Summary
TÜV SÜD is seeking a Senior Contract Specialist in Abu Dhabi to lead regional contract governance and review complex commercial agreements. The role includes assessing contractual risks, supporting tender teams and negotiations, maintaining approval workflows and contract records, and monitoring key obligations and renewals. It also covers Professional Indemnity and Public Liability insurance matters and reporting significant risks to senior management. Applicants should have at least 8 years of relevant experience and a bachelor’s degree in Law, Commercial Law, Contract Management, Business Administration or a related discipline; an LLB or equivalent is strongly preferred.
The posting
As published on tuvsud.com. Pulled from the employer's site and shown as they wrote it.
I. Position Summary
This position serves as the functional lead for regional contract governance, pre-approval risk management, and operational review workflows. The position acts as the primary bridge between Business Units, Legal Counsel, and Executive Leadership Responsible for elevating departmental standards, this role manages complex regional contract portfolios (covering client contracts, NDAs, MOUs, partnership structures, agency, and intercompany agreements), establishes operational SOPs, and oversee daily contract administration across the region.
II. Responsibility and Authority
- Review and assess commercial contracts, tender agreements, NDAs, framework agreements, service agreements and other business-critical agreements, identifying key commercial and contractual risks.
- Review contractual provisions relating to liability, indemnities, warranties, penalties, payment terms, termination, confidentiality, intellectual property, insurance, dispute resolution and governing law.
- Support Tendering and Business teams in identifying and managing contractual risks during the tender and negotiation stages, including review of client terms and proposed deviations.
- Provide initial legal and contractual guidance to business stakeholders and escalate matters requiring formal legal opinion to the appropriate legal counsel.
- Support contract negotiations and recommend appropriate amendments, qualifications and risk mitigation measures in line with the Company's commercial interests.
- Establish and maintain contract governance processes, including contract registers, approval workflows, contractual risk assessments, deviation tracking and key obligation monitoring.
- Monitor critical contractual obligations, renewal dates, notice periods, guarantees, insurance requirements and other key contractual milestones.
- Maintain a central repository of executed agreements and ensure appropriate documentation, version control and accessibility of contractual records.
- Manage business-critical insurance policies, particularly Professional Indemnity (PI) and Public Liability (PL), including renewals, coverage assessment, claims coordination and liaison with brokers and insurers.
- Review insurance requirements under commercial contracts and ensure alignment with the Company's insurance coverage and risk exposure.
- Prepare periodic reports for the COO and management on significant contractual risks, material deviations, claims, insurance matters and key contractual obligations.
- Identify recurring contractual and commercial risks and recommend improvements to contract templates, processes, governance and risk management practices.
III. Education and Experience
- Bachelor's degree in Law, Commercial Law, Contract Management, Business Administration or related discipline. LLB or equivalent legal qualification is strongly preferred.
- Minimum 8 years of relevant experience in commercial contract management, contract review, legal/commercial advisory, tender contracts or a similar role, preferably within TIC, engineering, technical services, construction, consulting or professional services.
- Strong knowledge of commercial contracts, contractual risk assessment, negotiation and legal/commercial principles, with practical experience in the Middle East.