, derivative works, improvements, interfaces, government and third-party use rights.
• Apply and negotiate the ASDEFCON Technical Data and Intellectual Property framework, including applicable Technical Data and Software Rights schedules and restrictions.
• Support contracts for complex defence products involving combinations of hardware, software, integration, testing, delivery, title and risk of loss, acceptance, warranty, product liability, repair, spares, training, field support, upgrades, and through-life sustainment.
• Administer awarded agreements by maintaining contract summaries, obligations registers, deliverable and milestone tracking, notice requirements, change-control records, funding status, claims files, correspondence, approvals, and audit-ready documentation.
• Lead contract modifications, amendments, extensions, renewals, equitable-adjustment requests, claims, settlement discussions, and contract closeout activities.
• Serve as the primary contractual interface with customers, subcontractors, suppliers, technology partners, and internal stakeholders.
• Provide training and guidance to business stakeholders on contracting requirements, delegated authority, negotiation strategy, contractual obligations, and commercial risk.
• Contribute to the continued development of scalable contracting processes, templates, playbooks, approval workflows, and contract-management tools suitable for a high-growth international defence-technology company.

Skills

Negotiation

Contract management

Cross-functional collaboration

Legal/commercial judgment

Education

Bachelor's degree in law, business, commerce, finance, engineering, supply chain, international relations, or related discipline

Job description

We are seeking an experienced and commercially mindedSenior Contracts Manager to support Australian Defence procurements, international government programs, direct commercial sales, and strategic partnerships involving complex defence products, autonomous systems, software, integration services, and sustainment support.

The Senior Contracts Manager will lead contracting activities across the full lifecycle from capture and tender development through negotiation, award, performance, change management, claims, dispute resolution, and closeout. This position will serve as a principal commercial and contractual adviser to Business Development, Programs, Finance, Legal, and Trade Compliance.

The successful candidate will have demonstrated experience with Australian Defence contracting, international commercial transactions, software development and licensing, intellectual property and technical-data rights, and product-based defence or aerospace agreements

What You'll Do

• Lead the preparation, review, negotiation, and administration of contracts supporting Australian Defence, allied governments, prime contractors and commercial customers.
• Support Australian Government and Defence tenders, including review of solicitation requirements, preparation of compliance matrices, identification of qualifications and departures and development of commercial assumptions.
• Negotiate and administer contracts using Australian Defence contracting frameworks, including applicable ASDEFCON templates and schedules, and the Commonwealth Procurement Rules.
• Lead negotiations involving material commercial risks, including intellectual property, technical data, software rights, liability, indemnities, insurance, warranties, acceptance, delay, liquidated damages, performance remedies, audit rights, termination, governing law, and dispute resolution.
• Draft and negotiate international commercial agreements, including product-sale agreements, framework agreements, teaming agreements, reseller and representative or agreements, memoranda of understanding, nondisclosure agreements and statements of work.
• Negotiate software-development and licensing arrangements, including evaluation and trial licences, development licences, SDK and API access, professional services, software integration, and third-party software terms.
• Develop and negotiate intellectual-property structures addressing background and foreground IP, technical data and software rights, derivative works, improvements, interfaces, government and third-party use rights.
• Apply and negotiate the ASDEFCON Technical Data and Intellectual Property framework, including applicable Technical Data and Software Rights schedules and restrictions.
• Support contracts for complex defence products involving combinations of hardware, software, integration, testing, delivery, title and risk of loss, acceptance, warranty, product liability, repair, spares, training, field support, upgrades, and through-life sustainment.
• Administer awarded agreements by maintaining contract summaries, obligations registers, deliverable and milestone tracking, notice requirements, change-control records, funding status, claims files, correspondence, approvals, and audit-ready documentation.
• Lead contract modifications, amendments, extensions, renewals, equitable-adjustment requests, claims, settlement discussions, and contract closeout activities.
• Serve as the primary contractual interface with customers, subcontractors, suppliers, technology partners, and internal stakeholders.
• Provide training and guidance to business stakeholders on contracting requirements, delegated authority, negotiation strategy, contractual obligations, and commercial risk.
• Contribute to the continued development of scalable contracting processes, templates, playbooks, approval workflows, and contract-management tools suitable for a high-growth international defence-technology company.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in law, business, commerce, finance, engineering, supply chain, international relations, or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant professional experience.
• At least eight years of progressively responsible contracts or commercial-management experience, including substantial experience in defence, aerospace, advanced technology, or another highly regulated product environment.
• Demonstrated experience supporting or negotiating contracts with the Australian Department of Defence, Australian Government entities, or major Australian Defence contractors.
• Practical experience with Australian Defence contracting frameworks, including ASDEFCON-based tenders or contracts and the Commonwealth Procurement Rules.
• Demonstrated experience negotiating and administering complex product contracts involving both hardware and software, rather than experience limited solely to consulting or professional-services agreements.
• Material experience with software-development, software-licensing, technology-integration, intellectual-property, technical-data, or data-rights agreements.
• Experience negotiating international commercial or cross-border government transactions, preferably involving Australia, the Indo-Pacific region, the United States, or allied defence markets.
• Strong understanding of contractual issues associated with product delivery, acceptance, warranty, product liability, sustainment, support, intellectual property, export control, and information security.
• Ability to independently lead complex, high-value negotiations and manage multiple concurrent transactions and contractual deadlines.
• Strong commercial judgment and the ability to translate legal, technical, operational, and regulatory requirements into practical business recommendations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to prepare clear contract language, negotiation positions, risk assessments, executive summaries, and customer correspondence.
• Ability to work effectively across different time zones and with geographically distributed teams.
• Legal authorisation to work in Australia.