Senior Director - Contracting Systems, Governance and Operations

At Bristol Myers Squibb, our employees often ask, “Who are you working for?”—a question that fuels collaboration, accountability, and urgency in our work. Our purpose-driven culture inspires us to discover, develop, and deliver innovative medicines to prevail over serious diseases. We offer uniquely interesting and meaningful work, opportunities for growth, and a supportive environment that values inclusion, wellbeing, flexibility, and comprehensive benefits. This is work that transforms the lives of patients, and the careers of those who do it.

Position Summary

The Senior Director, Contracting Systems, Governance and Operations, is the architect and operator of the enterprise contracting ecosystem. The role owns the strategy, governance, technology enablement, process design, knowledge management, and operational performance of the contracting function. It unifies two mandates under one accountable leader: the Contract Operations team that runs the contracting backbone today (templates and template governance, playbooks and fallback guidance, Icertis administration, legal intake and escalation, reporting, and facilitator enablement) and the enterprise transformation to a single, integrated, AI-enabled contracting ecosystem.

The role partners across Law, Procurement, Enterprise Technology, Data & AI, Finance, Compliance, and business functions to deliver a scalable, data-driven contracting model that improves speed, consistency, risk management, and user experience across the contract lifecycle, from intake through execution and post-signature management.

This position is ideal for a leader who combines contracting operations depth with transformation, technology, and data judgment, and who can build the enterprise contracting capability from the ground up while keeping today’s contracting operation running.

Key Responsibilities

Lead Contracting Transformation

• Own the enterprise contracting transformation roadmap, driving simplification, standardization, and digital enablement across the contract lifecycle, including single-door intake, automated routing, template-driven drafting, AI-assisted redlining, escalation management, approval and signature controls, and contract data extraction.

• Serve as process owner for the enterprise contracting lifecycle, establishing workflows, decision rights, routing rules, service models, controls, and performance standards, and define risk-tiering thresholds and review SLAs.

• Build and lead the enterprise contracting transformation program team, establishing the structure, roles, and operating cadence needed to move from design to delivery.

• Onboard Functional Delivery Owners and the attorney towers to the new model: contract type and PO inventories, routing rules and risk criteria, template and fallback submissions, and retirement of legacy intake channels and shadow templates.

• Lead change management, training, and adoption across Law, Procurement, and the business, including third parties that contract on BMS’s behalf, such as CROs.

Lead AI and Digital Contracting

• Lead deployment and governance of AI-enabled contracting capabilities, including intelligent intake, contract drafting, redlining, escalation management, knowledge management, and continuous learning, building on the AI enabled redlining rollout.

• Manage the relationship with the contracting technology vendor and Technology teams, including requirements, architecture, data and security considerations, pilots, and go-live readiness.

• Own the integrated contracting technology roadmap across BMS Claude, Icertis, Databricks, SAP, Ariba, DocuSign, third-party risk management (TPRM) processes, and contract repositories and data products.

• Own vendor and budget strategy for contracting technology and service providers, including performance, cost, and contract management.

Lead Playbooks, Templates, and Governance

• Maintain enterprise contracting playbooks, decision frameworks, fallback positions, approval authorities, and governance standards (such as the MSA and CDA playbooks) to enable consistent and scalable contracting.

• Own the single governed template library, template selection guidance, and the change-control process for template and fallback updates, including the monthly template-improvement sweep that flags high-churn language.

• Set standards for capturing SME dispositions and converting them into fallback positions and counterparty-history guidance, so that prior decisions are governed and reused.

• Lead facilitator enablement through training, job aids, and guidance that make Procurement facilitators self-sufficient and reduce unnecessary legal escalations.

• Own contracting policies and guidance, including the Global Contracting Hub content, in coordination with Procurement, Finance, and the legal and compliance teams that interpret the requirements.

Lead Contracting Operations

• Own the central legal intake model and escalation framework: uniform intake, escalation routing, template selection guidance, and clear criteria for when Procurement should and should not escalate to Legal.

• Own Icertis administration and provide centralized contract operations support across the contracting towers.

• Lead repository mapping and the decision on the future contract repository, including the controls that tie payment to an agreement identified in the mapped repository.

Lead Contract Intelligence and Data Strategy

• Establish and oversee the contract data strategy, including metadata standards, extraction frameworks, reporting models, and contract intelligence and analytics that support operational and business decisions.

• Own contracting reporting and metrics, giving Enterprise Contracting leadership and the attorney towers visibility into volume, cycle time, time in stage, escalations, fallback adoption, and template and playbook adoption.

• Develop and maintain enterprise contracting knowledge assets so that approved positions, templates, and playbooks are captured, governed, and leveraged across future transactions.

Risk, Controls, and Continuous Improvement

• Implement operational controls, approval frameworks, human checkpoints, AI governance mechanisms, and risk-management processes (including TPRM and financial review touchpoints) so that contracting remains compliant, auditable, and scalable, in partnership with Privacy Law & Compliance and AI & Data Governance.

