Contract Manager

APM Terminals; Mumbai; On-site; INR 1,800,000 - 2,800,000; Full time

Job summary

APM Terminals is seeking a JL4 Contract Manager to govern contracts post-execution across regions. You will define standards, ensure compliance, and mitigate risks while enabling operational execution.

You will lead governance lifecycle excellence for IMEA, collaborating with Legal, Procurement, Operations, and Finance to safeguard value and drive improvements.

Qualifications

• Formal legal qualification (Law degree or equivalent).
• 8-12+ years of contract management, legal operations, or in-house roles with post-execution focus.
• Expertise in contract interpretation, lifecycle governance, compliance, and risk management.
• Strong understanding of procurement, sourcing, P2P, and financial controls including rate logic and invoicing mechanics.
• Ability to translate legal language into operational/system-executable requirements.
• Experience operating within governance frameworks, authority matrices, and audit environments.
• Strong stakeholder influence across Operations, Finance, Legal, Procurement, and leadership.

Responsibilities

• Own post-execution contract governance including interpretation, amendments, renewals, expiries, and formal correspondence.
• Maintain standards for interpretation, version control, repository accuracy, and audit readiness.
• Ensure contracts are applied per approved terms, guidance, regulatory requirements, and Global Authority Matrix.
• Act as centre of expertise on contract obligations, risks, and compliance for regional teams.
• Establish escalation and resolution mechanisms for contractual issues with In-House Legal guidance.
• Drive continuous process improvement and digitization for contract governance and lifecycle management.
• Monitor ESG-related obligations and ensure governance supports audit and compliance expectations across region.
• Collaborate with regional and global teams to promote a One Procurement Maersk mindset.

Skills

Contract management

Legal operations

Governance

Risk management

Stakeholder management

SLA and invoicing understanding

Education

Law degree

Tools

CLM tools

Contract repositories

Rate management systems

Regulatory audits

Job description

Role Purpose

The JL4 Contract Manager is accountable for post-execution contract governance, legal compliance, and lifecycle management of supplier agreements across assigned regions and categories. The role ensures executed contracts are interpreted, applied, and governed in line with legal intent, regulatory and authority requirements, while enabling operational execution, protecting contractual value, and mitigating risk.

In addition to regional responsibility, the role acts as the IMEA functional lead for Contract Governance Lifecycle Excellence, defining legal governance standards, playbooks, and controls across the region.

Key Responsibilities

1. Contract Communication Operationalization

• Develop and drive awareness of executed contract terms, legal intent, execution strategies, and compliance requirements across key internal stakeholders.
• Lead structured contract handovers to ensure Operations, Finance, P2P, and relevant teams fully understand contractual obligations, SLAs, payment terms, and key legal and commercial risks.
• Translate complex contractual terms into business-executable formats without deviation from approved legal positions, including SLA frameworks, rate applicability, payment logic, and master data requirements.
• Ensure timely and accurate maintenance of rate management systems, contract repositories, and visibility dashboards to support transparency and execution efficiency.
• Establish and standardize legally aligned post-execution contract operationalization playbooks across IMEA.

2. Contract Governance Lifecycle Management

• Own governance of the contract lifecycle post-execution including contract interpretation, amendment control, renewals, expiries, and formal contractual correspondence.
• Define and maintain standards for contract interpretation, version control, repository accuracy, and audit readiness ensuring legally defensible documentation and traceability.
• Ensure contracts are applied consistently and in line with approved terms, Legal guidance, regulatory requirements, and the Global Authority Matrix.
• Act as the centre of expertise on contract obligations, risks, and compliance issues, providing guidance to regional and functional teams.
• Establish structured escalation and resolution mechanisms for contractual issues and disputes arising during contract execution in consultation with In-House Legal and in line with internal dispute governance protocols.

3. Performance Management Compliance

• Implement action plans for non-compliant contracts in collaboration with Sourcing Managers and relevant stakeholders.
• Oversee governance and execution of Service Level Agreements (SLAs), ensuring contractual performance obligations are clearly tracked and enforced.
• Develop and maintain category-level performance and compliance KPIs in partnership with Performance and Process Excellence teams.
• Establish clear roles and responsibilities for post-execution performance management and compliance across stakeholders.
• Ensure contract execution outcomes feed into performance governance forums and corrective action plans with documented compliance and risk considerations.

4. Value Protection, Risk Continuous Improvement

• Provide early visibility of contractual risks and opportunities impacting service, cost, compliance, or supplier performance, including potential legal and compliance exposure.
• Partner with Operations, Procurement, Finance, and Market teams to mitigate execution risks and protect contractual value.
• Drive payment performance optimization in collaboration with Procure-to-Pay teams by ensuring legally accurate contractual setup correct contractual setup and issue resolution.
• Integrate learnings from contract execution cycles into future sourcing, contracting standards, SLAs, and governance frameworks.
• Identify, drive, and implement continuous process improvement and digitization initiatives related to contract governance and lifecycle management.

5. ESG, Governance Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Monitor and manage ESG-related contractual obligations, screening requirements, and improvement plans in collaboration with Sourcing, Ocean Fulfillment, and Sustainable Procurement teams, ensuring contractual enforceability and compliance.
• Ensure contract governance supports audit, regulatory, and compliance expectations across the region.
• Foster strong cross-functional collaboration to drive a consistent and disciplined approach to post-execution contract management.

6. Regional Functional Leadership

• Maintain full responsibility for managing executed contracts in the individual s assigned region across all three verticals, ensuring consistent legal interpretation and application.
• Act as the IMEA functional lead for Contract Governance Lifecycle Excellence, defining legally aligned standards and supporting adoption across IMEA region.
• Collaborate closely with global transformation and process excellence teams to drive a One Procurement Maersk mindset.

Must-Haves

• Formal legal qualification (Law degree or equivalent).
• 8-12+ years of experience in contract management, legal operations, commercial governance, or in-house legal/procurement roles, with strong post-execution focus.
• Demonstrated expertise in contract interpretation, lifecycle governance, compliance, and risk management.
• Strong understanding of procurement, sourcing, P2P, and financial controls, including rate logic and invoicing mechanics.
• Proven ability to translate legal language into operationally and system-executable requirements.
• Experience operating within structured governance frameworks, authority matrices, and audit environments.
• Strong stakeholder influence across Operations, Finance, Legal, Procurement, and senior leadership.
• High standards of accuracy, judgement, and ethical decision-making.

Nice-to-Haves

• Prior experience in shipping, logistics, ports, terminals, or infrastructure-heavy industries.
• Exposure to CLM tools, contract repositories, rate management systems, and regulatory audits.
• Experience supporting regional or global governance transformations.
• Familiarity with ESG contractual frameworks and supplier compliance programs.