Contract Manager

About the Company

Headquartered in Hillside, IL, Cognesense is a worldwide environmental technology company built through the combination of heritage brands, including L&J Technologies, Shand & Jurs, Varec, Sonitus Systems, Petrel, Ex-tech, Pyroban, and Pyropress, that together represent over a century of domain expertise. Under the positioning “Measure. Monitor. Protect.,” Cognesense delivers measurement and instrumentation, safety equipment, automation, and software (including its Clairvoyance and FuelsManager® platforms) to customers in over 100 countries across energy production and storage, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, water and wastewater, aviation fuel, aerospace and defense, food and beverage, and other regulated, high-stakes end markets.

About the Role

The Contracts Manager owns the paper that every sale, project and service job runs on. Because this work commits the company to financial and legal terms, the role reports to the CFO. It covers approved vendor list (AVL) registrations and supplier qualifications with customers, master service agreements (MSAs), our terms and conditions and the review of customer terms, government contracts and their compliance requirements, and service agreements. You are not a gatekeeper who slows deals down, but a partner to Sales, Systems Solutions and Field Service who gets us registered early, keeps terms simple and safe, and tells the team plainly what a clause means for risk and cash. Nobody signs customer paper without your review.

Position Responsibilities

AVL and Registrations

• Get and keep Cognesense registered on customer vendor lists and procurement portals.
• Track renewals, certificates, insurance and supplier questionnaires.

MSAs and Terms

• Own our standard terms and conditions.
• Review and negotiate customer MSAs and terms, and escalate risk exceptions to the CFO.
• Keep a register of what we have agreed with each customer.

Government Contracts

• Review solicitations and identify critical requirements and risks.
• Manage compliance with FAR, DFARS and other applicable rules, including flow-downs to subcontractors.
• Handle modifications with the Government Program Managers, and support audits and reviews.

Service Agreements and Subcontracts

• Write and renew service agreements with the Director of Field Service, and make sure they are billed correctly.
• Review subcontracts and NDAs.

How We Measure Success

In your first year, great performance looks like this:

• Review speed: Contracts are reviewed within agreed turnaround times.
• Registrations: AVL registrations and certificates are always current.
• Control: No contract is signed without review, and risk exceptions are escalated.
• Renewals: Service agreements and registrations renew on time.
• Compliance: Zero compliance findings.
• Partner trust: Sales, Systems Solutions and Field Service bring Contracts in early and see the role as a partner that helps deals close, not a bottleneck.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of commercial and government contract management.
• Working knowledge of FAR and DFARS.
• Experience negotiating MSAs, terms and conditions and service agreements.
• Strong organization and record keeping.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Law or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Contracts certification.
• Experience in industrial or defense markets.
• Experience with supplier registration portals.
• Comfort using AI tools for clause review and contract tracking.

How You Work

• You take ownership: you follow every contract, registration and question through to the finish instead of handing it off.
• You are curious and want to learn, including how AI can take tracking and first-pass review off your desk; you ask questions, take feedback and get better every quarter.
• You are a team player who helps colleagues, shares credit and makes the people around you faster.
• You are conscientious, accountable and involved, with a sense of urgency that customers can feel.