Contracts Manager United States - Remote

Chainguard, Inc.; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Chainguard, Inc. is seeking a Contract Lifecycle Manager to oversee and optimize the contract management system. You will play a crucial role in connecting teams, driving efficiency, and ensuring compliance, all within a dynamic and supportive remote-first culture. Ideal candidates have experience with CLM systems, particularly Ironclad, and possess strong project management skills.

Benefits

Flexible & Remote-First Culture

100% Covered Health Insurance

∞ Flexible Time Off

18 Weeks Paid Parental Leave

$400 monthly stipend for coworking

Qualifications

• Proven experience managing CLM systems in high growth companies.
• Deep understanding of contract lifecycle management.
• Exceptional organizational and project management skills.

Responsibilities

• Own and optimize the CLM system driving contract workflows.
• Collaborate with Legal, Sales, and Finance to speed deal cycles.
• Lead reporting and analytics on contract status and metrics.

Skills

Project management

Organizational skills

Communication

Attention to detail

Education

Experience with CLM systems

Understanding of contract lifecycle management

Tools

Ironclad

Job description

“Good fences make good neighbors,” and we believe that good contracts do the same. You will have the opportunity to impact Chainguard through your strategic mind, organizational skills, and your supreme negotiating powers.

You’ll own and operate our entire contract lifecycle management (CLM) system, ensuring that every agreement we execute is handled with precision and efficiency. You’ll be moving fast, but using your detail-oriented superpowers, will help us build and scale our contract processes to match the exciting pace of our business. You’ll also be the connective tissue between our Legal, Sales, Finance, and Operations teams.

We believe in utilizing the most impactful tools available, and we need your help to ensure we can balance the need for speed while keeping Chainguard legally protected. It’s an important job.

What You’ll Do:

• Ownership and optimization: Take the reins of our CLM system (currently Ironclad), driving seamless contract workflows from intake through signature and beyond.
• Strategic connector: Collaborate closely with Legal, Sales, Finance, and other business partners to accelerate deal cycles while upholding compliance and risk standards.
• Tell us a story: Storytelling with data-driven insights. Lead reporting and analytics on contract status, cycle times, and key legal metrics which will fuel process improvement, and smarter decision making.
• Be a champion: Support impactful legal team initiatives, from developing playbooks and refining templates to driving process enhancements that elevate the company.
• Do all the things: Take on a wide range of legal operational tasks. Whether that is assisting with NDA reviews, or spearheading cross functional projects that enhance contract management.

What We’re Looking For:

• CLM and contract operations pro. Proven experience managing CLM systems and scaling contract operations within high growth companies.
• Expertise across the contract lifecycle. Deep understanding of contract lifecycle management. (Hands-on experience with Ironclad is strongly preferred)!
• Project management powerhouse. Exceptional organizational, project management, and communication skills. You confidently drive processes forward and keep stakeholders aligned.
• Efficiency with precision. Ability to balance meticulous attention to detail with a pragmatic, results driven approach. You know when to optimize for accuracy vs. speed.
• Fast paced environment thriver. Comfortable navigating ambiguity and shifting priorities in a dynamic, evolving start-up landscape.

Bonus Points:

• Experience supporting legal operations or contract management at a security-focused company or in a compliance-heavy industry.
• Familiarity with legal tech tools and best practices around contract metrics, reporting, and automation beyond CLM.
• Passion for process improvement and legal enablement. You believe Legal should help power the business, not slow it down.

Why You’ll Love Working Here:

• You’ll join a genuinely collaborative and supportive Legal team that thrives in the fast pace of a start up (and knows how to have fun along the way)!
• We are a flexible, remote first culture that works because we’re accountable to getting our stuff done.
• We have a culture built on autonomy, trust, and accountability.
• We really do live by our value of not taking ourselves too seriously. If you like an environment where egos are checked at the door this might be the place for you.

Base Salary Range

$140,000 - $170,000 USD

About Us

Chainguard is the secure foundation for software development and deployment. By providing guarded open source software, built from source and updated continuously, Chainguard helps organizations eliminate threats in their software supply chains.

Founded by the industry's leading experts on open source software, security and cloud native development, Chainguard has built the largest library of open source software that is secure by default.

Chainguard’s mission is to be the safe source for open source.

We live and breathe our company values:

We are customer obsessed - We focus on delivering solutions to our customers that create value and make their lives better.

We have a bias for intentional action - We prioritize, plan, try things, and fail fast.

We don’t take ourselves too seriously (but we do serious work) - We are solving an important problem which takes focus, but we also like to enjoy the journey.

We trust each other and assume good intentions - We’re transparent with decisions to empower team members to make well informed decisions.

A few of the benefits we offer:

• Flexible & Remote-First Culture: Work remotely with team meetup opportunities, bi-annual destination summits, and a $400 monthly stipend for coworking spaces, phone and internet costs.
• Our Approach to Equity: Receive stock options upon hire and promotion. Plus, you can participate in secondary offerings and have 10 years to exercise your options (yes, you read that correctly: 10 years!).
• 100% Covered Health Insurance: We cover 100% of your health, vision and dental insurance premiums for you and your dependents. Nothing comes out of your paycheck.
• ∞ Flexible Time Off: Take the time you need – to do our best work, we need to recharge and reset.
• 18 Weeks Paid Parental Leave: We offer 18 weeks for birthing parents and 12 weeks for non-birthing parents, with the option to use it all at once or throughout your child's first year.
• For a full list of our benefits and rewards, click here .

If your experience is close but doesn’t fulfill all requirements, please apply. We’re building the best team in technology and are focused on hiring “Chainguardians'' with unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences.

Chainguard is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law.

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