Director, Contracts and Compliance

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About The Role The Contracts and Compliance Manager owns the full contract lifecycle for Carnegie’s client agreements and runs the compliance operations that keep the company and its clients protected. This role leads a small team of Specialists, sets the standards for how contracts get drafted, reviewed, and tracked, and makes sure data privacy and security commitments hold up when they flow down to vendors and subcontractors. It’s a role for someone who is comfortable owning complex agreements end to end, coaching a team, and being the person others turn to when a contract question gets complicated — someone who keeps a portfolio running with no missed renewals or unflagged risk, and builds relationships with clients that hold up even through tough negotiations.

What You’ll Own

• Contract Management

• Own contract management end to end for client agreements — drafting, negotiation, redlining, execution, and renewal tracking

• Review indemnification, insurance, liability, and termination terms, and be the go-to person for tough contract questions from internal teams, clients, and outside counsel

• Keep a central contract repository current, with key terms, renewal dates, and obligations tracked and flagged so nothing slips — no missed renewals, no reporting gaps

• Spot contract risk across the client portfolio, flag it to Business Operations leadership early, and support client-facing leaders through renewal talks, scope changes, or disputes — building the kind of trust with clients that holds up even in hard conversations

• Compliance Operations

• Run compliance operations across client, vendor, and subcontractor contracts, keeping everything aligned end to end

• Work with IT and Security to check that data privacy commitments, security terms, and technical obligations in contracts are workable in practice

• Make sure client data privacy and regulatory requirements flow down cleanly into vendor and subcontractor agreements, closing gaps before they become compliance issues

• Maintain a central compliance database tracking contracts, renewal dates, milestones, and audit obligations, and set standards for how the team uses AI tools to draft contracts and summarize terms

• Team Leadership

• Directly supervise, coach, and evaluate two Senior Contracts and Compliance Specialists — set expectations, assign caseloads, and give ongoing feedback that builds a well-coached team with clear ownership and strong retention

• Assign and prioritize the team’s contract workload based on complexity, client relationship, and risk

• Set team-wide standards, workflows, and quality checks so client agreements stay consistent

• Recruit, onboard, and train new team members as the function grows

What You Bring

• Bachelor’s degree required; JD, MBA, or another relevant advanced degree preferred
• 7+ years in contract management, compliance operations, vendor management, or a related legal/operations role, ideally in higher education, professional services, or another client-facing industry
• 2+ years directly managing a team, ideally including senior-level individual contributors
• Strong grasp of data privacy requirements, security terms, indemnification, insurance, liability, and dispute resolution
• Experience using AI tools or legal-tech workflows to work more efficiently
• Strong written and verbal communicator who can explain legal and compliance requirements to non-legal audiences
• Experience negotiating directly with clients or vendors at a senior level
• A track record of managing and developing direct reports while carrying an active caseload
• Sharp attention to detail paired with good judgment about when to escalate and when to handle something yourself
• Experience managing multiple client contracts at the same time
• Discretion and professionalism in high-stakes client conversations

Why This Role This role owns the entire contract lifecycle and compliance function for Carnegie’s client base — a job that touches nearly every part of the business. You’ll lead a team, influence how Carnegie manages risk across hundreds of agreements, and become the person internal teams and clients trust to get complicated things right. Do it well, and internal teams start seeing this role as a reliable partner instead of a bottleneck — and you turn contracts and compliance from a source of friction into a reason clients stay.

About Carnegie For more than 30 years, Carnegie has been a leader and innovator in higher education marketing and enrollment strategy, offering groundbreaking services in the areas of Research, Strategy, Digital Marketing, Lead Generation, Slate Optimization, Student Search, Website Development, and Creative that generate authentic connections.

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No phone calls or unscheduled visits to the office, please. Carnegie is an equal-opportunity employer.