ESSC Strategic Agreement Manager

General Motors LLC; United States; Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

General Motors LLC is seeking a Strategic Agreements Manager to bridge Legal, Business, and Procurement. You will guide end-to-end governance of strategic agreements, from structuring and negotiation through approval, execution, monitoring, and renewal, while managing legal, regulatory, and commercial risk.

You’ll lead strategic advisory, develop playbooks and templates, and support governance reviews and negotiations with senior stakeholders across functions.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in contracts, commercial/legal, or related roles involving complex agreements.
• Demonstrated experience structuring, negotiating, and managing strategic or enterprise-level agreements.
• Strong working knowledge of contract law, commercial terms, risk allocation, and compliance frameworks.
• Proven track record influencing cross-functional stakeholders and senior leaders in a matrixed, global environment.

Responsibilities

• Translate legal, contractual, and regulatory requirements into actionable guidance for business and technical leaders.
• Advise on deal structures, commercial models, and strategic options with risk implications.
• Establish and improve governance frameworks for strategic agreements and approvals.
• Lead or support internal reviews and audits of contract practices and documentation.
• Develop risk-mitigation strategies and negotiate terms like indemnities and SLAs.
• Oversee contract lifecycle management from intake to renewal and termination.
• Prepare executive-ready materials and present to decision forums.

Skills

Contract strategy

Negotiation leadership

Regulatory compliance

Cross-functional collaboration

Risk assessment

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Law, Business, Finance, Supply Chain, or related field

Tools

Clause libraries

Templates

Playbooks

Negotiation scripts

Job description

The Role

The Strategic Agreements Manager serves as a key bridge between Legal, Business, and Procurement, providing expert guidance on complex commercial agreements, compliance, and risk. This role drives end-to-end governance of strategic agreements-from structuring and negotiation through approval, execution, monitoring, and renewal—ensuring business objectives are achieved while appropriately managing legal, regulatory, and commercial risk.

What You’ll Do

Strategic Legal-to-Business Advisory

Translate legal, contractual, and regulatory requirements into clear, actionable guidance for business and technical leaders. Advise leadership on deal structures, commercial models, and strategic options, highlighting legal and risk implications. Partner with Legal, Finance, Accounting, Treasury, Tax, and other stakeholders to align agreements with corporate policies and strategic priorities.

Compliance Oversight & Governance

Establish, maintain, and continuously improve governance frameworks for strategic agreements (playbooks, checklists, approval paths, templates). Ensure compliance with internal policies (e.g., Delegation of Authority, sourcing and approval processes) and applicable laws/regulations. Lead or support internal reviews and audits of contract practices, documentation, and approvals; close gaps through corrective actions.

Risk Identification & Mitigation

Proactively assess and articulate risk exposure across key dimensions (commercial, operational, legal, regulatory, IP, data/privacy, ESG, reputational). Develop and negotiate risk-mitigation strategies (indemnities, limitations of liability, SLAs, KPIs, step-in rights, exit and transition mechanisms, governance bodies). Maintain a clear view of portfolio-level risks across major agreements and upscale strategic issues to leadership with recommended actions.

Negotiation Support & Conflict Resolution

Serve as lead or co-lead negotiator (or negotiation strategist) on complex and/or high-value agreements. Prepare negotiation strategies, term sheets, and fallback positions in partnership with Legal and business owners. Manage and resolve commercial disputes, performance issues, and contractual conflicts, driving constructive, business-focused outcomes while protecting company interests.

Contract Lifecycle Management & Monitoring

Oversee contract lifecycle management for strategic agreements (intake, drafting, redlines, approvals, execution, archiving, amendments, renewals, termination). Define and track key contract obligations, milestones, and performance metrics; ensure owners are assigned and accountable. Implement monitoring and reporting mechanisms (dashboards, periodic reviews) for status, compliance, performance, and upcoming decision points.

