Senior Contracts Specialist
Location: Downtown Houston, TX (Hybrid: in office Monday–Thursday, remote Fridays)
Employment Type: Full-Time
Compensation: $113,500 – $136,600 base + 10% annual bonus target
Position Overview
A growing midstream energy company is hiring a Senior Contracts Specialist for its small, high-impact Contracts team. About 90% of the role is Master Service Agreements (MSAs) and commercial agreements. The other 10% is IT service agreements.
This is not a contract administration role. Hands-on redlining is at the core of this job. You'll draft and redline agreements yourself and own them from start to finish: building the contracting strategy, redlining, negotiating, executing and closing out. You'll work independently, advise internal stakeholders on contractual risk and help improve how the team contracts.
Key Responsibilities
- Redline and draft agreements independently, including MSAs and IT service agreements, and lead commercial negotiations with suppliers, contractors, consultants and service providers.
- Own the full contract lifecycle for MSAs, service, construction, engineering, equipment, purchasing and IT service agreements, from strategy through closeout.
- Negotiate key terms, including scope of work, pricing and payment terms, insurance, indemnification, limitation of liability, warranties, termination, confidentiality and HSE requirements.
- Support RFQs and RFPs, including bid packages, commercial evaluations, supplier comparisons and award recommendations.
- Work with Legal, Risk, Finance, Tax, Operations, Engineering, Procurement, Project Management and HSE.
- Advise on contract interpretation, commercial exceptions, change orders, claims and contractor performance.
- Track obligations, renewals, amendments, expirations and record retention.
- Improve templates, playbooks, approval workflows and documentation standards.
- Build and maintain contract metrics and reporting in Power BI, and use the data to recommend process improvements.
- Keep records accurate in Oracle and Contracts Logix.
Required Qualifications
- Strong, hands-on redlining experience. You must be able to review counterparty paper, mark up terms and draft your own language without relying on Legal for every change.
- Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Business, Engineering, Construction Management, Finance or a related field. Equivalent experience will be considered.
- 7+ years of contract lifecycle experience in contracts, procurement, supply chain or commercial management.
- A proven record of drafting, redlining and negotiating complex agreements, such as MSAs, construction contracts, professional and engineering services agreements, equipment and material purchase agreements, and amendments and change orders.
- Experience in oil and gas, midstream, energy, petrochemical, industrial construction or capital projects.
- Strong knowledge of commercial terms and risk allocation, with the judgment to make clear, risk-based recommendations.
- Experience with strategic sourcing, competitive bidding and supplier evaluation.
- ERP experience (Oracle preferred; SAP or similar is acceptable), plus advanced Microsoft Office skills.
- Strong negotiation, writing and stakeholder-management skills, and the ability to manage several agreements at once.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience contracting for IT services, such as software, SaaS, IT professional services or managed services. This is a strong plus.
- Experience with midstream engineering and construction services contracts, plus familiarity with industry terminology.
- Experience with compression rental agreements. This is a significant plus.
- Experience supporting gas processing plants, pipelines, terminals, fractionation or compression assets.
- Experience with Contracts Logix or another contract lifecycle management (CLM) platform, and with Power BI or similar reporting tools.
- A CPSM, C.P.M., CPCM, CCCM or similar certification.
Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate is a hands-on contracts professional who has spent their career redlining, drafting and negotiating agreements, not just administering them. They're comfortable taking a vendor MSA from first draft to signature with little oversight. They speak the language of midstream operations and construction, and ideally they bring IT services contracting experience the team doesn't have yet. They enjoy fixing broken processes and will be a strong peer on a three-person team.
Why Join
- A visible role on a lean team, with direct influence on contracting standards and processes
- A competitive base salary plus a 10% bonus target
- A modified hybrid schedule with remote Fridays
