Paralegal

Wistar; Philadelphia (Philadelphia County); Hybrid; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, PA seeks a Paralegal to support the Legal Department in contracts, governance, and compliance. The role includes drafting and reviewing agreements, managing contract lifecycle, and coordinating with internal stakeholders to ensure regulatory compliance in life sciences and academia.

Hybrid position with opportunities to contribute to policy development, training programs, and vendor and outside counsel matters while aligning with the Institute’s mission and

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent education.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat Pro.
• Experience with MS Word redlines and document comparisons.

Responsibilities

• Drafts and reviews basic agreements (amendments, confidentiality, MSAs, etc.).
• Manages contract lifecycle from intake to filing and filing.
• Acts as a point of contact for legal, contract, and other inquiries; manages matter intake.
• Assists with governance matters, such as drafting board resolutions.
• Supports General Counsel with government relations, coordinating stakeholders and tracking legislative activities.
• Assists with preparing and enforcing compliance policies and procedures.
• Maintains institutional training program and monitors compliance requirements.
• Administrative tasks for committees led by the legal team.
• Keeps track of deadlines and delivers; follows up with stakeholders.
• Researches legal/regulatory updates affecting biomedical research.
• Coordinates across departments to support scientists in compliance.
• Maintains central files, templates, and resources.
• Assists with outside counsel tracking and billing.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Skills

Oral & written communication

Attention to detail

Time management

Prioritization

Independent work

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Tools

MS Word

Adobe Acrobat Pro

Contract management platforms

Job description

The Wistar Institute, 3601 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Job Description

Posted Tuesday, August 18, 2026 at 4:00 AM

The Wistar Institute is a world leader in early-stage discovery science in the areas of cancer, immunology, and infectious disease. Wistar is committed to accelerating research advances from bench to bedside through brilliant science and distinctive approaches to collaboration among scientific investigators and academic and industry partners. Wistar’s dynamic environment supports the advancement of discoveries that will change the future of human health.

The Wistar Institute has an opening for a Paralegal in our results-driven Legal Department. This in-house paralegal role supports the Legal Department across a broad range of contract, governance, compliance, and other core legal operations within the Office of the General Counsel. The position plays an active role in contract drafting, review, and management, policy development, and cross-functional coordination, working closely with legal counsel and internal stakeholders to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations.This in-house paralegal role is a hybrid position.

Duties and responsibilities:

• Drafts and reviews basic agreements (amendments, confidentiality, consulting, master services agreements, material transfer, purchasing terms and conditions, etc.).
• Key partner in the implementation of contract management system and contract administration generally (manages lifecycle of contracts from intake, internal review by key stakeholders, negotiation, signature, and filing).
• Acts as a point of contact for legal, contract, and other inquiries, managing matter intake and related correspondence.
• Assists with basic governance matters, such as drafting resolutions, for the Board of Trustees and its committees.
• Supports General Counsel and VP Government Relations with government relations function, such as coordinating internal and external stakeholders, tracking contacts and meetings with government officials, monitoring legislative activities, participating in meetings, and preparing informational documents.
• Assists with preparing and enforcing compliance policies and procedures.
• Plays a key role in managing the institutional training program and monitoring compliance with various requirements.
• Responsible for certain administrative tasks associated with institutional committees led by the legal team.
• Researches and tracks legal and regulatory updates affecting academic biomedical research and/or the life sciences industry.
• Works with the legal team and coordinates across departments to support scientists in complying with pertinent laws and regulations.
• Maintains, organizes, and retrieves central files, templates, resources, and other information.
• Assists with outside counsel tracking and billing matters.
• Keeps track of deadlines, consultations, and deliverables and follows up with stakeholders and attorneys as necessary.
• Conducts research, prepares and reviews documents, and works with the legal team and business functions to ensure matters are handled efficiently.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Required Education/Experience: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent education required.Proficiency in Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat Pro is required, with a high level of expertise in MS Word, including preparing redlines and document comparisons, professional formatting, and conducting research using internet resources.

Preferred Experience: Paralegal certificate and prior work experience in a legal or compliance setting a plus. Experience working in-house is strongly desired; experience working in the academic biomedical research and/or life sciences industry is also favorable.Experience with contract management platforms or similar software is strongly desired.

Specific Knowledge, Skills, or other Qualifications: The successful candidate will demonstrate excellent oral and written communication skills, strong attention to detail, and the ability to manage priorities while working both independently and collaboratively. This role requires the capacity to solve problems, meet deadlines, and contribute to complex and diverse projects. The ideal candidate will also exercise sound judgment on routine legal, compliance, and contract matters and will be comfortable working with minimal supervision on defined projects.

The Wistar Institute is located in the University City area of Philadelphia, in the heart of the University of Pennsylvania Campus. Wistar provides resources to its faculty and staff that enable them to conduct cutting edge collaborative research and provides for outstanding intellectual environments and state-of-the‑art facilities.

We offer a competitive salary and excellent benefits package.

For more information about The Wistar Institute visit our website atwww.wistar.org .

It is the policy of the Institute to provide equal employment opportunities to all individuals regardless of race, citizenship, ethnicity, color, creed, religion, marital status, national origin, ancestry, sex, age, veteran status, mental or physical disability (including HIV and AIDS), pregnancy, caregiver status, domestic or sexual violence victim status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or on the basis of genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law, with respect to all terms and conditions of employment.

The Wistar Institute, 3601 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America