Contracts Manager - Government Contracts (DOD)

Molex; Salisbury (MD); On-site; USD 80,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental and Vision plans

Retirement plan

Paid time off

Educational assistance

Infertility assistance

Parental leave

Adoption assistance

Job summary

Molex, a global provider of electronic solutions, seeks a Contracts Manager for its Aerospace & Defense Solutions (ADS) division in the United States. You will oversee contract administration and proposal development across multiple programs, ensuring compliance with FAR/DFARS, ITAR, and customer requirements.

You will partner with Program Management, Engineering, Supply Chain, Legal, Finance and Sales to mitigate risk, drive bid readiness, and ensure profitable performance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Law, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• 5+ years of experience in U.S. Government contracting (FAR/DFARS).
• Demonstrated experience negotiating terms, developing complex proposals, and drafting contracts supporting US Government contracts.
• Proven ability to understand technical product aspects and their relation to contract requirements.
• Team-oriented with accountability to a shared mission; able to work independently with minimal supervision.

Responsibilities

• Review, draft, and negotiate complex contractual documents (NDA's, Terms & Conditions, Subcontracts, UCA, Teaming Agreements, IP Agreements, and formal RFx responses).
• Ensure compliance with FAR/DFARS, ITAR, and other federal requirements.
• Lead pre-award and post-award contracting for US government contracts to ensure compliance, risk mitigation, on-time deliverables, and profitability.
• Support capture and proposal efforts: compliance matrices, cost estimating, pricing inputs, contract strategy, risk assessment, and T&Cs evaluation.
• Lead responses to contract inquiries, audits, investigations, and significant events; support dispute resolution and claims preparation.
• Share knowledge with program managers and staff on contract obligations, change control, and compliance.
• Maintain strong relationships with customers and internal stakeholders; improve contracting templates and playbooks.
• Align contracts with business operations across engineering, finance, quality, legal, and program management.

Skills

Regulatory expertise

Negotiation

Contract drafting

Cross-functional collaboration

Proficient in MS Office

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business, Law, Engineering, or related field

Tools

MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

Job description

Your Job

In this position, you will be responsible for managing all aspects of contract administration and proposal development across numerous aerospace and defense programs. This role provides strategic oversight, process governance, and leadership to ensure compliance with federal regulations (FAR/DFARS/other agency supplements), company policies, and customer requirements. This position partners cross-functionally with Program Management, Engineering, Supply Chain, Legal, Finance and Sales to mitigate risk, streamline contract execution, and support the company's financial and operational goals. This generally includes oversight of the contract management process, as well as development of specific standards for bidding and submission, contract negotiations, and document management.

This is a highly visible position requiring strong business acumen, regulatory expertise, and the ability to build collaborative relationships with customers as well as internal stakeholders.

Our Team

Reporting to the Senior Manager, Contracts for Molex's Aerospace & Defense Solutions (ADS) division, you'll be part of a team that works cross-functionally with various departments including Program Management, Legal, IT, Compliance, Sales, Engineering and Operations - working together to support sustainable growth for Molex in the aerospace & defense customer-base. This team is deeply committed to protecting our business and enabling success in a highly regulated environment.

What You Will Do

• Review, draft, and negotiate complex contractual documents, including but not limited to: NDA's, Terms and Conditions, Letter Subcontracts, Undefinitized Contract Actions (UCA), Teaming Agreements, IP Agreements, and formal proposal responses to customer RFx. This may also include subcontracts upstream.
• Ensure compliance with applicable regulations (FAR, DFARS, ITAR, and other federal acquisition requirements)
• Lead and manage all pre-award and post-award contracting activities for US government contracts to ensure compliance with federal regulations (FAR/DFARS), contractual risk mitigation, on‑time deliverables, and profitable contract performance. Act as the primary contract authority for assigned programs and provide strategic contracting guidance to program leadership, finance, procurement, and legal.
• Support and Lead capture and proposal effort: compliance matrices, cost estimating and pricing inputs, contract strategy, risk assessment, and contract terms & conditions evaluation.
• Lead responses to contract-related inquiries, audits, investigations, and legally significant events; support dispute resolution and claims preparation.
• Share knowledge and best practices with program managers, project leads, engineering and relevant staff on contract obligations, change control, and compliance.
• Maintain strong working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including customers
• Continuously improve internal contracting processes, templates, and playbooks.
• Align contract and proposal requirements with managers of business operations, including relevant divisions of engineering, finance, quality, legal and program management.
• Ensure that contracts and proposals are properly entered into organizational databases and securely maintained.

