Contract Negotiator: Indirect Goods & Services

Strategic Contract Negotiator

Members of the Finance organization at select locations will generally be expected to follow a hybrid work model, which includes two days of in-office attendance each week, with limited exceptions.

Global Procurement Services (GPS) is responsible for the enterprise-wide procurement of all Cisco indirect goods and services. GPS is a key partner to all regional, global and strategic Cisco Businesses, functions service delivery teams leading all sourcing, contracting, supplier management, and buying activities. The successful candidate will deliver premier contracts services from GPS to help drive business value and support profitable growth worldwide.

This is a Strategic Contract Negotiator role leading all strategic and enterprise negotiations and contract strategy. A successful candidate will report into the Director of Connected Contracts supporting this essential global contract position in Atlanta, Georgia or Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

Connected contracts is bringing new levels of value to Cisco through strong processes and governance and deep negotiating and contracting skills while continually ensuring a digitized, insight-driven contracting experience. This position will play a meaningful role in providing end-to-end contracting services within Cisco and contribute directly to this innovative and continuous improvement environment. Drafts, negotiates and closes a wide variety of complex contracts worldwide supporting such areas as, but not limited to Data Center and Colocation services, Telecom Software as a Service, Cloud Services, Software Licensing, Professional Services for software implementations.

Deliver ongoing improvements to simplify and optimize contract templates, standards and processes throughout the procurement cycle, across the range of contract documents.

Collaborate with the service owners to deliver an agile contract engagement model that supports the implementation of evolving business requirements and processes by providing guidance, defining contracting strategies and engaging across a diverse range of business functions, including legal, infosec, finance, tax, compliance, insurance etc.

Collaborate with all levels of management and cross-functional teams to successfully close on project contracts.

Support and deploy technology and digital transformation within Connected Contracts including the use of cognitive analysis, machine learning, and AI to enable an improved end-to-end contracting experience.

Ensure proper contract administration, including obtaining contract approval, electronic signature, filing, tracking and reporting.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree with at least 35 years of experience in drafting and negotiating sophisticated outsourcing contracts (Master's or JD preferred).
• Demonstrated proficiency in contract formation, strategic enterprise-level negotiation, and handling legal and business issues within procurement.
• Ability to structure detailed Statements of Work (SOWs), define clear KPIs and remedies, and align contract language with business outcomes.
• Comprehensive understanding of contract law, including risk assessment and obligations related to customer maintenance and service delivery.
• Consistent track record of influencing executive leadership, managing cross-functional teams, and communicating effectively in a dynamic, global environment.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Proficient use of technology and digitization skills, experience using SAP Ariba is a plus.