Senior Director, Contracting Systems, Governance and Operations

Position Summary

The Director, Contracting Systems, Governance and Operations, is the architect and operator of the enterprise contracting ecosystem. The role owns the strategy, governance, technology enablement, process design, knowledge management, and operational performance of the contracting function. It unifies two mandates under one accountable leader: the Contract Operations team that runs the contracting backbone today (templates and template governance, playbooks and fallback guidance, Icertis administration, legal intake and escalation, reporting, and facilitator enablement) and the enterprise transformation to a single, integrated, AI-enabled contracting ecosystem. The role partners across Law, Procurement, Enterprise Technology, Data & AI, Finance, Compliance, and business functions to deliver a scalable, data-driven contracting model that improves speed, consistency, risk management, and user experience across the contract lifecycle, from intake through execution and post-signature management.

Key Responsibilities

Lead Contracting Transformation

• Own the enterprise contracting transformation roadmap, driving simplification, standardization, and digital enablement across the contract lifecycle, including single-door intake, automated routing, template-driven drafting, AI-assisted redlining, escalation management, approval and signature controls, and contract data extraction.
• Serve as process owner for the enterprise contracting lifecycle, establishing workflows, decision rights, routing rules, service models, controls, and performance standards, and define risk-tiering thresholds and review SLAs.
• Build and lead the enterprise contracting transformation program team, establishing the structure, roles, and operating cadence needed to move from design to delivery.
• Onboard Functional Delivery Owners and the attorney towers to the new model: contract type and PO inventories, routing rules and risk criteria, template and fallback submissions, and retirement of legacy intake channels and shadow templates.
• Lead change management, training, and adoption across Law, Procurement, and the business, including third parties that contract on BMS's behalf, such as CROs.

Lead AI and Digital Contracting

• Lead deployment and governance of AI-enabled contracting capabilities, including intelligent intake, contract drafting, redlining, escalation management, knowledge management, and continuous learning, building on the AI enabled redlining rollout.
• Manage the relationship with the contracting technology vendor and Technology teams, including requirements, architecture, data and security considerations, pilots, and go-live readiness.
• Own the integrated contracting technology roadmap across BMS Claude, Icertis, Databricks, SAP, Ariba, DocuSign, third-party risk management (TPRM) processes, and contract repositories and data products.
• Own vendor and budget strategy for contracting technology and service providers, including performance, cost, and contract management.

Lead Playbooks, Templates, and Governance

• Maintain enterprise contracting playbooks, decision frameworks, fallback positions, approval authorities, and governance standards (such as the MSA and CDA playbooks) to enable consistent and scalable contracting.
• Own the single governed template library, template selection guidance, and the change-control process for template and fallback updates, including the monthly template-improvement sweep that flags high-churn language.
• Set standards for capturing SME dispositions and converting them into fallback positions and counterparty-history guidance, so that prior decisions are governed and reused.
• Lead facilitator enablement through training, job aids, and guidance that make Procurement facilitators self-sufficient and reduce unnecessary legal escalations.
• Own contracting policies and guidance, including the Global Contracting Hub content, in coordination with Procurement, Finance, and the legal and compliance teams that interpret the requirements.

Lead Contracting Operations

• Own the central legal intake model and escalation framework: uniform intake, escalation routing, template selection guidance, and clear criteria for when Procurement should and should not escalate to Legal.
• Own Icertis administration and provide centralized contract operations support across the contracting towers.
• Lead repository mapping and the decision on the future contract repository, including the controls that tie payment to an agreement identified in the mapped repository.

Lead Contract Intelligence and Data Strategy

• Establish and oversee the contract data strategy, including metadata standards, extraction frameworks, reporting models, and contract intelligence and analytics that support operational and business decisions.
• Own contracting reporting and metrics, giving Enterprise Contracting leadership and the attorney towers visibility into volume, cycle time, time in stage, escalations, fallback adoption, and template and playbook adoption.
• Develop and maintain enterprise contracting knowledge assets so that approved positions, templates, and playbooks are captured, governed, and leveraged across future transactions.

Risk, Controls, and Continuous Improvement

• Implement operational controls, approval frameworks, human checkpoints, AI governance mechanisms, and risk-management processes (including TPRM and financial review touchpoints) so that contracting remains compliant, auditable, and scalable, in partnership with Privacy Law & Compliance and AI & Data Governance.
• Drive ongoing optimization of contracting processes through analytics, user feedback, cycle-time reduction, and automation opportunities, feeding learnings back into templates and playbooks.
• Maintain audit readiness and clear interfaces with Procurement, Finance, and business owners so that accountability for contracting is clear and not duplicated.

Lead the Team

• Lead, develop, and retain the Contract Operations team (the Operations tower) and the enterprise contracting transformation program team, building one culture and a clear operating rhythm across strategy and operations.
• Set team priorities, performance expectations, and succession plans, and fill open roles.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; JD or other advanced degree preferred, or equivalent experience in contracting, legal operations, or procurement operations.
• Extensive experience (typically 12+ years) in contracting, legal operations, or procurement operations, including 5+ years leading teams or large cross-functional programs, in a corporation, law firm, or consultancy; in-house experience preferred.
• Demonstrated people leadership, including managing managers and building teams from the ground up.
• Track record delivering enterprise transformation or technology implementations, ideally contract lifecycle management or AI-assisted drafting and review, and designing end-to-end processes and operating models.
• Deep knowledge of contract templates, playbooks, and fallback frameworks, and of risk-tiered review models, with experience in the pharmaceutical or a similarly regulated industry.
• Working knowledge of contract data and analytics, and of AI governance, data privacy, and information security considerations in contracting technology.
• Experience selecting and managing contracting technology and vendors; familiarity with Icertis or similar contract lifecycle management platforms and AI drafting tools is valued.
• Excellent business judgment, executive presence, and communication skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate across Law, Procurement, Technology, and the business.
• High integrity, resilience, and commitment to BMS's values of integrity, innovation, urgency, accountability, inclusion, and passion.