Senior Contract Manager – Detroit, Michigan

This Senior Contract Manager role supports client contracting, aiming to optimize the client's retail vendor environment and align with their digital strategy. Key responsibilities include supporting contract negotiation and execution, managing ongoing dealer vendor contracts, overseeing governance meetings, tracking contract-related metrics, liaising with business and financial teams, coordinating legal counsel, and continuously improving vendor management processes. The role focuses on enhancing efficiency, effectiveness, and impact through proactive management and process optimization.

Must Have

• Provide support in interpreting contract language and analyzing contract baselines.
• Manage contract change management by providing support for contract amendments, monitoring, tracking, executing and reporting status of contract changes.
• Provide primary support for contract issue management identification and upfront resolution of potential issues.
• Assist business owners in monitoring the status of open issues, engaging the governance committee to review issues and provide direction for issue resolution.
• Manage dispute resolution through formal dispute resolution channels.
• Assist in analyzing, reviewing, recording and reporting on vendor performance specifically with respect to contracted service levels of performance.
• Assist in performing audit functions including identifying audit areas in contracts, planning audits for the contract year, providing notice of intent to perform the audit.
• Maintain governance library functions including creating the governance library, gathering materials for governance library and maintaining the governance library.
• 5+ years of contract management and/or negotiating contracts in the digital marketing space.
• Experience working with the various contract structures.
• Strong Relationship Building skills.
• Procurement experience or the ability to demonstrate experience collaborating with areas of procurement and legal counsel.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Comfortable working in a dynamic environment with changing priorities.
• Ability to communicate with multiple levels within an organization.
• Ability to comprehend technical concepts.
• Experience with vendor management.
• Proficient with the Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Visio & Project).
• Ability to work productively in a team environment.
• Contract management process skills; an understanding of process costs, ability to work with client business owners and vendors to ensure effective operations.
• Specific experience in managing insourcing / outsourcing transactions, including financials, contract obligations, service level management and overall contract governance.

Description

Wanted: dynamic and creative individuals ready to connect with a like-minded team. You’ll enjoy all the autonomy you need to help our clients make their digital infrastructure faster and more effective. Free reign for free spirits doesn’t mean you’ve got to go it alone. Over 1400 teammates from around the globe are eager to help you out when things get down to wire. Their expertise will put you on the winning path and keep you there.

Position Overview

This role supports client contracting and is intended to optimize client’s retail vendor environment while driving alignment with client’s digital strategy and online engagement. This position will also support the business processes and strategies for retail vendor management.

Primary functional responsibilities include, supporting retail vendor contract negotiation and execution, ongoing dealer vendor contract management, managing governance meetings as prescribed in each contract; providing contract management-related tracking, measurement and dashboard consolidations; liaising with the business team to understand program enhancements and potential contract changes, liaising with client financial teams for financial reporting matters; coordinating involvement of client legal counsel as directed; monitoring and seeking ways to improve the vendor environment, optimizing vendor and category alignment, efficiency, effectiveness and impact through proactive management; and improving/creating required business processes; proactively proposing ideas for improving processes and procedures; and interacting with and directing day-to-day operations of the contracts with vendors, partners and their teams. This position will report to the Business Strategy Contract Manager.

Responsibilities

The Contract Manager will also be responsible for the management and adherence of the following client business processes:

• Provide support in interpreting contract language and analyzing contract baselines; develop and maintain a working knowledge of vendor and partner contract obligations acting as a coordination point for the client contract and business owners as needed.
• Manage contract change management by providing support for contract amendments, monitoring, tracking, executing and reporting status of contract changes, and monitoring for any unauthorized contract changes.
• Provide primary support to the client contract management, business strategy and their teams for contract issue management identification and upfront resolution of potential issues including monitoring and escalating key vendor and partner-related issues to governance committees.
• Assist the business owners in monitoring the status of open issues, engaging the governance committee to review issues and provide direction for issue resolution.
• Manage dispute resolution through formal dispute resolution channels by reviewing the contract and developing the calendar, determining documents and notice requirements, notifying and working through informal dispute resolution, and preparing for and executing through final dispute resolution; also may assist in establishing such channels where necessary.
• Manage and assist client contract and business owners in helping to analyze, review, record and report on vendor performance specifically with respect to contracted service levels of performance. This includes any associated SLA’s associated with any vendor contracts.
• Assist the client contract and business owners in performing audit functions including identifying audit areas in contracts, planning audits for the contract year, providing notice of intent to perform the audit, monitoring the conduct of audits and reporting audit outcomes.
• Maintain governance library functions including creating the governance library, gathering materials for governance library and maintaining the governance library by continuously ensuring all contract documents are current.

Required Skillsets

• In Office - Detroit, Michigan
• 5+ years of contract management and/or negotiating contracts in the digital marketing space
• Experience working with the various contract structures
• Strong Relationship Building skills
• Procurement experience or the ability to demonstrate experience collaborating with areas of procurement and legal counsel
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Comfortable working in a dynamic environment with changing priorities
• Ability to communicate with multiple levels within an organization
• Ability to comprehend technical concepts
• Experience with vendor management
• Proficient with the Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Visio & Project)
• Ability to work productively in a team environment
• Contract management process skills; an understanding of process costs, ability to work with client business owners and vendors to ensure effective operations
• Specific experience in managing insourcing / outsourcing transactions, including financials, contract obligations, service level management and overall contract governance.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing or equivalent experience

At ISG, we don’t just accept difference — we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it for the benefit of our employees, our clients, and our communities. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. ISG is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and we are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. The more diverse and inclusive we are, the better our work will be.

The duties and responsibilities described in this job description may not be a comprehensive list. Additional tasks may be assigned to the employee from time to time and/or the scope of the job may change as necessitated by business demands.