Contract Manager

ACL Digital; Parsippany-Troy Hills (NJ); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

ACL Digital seeks a seasoned procurement and contract management professional to lead end-to-end sourcing for global clinical development programs. You will design and execute vendor strategies, oversee RFx processes, and drive cost savings and value through transformation.

You will collaborate with Compliance, Legal and Regulatory, manage vendor relationships, and mentor teams to resolve complex contracting challenges while maintaining regulatory standards, ensuring compliance and audit

Qualifications

• Experience in end-to-end sourcing and contracting processes including RFx, negotiation and change orders.
• Knowledge of clinical development vendor management and regulatory considerations.
• Proven ability to drive cost savings and value through vendor transformations.

Responsibilities

• Manages contract and sourcing activities for clinical development programs, delivering value and cost savings.
• Leads vendor selection processes, RFI/RFP, negotiations, and contract closeout.
• Ensures regulatory and legal compliance and manages risk in vendor relationships.
• Collaborates with Compliance, Legal, and Regulatory teams and manages cross-functional study vendor relationships.

Skills

Vendor management

Contract negotiation

Sourcing strategy

Regulatory knowledge

Strategic thinking

Education

BA or MS in a relevant discipline

Job description

• Is an expert in contract management and had a history of implementing and executing category roadmaps and sourcing plans
• Develops global clinical development vendor strategy for a program or therapeutic areas
• Manages contract and sourcing activities for clinical development programs providing consistent customer service and delivering quantitative value through cost savings and transformation/innovation
• Manages the contract negotiation process across the entire life cycle including RFI, vendor identification, RFP, vendor selection decision, contracting negotiation, performance monitoring, change orders, and ensures proper closeout of agreements to maximize contract value and achieve target savings
• Ensure the vendor selection process is compliant by managing risks
• Partners with other functions such as Compliance, Legal and Regulatory as necessary
• Collaborates with internal customers in vendor bidding and proposal development (RFP creation and analysis)
• Partners with internal customers to develop study specifications and leverages benchmarking tools as appropriate
• Translates business requirements into vendor capabilities and develops recommendations for vendor selection for a program or therapeutic area
• Is an SME in resolving complex issues relating to contract negotiation and management?
• Oversees the identification, selection and management of global external service providers
• Leads Vendor bid defense meetings
• Manages the contract negotiation process for complex or high value contracts
• Demonstrates strong understanding of regulatory and legal issues pertinent to clinical development
• Is project focused and works with a sense of urgency

Strategic Thinking

• Ability to understand, analyze and develop recommendations from multiple complex sources such as financial and operational perspectives
• Influence vendor selection with stakeholders at the project team level
• Identifies, develops, and deploys best practices in vendor selection, cost containment, and category management practices
• Leverages prior experience with external benchmarking, industry best practices, and technology for continuous improvement

Problem Solving

• Takes ownership of issues from problem identification to successful resolution, testing recommendations for reasonableness
• Triages study-level vendor management issues; escalates high-risk issues to appropriate stakeholders
• Translates trends in operational and systematic issues and develops solutions with sustainability in mind to ensure roadblocks are removed during study start-up

Influence and Partnership

• Engage with study team leadership to drive sourcing strategy, compliance, and continued partnership
• Exhibits competency in regularly establishing relationships with internal and external cross functional teams, such as clinical operations, legal, finance, compliance
• Partners with internal stakeholders working on contracts in resolving complex issues relating to contract negotiation or management
• Manages study level vendor relationships in conjunction with Clinical Operations

Decision Making

• Delivers value by developing business solutions by translating requirements into effective sourcing solutions, contractual terms and process improvements
• Asks probing questions to uncover business needs and recommends solutions (e.g., negotiating timelines while maintaining standards)
• Demonstrated ability to make critical decisions related to clinical vendor agreement negotiations and escalations
• Consolidates data across functions according to business requirements and recommends vendors to senior leadership for endorsement
• Resolves vendor project management issues (e.g., operational challenges including scoping issues) by identifying and addressing deviations from established protocols
• Identifies operational and systematic issues, including frequency and escalates to the appropriate level

Communication

• Excellent communication skills and comfort level interacting with internal and external teams across all levels, including regular interface with stakeholders and leadership team members
• As necessary, trains internal stakeholders in contract budgeting, development, and administration

Capabilities and Requirements

• Experience in providing thought leadership and consistent customer service
• Expertise in the end-to-end sourcing and contracting process, including RFx, contract negotiation and change order management
• Demonstrates an in-depth knowledge of the clinical research process and the regulatory environment across functions
• Demonstrated leadership skills while working in fast paced and changing environment
• Financial acumen to review, analyze and understand cost drivers of complex budgets
• Legal, clinical operations and regulatory acumen

Knowledge, Experience and Skills:

• Relevant experience with a BA or MS in a relevant discipline
• PMP/CPSM certification or equivalent a plus