Contracts Manager

Contracts Manager

The Role

We’re looking for a commercial Contracts Manager to manage deals through their full life cycle, from customer-facing negotiation through contract execution and ongoing compliance. You will structure and negotiate commercial agreements based on our established corporate standards, project manage the contracting process alongside our business development and project management teams, and serve as a relationship-savvy point of contact for customers and partners. You will also provide hands-on due diligence support for our acquisition activities.

You will report to our Senior Contracts Manager and work a hybrid schedule from our HQ in Ridgewood, NJ, our NYC office near Union Square, or our Santa Monica Office.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Serve as a customer-facing lead on commercial negotiations based on our playbooks, structuring deal terms that balance customer needs with our commercial and risk objectives;
• Manage the end-to-end contracting process from initial deal structuring through negotiation, redlines, signature, and post-execution administration while keeping deals on schedule;
• Manage standard form agreements and continually propose and incorporate feedback to improve standard templates and risk allocations;
• Support the commercialization and standardization of new products;
• Prepare standard form and customized agreements for customers, partners, and vendors as needed to support day-to-day operations;
• Analyze third-party paper against our standard commercial positions to identify and resolve material commercial inconsistencies;
• Exercise sound judgment about when to resolve an issue directly and when to escalate to legal counsel or management, incorporating their input as appropriate;
• Build working familiarity with project cost models and deal economics to negotiate scope, milestones, and risk allocation knowledgeably;
• Manage our contracts database, including monitoring existing agreements for conformance with budget, deadlines, performance obligations, customer service, and renewal/expiration dates;
• Support our project management and business development teams in clearing conditions to our obligations and complying with the terms of our agreements;
• Manage the signature collection process and timely satisfaction of any approvals or conditions precedent;
• Ensure company-wide compliance with Scale’s internal approval processes;
• Manage the legal and regulatory diligence process for purchasing, selling, and/or financing of distributed energy projects and portfolios.

The Ideal Candidate

• Bachelor’s degree required; 3+ years of relevant experience. Legal training or a paralegal/JD background is a plus, but we’re looking for someone whose primary orientation is commercial rather than legal;
• Demonstrated success leading customer-facing negotiations and managing projects successfully and on time;
• Strong deal-structuring instincts - comfortable shaping and proposing commercial terms, not just reviewing them;
• Quick study with numbers; able to get up to speed on cost models and deal economics without a finance background;
• Experience with power purchase agreements, energy services agreements, leases, or similar commercial agreements in distributed energy, real estate, or a related industry preferred;
• Strong contract drafting acumen;
• Detail- and process-oriented, with a history of building or improving contract and deal-management workflows, balancing speed and agility with internal controls and risk management;
• Preference for individuals with experience performing or managing buy-side diligence activities;
• Experience preparing power purchase agreements, energy services agreements, M&A transaction agreements, or similar agreements within the distributed energy industry preferred;
• Self-driven, entrepreneurial in nature; willing to step outside of role where needed to support the company’s needs; thrives in a fast-paced environment;