Senior Contracts Paralegal

PAYCO The Clearing House Payments Company; Charlotte (NC); On-site; USD 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

The Clearing House Payments Company L.L.C. is seeking a Senior Contracts Paralegal to support the Legal Department's commercial contracting work, drafting, reviewing, negotiating, and managing a broad range of agreements, with emphasis on cloud, software, vendor, licensing, confidentiality, and procurement contracts.

Based in Charlotte, NC, the role works with internal teams and external parties to advance contracts, protect the company's interests, and improve contract processes, including

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience required.
• ABA-approved paralegal certificate or equivalent.
• At least 10 years of paralegal experience negotiating commercial contracts.
• Experience drafting, reviewing, negotiating, and managing complex commercial contracts including cloud, software, technology, professional services, vendor, licensing, confidentiality, and procurement.
• Familiarity with AI tools and their appropriate use in legal/workflow.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Draft, review, negotiate, and manage a wide range of commercial agreements.
• Independently negotiate contract terms with vendors, consultants, and third parties.
• Review cloud services, SaaS, software, and AI-related agreements.
• Collaborate with Procurement, Information Security, Technology, Finance, Compliance, Risk Management, and business teams.
• Develop, update, and maintain contract templates, clause libraries, and negotiation playbooks.
• Provide guidance to other paralegals on contract negotiations and consistency.
• Assist attorneys with legal research and regulatory requests.
• Coordinate with outside counsel and external service providers.
• Recommend process improvements to increase efficiency and reduce cycle times.
• Maintain confidentiality and handle sensitive information.

Skills

Contract drafting

Contract negotiation

Cloud/AI contracts

Legal research

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor's degree

ABA-approved paralegal certificate

Job description

PositionSummary:The Senior Contracts Paralegal is part of the Legal Department and supports the company's commercial contracting work.Theperson in this roleis responsible fordrafting, reviewing, negotiating, and managinga wide range of business agreements, with a focus on cloud, technology, software, vendor, licensing, confidentiality, and procurement contracts.

TheSenior Contracts Paralegal workswith internal teams and outside parties to move contracts forward, protect the company's interests, and support businessdecisions. Additionally, the person in this rolehelps improve contract processes, supports the use and training of approved AI tools, and may guide or oversee contract negotiations handled by other paralegals.This position will be based in Charlotte, NC and will report tothe Senior Manager Paralegal.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

• Draft, review, negotiate, and manage a wide range of commercial agreements while balancing legal risk with business needs.
• Independently negotiate contract terms directly with vendors, consultants, technology providers, cloud providers, and other third parties within approved guidelines.
• Review and help negotiate cloud services, SaaS, software, and AI-related agreements, includinguserights, data use, security, privacy, confidentiality, and service levels.
• Work closely with Procurement, Information Security, Technology, Finance, Compliance, Risk Management, and business teams throughout the contract process.
• Provide guidance to internal partners on contract terms, negotiation strategy, and company standards.
• Develop, update, andmaintaincontract templates, clause libraries, negotiation playbooks, and standard procedures, while supporting effective contract processes and theappropriate useof approved AI tools.
• Provide guidance andoversightto other paralegalson contract negotiations and help ensure consistency in approach and quality.
• Assistattorneys with legal research, contract interpretation, regulatory requests, and special legal projects.
• Coordinate with outside counsel and external service providers as directed.
• Recommend process improvements that increase efficiency, reduce cycle times, and strengthencontractgovernance.
• Maintainconfidentiality and handle sensitive information with discretion.
• Perform other legal and operational duties as assigned.

QualificationsRequired

• Bachelor's degreerequired, or an equivalent mix of education and relevant experience.
• Paralegal certificate from an ABA-approved program, or equivalent experience.
• At least 10 years of progressively responsible paralegal experience, with strong experience negotiating commercial contracts in an in-house legal department or major law firm.
• Strong experience drafting, reviewing, negotiating, and managing complex commercial contracts,including cloud, software, technology, professional services,vendor, licensing, confidentiality, and procurement agreements.
• Working knowledge of contract risk, privacy, cybersecurity, information security, cloud services, and AI-related terms.
• Familiarity with AI tools and theirappropriate usein legal and contract-related work.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

QualificationsDesired:

• Experience supporting financial services, banking, payments, fintech, or other regulated industries.
• Experience negotiating cloud services, SaaS, technology, and AI-related agreements.
• Experience reviewing privacy, cybersecurity, information security, and data-related contract provisions.
• Experience working collaboratively with Procurement, Technology, Information Security,Compliance, and other business functions on commercial contracting matters.
• Experience with contract lifecycle management systems and other legal technology tools.

Physical Demands and Work Environment:

The working environment isgenerally favorable.Lightingandtemperatureare adequate, and there are no hazardous or unpleasant conditionscaused by noise, dust, etc.Work isgenerally performedwithin an office environment, withstandard

officeequipment available. Travelmay berequired. Candidates will report to the office three dayseach week. Onsite work requirementsmaychangeat any time.

About The Clearing House:

The Clearing House Payments Company L.L.C. is a bank-owned industry utilitythatshapes the payments landscape and provides infrastructure for safe, reliable, and efficient payments.We see an economy where everyone is connected and a future where modern payments make lifeeasier.TheClearing House operates four payment systems: a high-value wire-transfer system (the CHIPS® network),thecountry’sfirst and largest instant payments system (the RTP® network), an automatedclearinghousenetwork(the EPN® network), and a check image exchange network (the Image Exchange Network).TCHalsooperatesa bank account number tokenization service, runs a payments association known as the TCHPayments Authority, andmaintainsthe rules for private-sector check image exchange through its ECCHO®business line.