Lead Vendor Contracts Specialist (AI-Driven)

Guardianlife; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 103,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Job summary

Guardian Life is seeking a Lead Contract Specialist in Legal Vendor Contracting to draft, negotiate, and close enterprise vendor agreements, including MSAs, SOWs, and SaaS, within Law Department guidelines. This non-attorney role emphasizes risk-aware decisions and strong collaboration with business and legal stakeholders.

You will own a portfolio of vendor agreements from intake to execution, applying Guardian's standard positions and leveraging AI tools like Harvey and Copilot for review,

Qualifications

• 8+ years drafting and negotiating commercial, technology, or outsourcing contracts in a legal, contracts, or procurement function.
• Experience in financial services, insurance, or other regulated industries and in vendor contracting.
• Demonstrated ability to make sound, timely decisions within defined parameters and to escalate appropriately.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to interact with clients and management.

Responsibilities

• Draft, negotiate, and close significant vendor agreements, including MSAs, SOWs, SaaS, cloud and technology, outsourcing and managed services, recruiting, and consulting contracts.
• Collaborate with Guardian's sourcing and procurement function to negotiate and execute vendor transactions, outsourcing arrangements, and strategic third-party relationships, while balancing risk, speed, and business objectives.
• Deliver complete first-pass markups and issue lists within agreed turnaround times using AI-enabled tools, and track open issues and approvals through signature and contract-system entry.
• Coordinate Privacy, Information Security, Third-Party Risk, and Procurement reviews.
• Partner with Legal Operations and IT to drive process improvements, automation, and modernization of the vendor contracting function.

Skills

Contract drafting

Negotiation

Vendor contracting

AI tools

Tools

Harvey

Microsoft Copilot

Job description

Guardian Life is seeking a Lead Contract Specialist in Legal Vendor Contracting to draft, negotiate, and close enterprise vendor agreements, including MSAs, SOWs, and SaaS, within Law Department guidelines. This non-attorney role emphasizes risk-aware decisions and strong collaboration with business and legal stakeholders.

You will own a portfolio of vendor agreements from intake to execution, applying Guardian's standard positions and leveraging AI tools like Harvey and Copilot for review,