Head of Contracts

Our Mission

Our passion for improving patients’ lives motivates us to apply our skills, experience and knowledge to advance medicine.

We achieve this through flexible, innovative, high-quality solutions for our clients, delivered with integrity.

The Role

Reporting to the Vice President, Legal and Contracts, the Head of Contracts leads the Contracts Division within the Legal Department, ensuring the timely delivery of high-quality, risk-balanced contractual support to Caidya and Simbec-Orion's internal and external stakeholders. The role is accountable for the development of contracting strategy, optimisation of contract management processes, team leadership and the continuous improvement of contracting capabilities, ensuring that contractual arrangements are legally compliant, commercially appropriate, operationally effective and aligned with the organisation's strategic objectives.

Key internal relationships include Legal Department members, Heads of Department, the Senior Management Team, Operational Team Leads, Project Management, Business Development, Procurement, Finance, Quality Assurance, and Compliance and Data Protection. Key external relationships include clients, investigator sites, service providers, contractors, consultants and external legal counsel.

Key Accountabilities

• Leads and manages the Contracts Division, including workforce planning, recruitment, performance management, succession planning and professional development of team members
• Allocates resources effectively to ensure the timely negotiation and execution of contracts whilst maintaining service level expectations
• Prepares, negotiates, reviews and oversees the execution of commercial agreements with clients, vendors, service providers, subcontractors, consultants and investigator sites
• Develops and implements contracting strategies that support business growth, operational efficiency and risk management objectives
• Provides pragmatic, risk-based legal and commercial advice to stakeholders on contractual matters
• Establishes, monitors and reports on departmental KPIs, contract cycle times, workload metrics and stakeholder satisfaction
• Drives continuous improvement initiatives to enhance contracting processes, automation, templates and workflows
• Maintains and oversees contract lifecycle management systems and associated governance processes
• Develops, maintains and ensures compliance with SOPs, policies, playbooks, templates and training materials
• Oversees outsourced contract review and negotiation services, including management of external resources and service providers
• Acts as an escalation point for complex contractual, legal and commercial issues
• Supports internal and external audits relating to contracting activities and compliance requirements
• Collaborates with senior leadership to identify legal and contractual risks and implement appropriate mitigation strategies
• Provides regular reporting to the Vice President, Legal and Contracts and senior management on departmental performance, resourcing and strategic initiatives
• Other duties as assigned by the Vice President, Legal and Contracts

Skills Required

Education

• Degree qualified in Humanities, Sciences or Social Sciences, or overseas equivalent
• Qualified lawyer or equivalent legal professional with significant relevant post-qualification experience

Experience

• Extensive experience in drafting and negotiating contracts
• Experience drafting commercial and project contracts
• Extensive experience in contracts management
• Previous experience of managing or leading teams
• International contract drafting and management experience (desirable)
• Extensive experience in the pharmaceutical or CRO industry (desirable)
• Experience in managing the financial aspects of a department (desirable)

Skills/Competencies

• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel
• European language skills (desirable)

Capabilities

• Ability to work remotely

About Us

Simbec-Orion is a responsive and agile full-service CRO, delivering studies from first in man through to Phase III. Our experts leverage wide therapeutic experience and specialist expertise to execute a comprehensive portfolio of trials. We are perfectly structured to provide full-service clinical development solutions for small and mid-size drug developers, headed up by a centralised leadership team.

With a focus on tailormade and scalable solutions, we adapt our delivery style, communications and operations to suit the demands of the project, helping clients achieve their clinical and commercial objectives. Because our goal is the same as theirs; to improve patients’ lives.