Who You Are (Basic Qualifications)

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Law, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• 5+ years of experience in U.S. Government contracting (FAR/DFARS).
• Demonstrated experience negotiating terms, developing complex proposals, and drafting contracts supporting US Government contracts.
• Proven ability and passion for understanding technical product aspects, and their relevance to the contract requirements.
• Team-oriented individual who holds himself and others accountable to achieving a shared mission
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and take initiative with minimal supervision

What Will Put You Ahead

• Excellent negotiation and persuasion skills, both in one‑on‑one and group situations.
• Advanced degree (Master's, JD) or certifications such as CFCM, CPCM, CCCM, CCMA, or equivalent.
• Experience working within the aerospace and defense industry.
• Familiarity with FAR, DFARS, ITAR, EAR, and export compliance frameworks.
• Strong leadership in cross‑functional project management and stakeholder engagement.
• Experience developing proposals subject to TINA
• Experience developing termination (for convenience) settlement proposals supporting US Government contracts
• Experience with subcontract management, including source selection and price reasonableness analysis
• Experience drafting Commercial Item Determination (CID) packages
• Experience developing Small Business Subcontracting Plans in accordance with FAR 52.219-9

For this role, we anticipate paying $80,000 - $140,000 per year. This role is eligible for variable pay, issued as a monetary bonus or in another form.

At Koch companies, we are entrepreneurs. This means we openly challenge the status quo, find new ways to create value and get rewarded for our individual contributions. Any compensation range provided for a role is an estimate determined by available market data. The actual amount may be higher or lower than the range provided considering each candidate's knowledge, skills, abilities, and geographic location. If you have questions, please speak to your recruiter about the flexibility and detail of our compensation philosophy.

In order to comply with U.S. export control laws and regulations, this position requires applicants to either provide proof of U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent resident status or be eligible to receive an export authorization (a license) under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and/or the Export Administration Regulations.

Hiring Philosophy

All Koch companies value diversity of thought, perspectives, aptitudes, experiences, and backgrounds. We are Military Ready and Second Chance employers. Learn more about our hiring philosophy here.

Who We Are

As a Koch company, Molex is a leading global provider of electronic solutions, driving innovation and enabling progress across industries including aerospace and defense, transportation, medical, industrial, data communications, and consumer electronics. Our people, technologies, and manufacturing expertise help customers solve complex challenges through advanced connectivity, signal transmission, and electronic solutions that power the world's most critical applications.

Aerospace & Defense Solutions (ADS)

Molex's Aerospace & Defense Solutions (ADS) Division delivers mission-critical connectivity, signal technologies, and electronic solutions designed for the most demanding environments. Drawing on decades of engineering excellence and innovation, we support aerospace, defense, space, and other high‑reliability markets where performance is essential and failure is not an option.

From enabling next‑generation communications and data transfer to providing rugged interconnect and electronic solutions for mission‑critical systems, our technologies help customers advance capabilities across air, land, sea, and space. At ADS, we combine deep technical expertise, operational excellence, and a culture of principled entrepreneurship to create value for our customers, communities, and one another.

Join us and help shape the future of aerospace and defense through innovation, reliability, and purpose‑driven solutions.

Our Benefits

Our goal is for each employee, and their families, to live fulfilling and healthy lives. We provide essential resources and support to build and maintain physical, financial, and emotional strength - focusing on overall wellbeing so you can focus on what matters most. Our benefits plan includes - medical, dental, vision, flexible spending and health savings accounts, life insurance, ADD, disability, retirement, paid vacation/time off, educational assistance, and may also include infertility assistance, paid parental leave and adoption assistance. Specific eligibility criteria is set by the applicable Summary Plan Description, policy or guideline and benefits may vary by geographic region. If you have questions on what benefits apply to you, please speak to your recruiter.

Additionally, everyone has individual work and personal needs. We seek to enable the best work environment that helps you and the business work together to produce superior results.

Equal Opportunities

Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status. Except where prohibited by state law, some offers of employment are conditioned upon successfully passing a drug test. This employer uses E‑Verify. Please click here for additional information. (For Illinois E‑Verify information click here, aqui, or tu).

In order to comply with U.S. export control laws and regulations, this position requires applicants to either provide proof of U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent resident status or be eligible to receive an export authorization (a license) under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and/or the Export Administration Regulations.