• Drive ongoing optimization of contracting processes through analytics, user feedback, cycle-time reduction, and automation opportunities, feeding learnings back into templates and playbooks.

• Maintain audit readiness and clear interfaces with Procurement, Finance, and business owners so that accountability for contracting is clear and not duplicated.

Lead the Team

• Lead, develop, and retain the Contract Operations team (the Operations tower) and the enterprise contracting transformation program team, building one culture and a clear operating rhythm across strategy and operations.

• Set team priorities, performance expectations, and succession plans, and fill open roles.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; JD or other advanced degree preferred, or equivalent experience in contracting, legal operations, or procurement operations.

• Extensive experience (typically 12+ years) in contracting, legal operations, or procurement operations, including 5+ years leading teams or large cross-functional programs, in a corporation, law firm, or consultancy; in-house experience preferred.

• Demonstrated people leadership, including managing managers and building teams from the ground up.

• Track record delivering enterprise transformation or technology implementations, ideally contract lifecycle management or AI-assisted drafting and review, and designing end-to-end processes and operating models.

• Deep knowledge of contract templates, playbooks, and fallback frameworks, and of risk-tiered review models, with experience in the pharmaceutical or a similarly regulated industry.

• Working knowledge of contract data and analytics, and of AI governance, data privacy, and information security considerations in contracting technology.

• Experience selecting and managing contracting technology and vendors; familiarity with Icertis or similar contract lifecycle management platforms and AI drafting tools is valued.

• Excellent business judgment, executive presence, and communication skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate across Law, Procurement, Technology, and the business.

• High integrity, resilience, and commitment to BMS’s values of integrity, innovation, urgency, accountability, inclusion, and passion.

We hire for skills and capabilities, not just credentials – if this role excites you, but doesn’t perfectly match your resume, we encourage you to apply anyway.

Princeton - NJ - US: $255,260 - $309,309 


The starting pay range(s) listed above is for full-time employees (FTE). You may also be eligible for additional discretionary incentive cash and stock opportunities. We determine starting pay thoughtfully – carefully considering the nature of the role, required skills, work location, schedule and the knowledge and experience you bring. Final compensation is guided by pay equity principles and applicable employment laws. Compensation programs are reviewed on an ongoing basis and may be adjusted over time to reflect evolving market factors, and individual, team or Company performance.

Benefits:

Subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable plans then in effect, you may be eligible to participate in our comprehensive benefit plans – including wellbeing support, retirement and financial protection benefits, and insurance offerings (medical, dental, vision, life and disability).

U.S.-based exempt employees are eligible for Flexible Time Off (FTO), which provides paid time off without a set accrual limit, subject to manager approval, along with 11 paid company holidays each year.

Non-exempt employees, RayzeBio employees, and employees located in Puerto Rico receive 160 hours of paid vacation annually for new hires (subject to manager approval), 11 paid company holidays, and 3 optional holidays.

Depending on eligibility, employees may also have access to additional time-off benefits, including paid sick leave, up to two paid volunteer days per year, summer hours flexibility, and leaves of absence for medical, personal, parental, caregiver, bereavement, or military needs. Eligible employees also enjoy an annual Global Shutdown between Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

U.S.-based job seekers can explore full benefit offerings athttps://careers.bms.com/benefits

How We Work

Where you work matters – because collaboration, innovation and patient impact happen in many settings. Our roles are structured across four work models: site-essential, site-by-design, field-based and remote-by-design. The model assigned to this role is based on its core responsibilities. Learn more at https://careers.bms.com/ways-of-working.

Supporting People with Disabilities

BMS is dedicated to ensuring that people with disabilities can excel through a transparent recruitment process, reasonable workplace accommodations/adjustments and ongoing support in their roles. Applicants can request a reasonable workplace accommodation/adjustment prior to accepting a job offer. If you require reasonable accommodations/adjustments in completing this application, or in any part of the recruitment process, direct your inquiries to [email protected]. Visit careers.bms.com/eeo-accessibility to access our complete Equal Employment Opportunity statement.

Candidate Rights

BMS will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, pursuant to applicable laws in your area.

For roles based in Los Angeles County only:  If you live in or expect to work from Los Angeles County if hired for this position, please visit this page for important additional information: https://careers.bms.com/california-residents/

For roles based in Washington State only: If you live in or expect to work from Washington State if hired for this position, please visit this page for important information about the Washington Fair Chance Act.

Data Protection

We will never request payments, financial information, or social security numbers during our application or recruitment process. Learn more about protecting yourself at https://careers.bms.com/fraud-protection.

Any data processed in connection with role applications will be treated in accordance with applicable data privacy policies and regulations.

If this posting is missing required information required by local law or incorrect, contact BMS at [email protected]with the Job Title and Requisition number. Do not send application-related inquiries to this email. To check your application status, please login to your Candidate Home Account.

R1608307 : Senior Director, Contracting Systems, Governance and Operations