Contracts Manager, EMEA

Job Purpose

The Contracts Manager, EMEA is responsible for leading the company’s EMEA contract management strategy within a fast‑growing SaaS environment. This role oversees drafting, negotiating, reviewing and lifecycle management of all EMEA commercial agreements, including customer, vendor and technology contracts. The role works closely with Sales, Finance and Product teams to ensure contracts align with business objectives while mitigating legal and commercial risks. This is a hybrid role with an expectation of one day per week on site in either London or Surrey.

Main Responsibilities

Contract Strategy

• Work alongside the NAM Contracts Manager to develop and lead the company’s contract management framework, policies and best practices.
• Standardise contract templates and playbooks for SaaS products and services.
• Implement and optimise contract lifecycle management (CLM) systems.

Commercial Contracting

• Draft and negotiate complex, cross‑border agreements with customers and suppliers such as SaaS master subscription agreements (MSAs), vendor and procurement agreements.
• Provide strategic guidance to Sales on complex enterprise deals.
• Ensure contract terms align with revenue, pricing and risk strategies.
• Instruct external counsel as required for non‑standard negotiations outside the UK.
• Address contract‑related disputes and interpretations.

Risk & Compliance

• Ensure contractual compliance with relevant regulations including SaaS industry standards.
• Identify legal and commercial risks and provide mitigation strategies.
• Maintain governance processes for contract approvals and deviations from standard terms.
• Provide strategic advice to executives and sales teams on commercial and vendor/supplier contracts.

Cross‑Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Sales, Customer Support, Finance, Data Privacy and Product teams to support deal negotiations.
• Advise internal stakeholders on contract interpretation and obligations.
• Support procurement negotiations with key vendors and suppliers.

Process Improvement

• Improve contract turnaround times while maintaining risk controls.
• Drive automation and digitisation of contract workflows.
• Develop metrics and reporting on contract performance, cycle time and risk exposure.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Law, Business or a related field (LLB preferred).
• 6+ years of experience in commercial contracting, preferably in a SaaS or technology company.
• Strong experience negotiating complex enterprise SaaS agreements in EMEA.
• Deep understanding of software licensing, subscription models and cloud services.

Key Skills

• Advanced contract negotiation and drafting.
• Strong commercial and risk assessment skills, with a deep understanding of business needs and the ability to align legal advice with commercial objectives.
• Knowledge of SaaS legal frameworks (data protection, IP, licensing).
• Stakeholder management across Sales and leadership teams.
• Experience with CLM platforms (e.g., Ironclad, DocuSign CLM, Agiloft).
• Excellent communication, project management and organisational skills.
• Experience in developing policies, processes and tools to improve contract management.
• Proactive, innovative mindset with attention to detail.
• Confident, inquisitive, proactive attitude.
• The ability to thrive in a fast‑paced, collaborative environment.

Preferred Experience

• Experience supporting global SaaS sales teams.
• Familiarity with data privacy frameworks such as GDPR.
• Experience scaling contract processes in high‑growth companies.

Success Metrics

• Reduced contract cycle times.
• Improved contract standardisation and compliance.
• Effective risk mitigation in commercial agreements.
• Strong support of revenue‑generating sales processes.

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