Training, Coaching & Stakeholder Enablement

Design and deliver training and education for business, engineering, and purchasing teams on contracts, risk, compliance, and negotiation best practices. Develop guides, playbooks, and standard toolkits (e.g., clause libraries, negotiation scripts, checklists) to scale strategic agreement capabilities across the organization. Mentor junior staff and peer stakeholders on contract literacy, issue-spotting, and escalation paths.

Strategic Agreement & Approval Support

Lead or coordinate the end-to-end approval process for strategic agreements, ensuring required stakeholders and governance bodies are properly engaged. Prepare and present executive-ready materials (deal summaries, risk assessments, recommendation memos) to decision-making forums. Support special strategic initiatives (e.g., new partnership models, new market entries, transformational programs) by designing and implementing appropriate contract and governance structures.

Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications)

• Bachelor’s degree in Law, Business, Finance, Supply Chain, or related field
• 5+ years of experience in contracts, commercial/legal, strategic sourcing, or business development roles involving complex agreements.
• Demonstrated experience in structuring, negotiating, and managing strategic or enterprise-level agreements.
• Strong working knowledge of contract law, commercial terms, risk allocation, and compliance frameworks.
• Proven track record of influencing cross-functional stakeholders and senior leaders in a matrixed, global environment.

What Will Give You a Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications)

• 5+ years experience: Business & Legal Acumen: Ability to connect legal language to business impact and strategic objectives.
• 2+ years experience: Risk & Compliance Mindset: Strong analytical skills for risk identification, quantification, and mitigation.
• 5+ years experience: Negotiation & Influence: Skilled negotiator with the ability to reach durable, win-win solutions under time and stakeholder pressure.
• 2+ years experience: Conflict Resolution: Calm, structured approach to resolving disputes and performance issues.
• Communication: Clear written and verbal communicator; able to simplify complexity for diverse audiences, including executives.
• Collaboration: Effective at working across Legal, Purchasing, Finance, Engineering, Operations, and external partners.
• Organization & Detail: Strong documentation skills, and follow-through; able to manage multiple agreements and priorities simultaneously.
• Change Leadership & Training: Comfortable leading trainings, workshops, and adoption of new processes or standards.

GM does not provide immigration-related sponsorship for this role. Do not apply for this role if you will need GM immigration sponsorship now or in the future. This includes direct company sponsorship, entry of GM as the immigration employer of record on a government form, and any work authorization requiring a written submission or other immigration support from the company (e.g., H1-B, OPT, STEM OPT, CPT, TN, J-1, etc).

This role is categorized as hybrid. This means the selected candidate is expected to report to a specific location at least 3 times a week {or other frequency dictated by their manager}. The selected candidate will be required to travel <25% for this role. This job is not eligible for relocation benefits. Any relocation costs would be the responsibility of the selected candidate.

About GM

Our vision is a world with Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion and we embrace the responsibility to lead the change that will make our world better, safer and more equitable for all.

Why Join Us

We believe we all must make a choice every day – individually and collectively – to drive meaningful change through our words, our deeds and our culture. Every day, we want every employee to feel they belong to one General Motors team.

Benefits Overview

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Non-Discrimination and Equal Employment Opportunities (U.S.)

General Motors is committed to being a workplace that is not only free of unlawful discrimination, but one that genuinely fosters inclusion and belonging. We strongly believe that providing an inclusive workplace creates an environment in which our employees can thrive and develop better products for our customers. All employment decisions are made on a non-discriminatory basis without regard to sex, race, color, national origin, citizenship status, religion, age, disability, pregnancy or maternity status, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran or protected veteran, or any other similarly protected status in accordance with federal, state and local laws. We encourage interested candidates to review the key responsibilities and qualifications for each role and apply for any positions that match their skills and capabilities. Applicants in the recruitment process may be required, where applicable, to successfully complete a role-related assessment(s) and/or a pre-employment screening prior to beginning employment. To learn more, visit How we Hire.

Accommodations

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