Strategic Software Contracts & Licensing Lead

Ministry of Social Development; Wellington; Hybrid; NZD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

The Ministry of Social Development invites applications for a permanent Contract and License Specialist based in the Wellington National office. The role focuses on managing software contracts and licensing, optimizing renewals, and ensuring compliance across a large organisation.

You will collaborate with major vendors and internal teams to maximise value and transparency. Responsibilities include maintaining software asset inventories, analysing licensing models, and supporting audits.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in a contract, licensing, software asset management or commercial support role in a large organisation.
• Experience with software portal management and cloud licensing structures.
• Strong negotiation, communication and organisational skills with high attention to detail.
• Familiarity with government purchasing rules and tender policies.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with major vendors and internal teams to review contract terms, pricing and renewal conditions.
• Manage end-to-end software renewals and coordinate with vendors to ensure timely renewals.
• Maintain an accurate inventory of software assets, subscriptions and cloud licenses using SAM tools.
• Identify underutilised licenses and recommend reallocations or cancellations to reduce spend.
• Support licensing model evaluations (SaaS, tokens, user-based) and coordinate POs/true-ups.
• Monitor usage against entitlements and prepare licensing reports for audits.

Skills

Contract management

Licensing

Renewals

Vendor management

Compliance

Reporting

Stakeholder management

Budget alignment

Tools

ServiceNow

Flexera

Snow Software

Software Asset Management (SAM) tools

Job description

The Ministry of Social Development invites applications for a permanent Contract and License Specialist based in the Wellington National office. The role focuses on managing software contracts and licensing, optimizing renewals, and ensuring compliance across a large organisation.

You will collaborate with major vendors and internal teams to maximise value and transparency. Responsibilities include maintaining software asset inventories, analysing licensing models, and supporting audits.