What are the responsibilities and job description for the Principal, IT Contracts Manager position at R Systems?
About the Company: R Systems is a leading digital product engineering company that designs and develops chip-to-cloud software products, platforms, and digital experiences that empower its clients to achieve higher revenues and operational efficiency. Our product mindset and engineering capabilities in Cloud, Data, AI, and CX enable us to serve key players in the high-tech industry, including ISVs, SaaS, and Internet companies, as well as product companies in telecom, media, finance, manufacturing, and health verticals. We Are Great Place to Work Certified in 10 countries with a full-time workforce [India, USA, Canada, Poland, Romania, Moldova, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia & Thailand]! We are recognized as one of the Best Tech Brands 2024 by the Times Group and India's Top 500 Value Creators 2023 by Dun & Bradstreet.
About the Role: The Principal, IT Contracts Manager serves as a trusted authority on contractual matters for our client IT, overseeing the full contract lifecycle from intake through transition to operations with a focus on our most complex and impactful agreements. This role plays a critical part in protecting the organization’s legal, financial, and operational interests by ensuring contracts are well-structured, compliant, commercially sound, and aligned with business strategy. This position partners closely with IT leaders, Legal, Finance, Procurement, and Vendors to enable efficient contract execution while managing risk.
Responsibilities:
Accountability 1- Contract Drafting & Review (40%)
- Collaborate with IT leaders and vendors to ensure contract language accurately reflects business intent, scope, pricing, timelines, performance obligations, and risk allocation.
- Review, edit, and finalize a broad range of IT contracts, including but not limited to:
- Master Service Agreements (MSAs)
- Statements of Work (SOWs)
- Service Level Agreements (SLA)
- Contract Amendments
- Other vendor and supplier agreements
Accountability 2- Negotiation & Risk Management (5%)
- Collaborate with Sourcing and Legal to support contract negotiations with vendors and IT leaders, balancing pricing and legal risk with business objectives.
- Partner with IT leaders, Legal, InfoSec, Privacy, and Risk to ensure contracts include:
- Security control obligations, audit rights, vulnerability remediation timeframes, and breach notification.
- Data handling and regulatory clauses relevant to travel (PII, and PCI where applicable).
- Business continuity/DR obligations (RTO/RPO), resiliency testing, and subcontractor controls.
Accountability 3 - Compliance & Governance (5%)
- Ensure contracts comply with internal policies, and industry standards.
- Support audits, regulatory reviews, and internal controls related to contractual obligations.
- Ensure proper approvals, signatures, and recordkeeping are completed in accordance with company governance standards.
Accountability 4 - Contract Lifecycle Management (5%)
- Manage contract lifecycle, including intake, drafting, review, execution, storage, renewal, amendment, and termination.
- Maintain an organized, searchable contract repository using contract lifecycle management (CLM) tools or internal systems.
- Ensure post-execution obligations are clearly communicated to relevant internal teams.
Accountability 5 - Stakeholder Collaboration (25%)
- Ensure governance in place for managed service contracts and provide oversight.
- Partner with Sourcing on pricing, payment terms, and cost controls.
- Ensure vendor and supplier agreements follow IT, Financial, Sourcing and Legal processes.
- Collaborate with IT Leaders to ensure vendor and supplier agreements meet operational needs.
- Serve as a primary point of contact for contract-related inquiries across the organization.
- Advise internal stakeholders on termination rights, and dispute resolution provisions where needed.
- Ensure proper approvals, signatures, and recordkeeping are completed in accordance with company governance standards.
Accountability 6 - Process Improvement & Knowledge Management (10%)
- Develop and maintain standardized contract templates, clause libraries, and negotiation playbooks.
- Recommend and implement improvements to contract processes to increase efficiency, consistency, and turnaround time.
- Provide training and guidance to internal teams on contract basics, best practices, and risk awareness.
- Support implementation or optimization of contract management systems.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Law, Business Admin, Finance or related field or equivalent work experience required; Masters degree a plus
- Strong understanding of contract law, commercial terms, and negotiation principles.
- Proficiency with contract management systems and document management tools.
- Familiarity with ITIL/service management concepts and SLA measurement practices.
Required Skills:
- Strong knowledge of managed services agreements
- Advanced contract drafting and negotiation skills
- Strong risk assessment and analytical capabilities
- Excellent written and verbal communication
- High attention to detail and accuracy
- Ability to manage multiple priorities and tight deadlines
- Sound judgment and decision-making
- Strong collaboration and stakeholder management skills
- Discretion and ability to handle confidential information
- 1 year experience in the cruise and/or travel industry. (preferred)
Preferred Skills:
- 10 years of experience in IT contract management, legal operations, commercial contracting, or a related role.
- 5 years in managing complex, high value, managed service contracts.
- 5 years collaborating with IT Leaders on hardware, software and labor contracts