Senior Contract Lead

About the role

This is the person our sales team brings its hardest negotiations to. The job is to get deals to signature on terms we can live with, and to do it without a queue forming behind you. You will own redlines end to end, draft the language yourself, and handle the order form mechanics that decide what we actually agreed to.

It is a senior individual contributor seat. There are no direct reports and no process empire to build. We are hiring judgment and throughput.

This is a Go-to-Market role, not a Legal role: it reports to the Manager of the Deal Desk, with full ownership of getting deals to signature – looping in Legal as an escalation point only when genuinely warranted.

What you will do

• Own redlines from first pass to final turn on MSAs, order forms, DPAs, NDAs, security and privacy exhibits, and amendments.
• Draft the language. Write the fallback and compromise positions rather than only flagging the problem and sending it upstream.
• Own order form specifics: scope and product definitions, term and renewal mechanics, ramps, payment and invoicing terms, usage and overage definitions, SLA and service credit constructs, and exhibit cross-references.
• Negotiate directly with customer counsel, procurement, and third-party risk teams, on calls and in the document.
• Decide within delegated authority. Escalate to Legal on the genuinely novel or materially risky, and only then. Coordinate directly with Security, Finance, Product, and other stakeholders without the need for Legal to serve as intermediary.
• Exercise sound judgment on behalf of Deal Desk as to whether and when to escalate, and own the outcomes of those decisions.
• Keep a durable record of positions taken and why, so the next negotiation starts from a known place instead of from scratch.
• Give Sales fast, plain-English answers on what a term means and what it will cost us.

What you bring

• 10+ years negotiating commercial technology agreements, with substantial enterprise SaaS experience on the vendor side.
• Genuine depth across the clauses that stall deals: limitation of liability, indemnification, IP and data ownership, data security and privacy exhibits, audit and examination rights, insurance, termination for convenience, most-favored-nation and benchmarking, source code escrow, and assignment. You should not need to research these.
• Real drafting range. You can write a clause that solves the commercial problem, not just strike the counterparty’s.
• Demonstrated autonomy. You take a deal, work it, and return with it done. You know which questions are worth your manager’s time and which are not.
• Composure and throughput at quarter end.
• A JD or a senior paralegal / contract manager background. Both are fully in scope; we care about what you have closed.

Nice to have

• Contracting with banks, credit unions, mortgage lenders, or other regulated financial institutions, including their third-party risk and vendor management processes.
• Familiarity with Salesforce, a CLM such as Ironclad, and e-signature tooling.
• Prior General Counsel, Associate General Counsel, or head of commercial legal experience, in a candidate who now wants to negotiate rather than manage people or practice law.

Why you might want this role

• Full autonomy over the work, with a direct line to the person who owns the Deal Desk.
• Clear, measurable impact on revenue velocity, visible within a quarter.
• Senior scope without management overhead. No performance cycles, no headcount planning, no staff meetings you have to run.

Compensation:

• Base Salary Range: $112,000 – $132,000 (This applies to full time hires. Final offer determined by multiple factors, including but not limited to function, level, geographic location, job related knowledge, skills, and experience.)
• Bonus (if applicable): Eligibility is contingent upon both company performance against established goals and achievement of individual performance objectives.
• Equity : Meaningful Restricted Stock Units in public company stock (NYSE: BLND) so you share in Blend’s long-term growth and success.