Senior Contracts Manager

About the role

We are seeking an experienced and commercially minded Senior Contracts Manager to support Australian Defence procurements, international government programmes, direct commercial sales and strategic partnerships involving complex defence products, autonomous systems, software, integration services and sustainment support.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the preparation, review, negotiation and administration of contracts for Australian Defence, allied governments, prime contractors and commercial customers.
• Support Australian Government and Defence tenders by reviewing solicitation requirements, preparing compliance matrices and developing commercial assumptions.
• Negotiate contracts using Australian Defence frameworks, including ASDEFCON templates and the Commonwealth Procurement Rules.
• Lead negotiations on material commercial risks such as IP, technical data, software rights, liability, warranties, liquidated damages and dispute resolution.
• Draft and negotiate international commercial agreements, including product‑sale, framework, teaming, reseller and MOU contracts.
• Negotiate software‑development and licensing arrangements, covering evaluation licences, SDK/API access and third‑party software terms.
• Develop and negotiate IP structures addressing background and foreground IP, technical data, derivative works and government use rights.
• Administer awarded agreements by maintaining contract summaries, obligations registers, milestone tracking and audit‑ready documentation.

Required profile

• Bachelor’s degree in law, business, commerce, finance, engineering, supply chain, international relations or related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
• At least eight years of progressively responsible contracts or commercial‑management experience, including substantial exposure to defence, aerospace or highly regulated product environments.
• Demonstrated experience supporting or negotiating contracts with the Australian Department of Defence or major Australian defence contractors.
• Practical knowledge of Australian Defence contracting frameworks such as ASDEFCON and the Commonwealth Procurement Rules.
• Experience negotiating and administering complex product contracts that involve both hardware and software.
• Legal authorisation to work in Australia.

Required skills

• Software development and licensing agreements.
• Intellectual property and technical data rights management.
• ASDEFCON contractual framework expertise.
• International commercial agreement drafting.
• Defence product contract administration.