Manager, Contracting

Job Family Procurement About Us  At Transamerica, hard work, innovative thinking, and personal accountability are qualities we honor and reward. We understand the potential of leveraging the talents of a diverse workforce. We embrace an environment where employees enjoy a balance between their careers, families, communities, and personal interests.   Ultimately, we appreciate the uniqueness of a company where talented professionals work collaboratively in a positive environment — one focused on helping people look forward and plan for the best life possible while providing tools and solutions that make it easier to get there.  Who We Are  We believe everyone deserves to live their best life. More than a century ago, we were among the first financial services companies in America to serve everyday people from all walks of life.   Today, we’re part of an international holding company, with millions of customers and thousands of employees worldwide. Our insurance, retirement, and investment solutions help people make the most of what’s important to them.  We’re empowered by a vast agent network covering North America, with diversity to match. Together with our nonprofit research institute and foundation, we tune in, step up, and are a force for good — for our customers and the communities where we live, work, and play. United in our purpose, we help people create the financial freedom to live life on their terms.  What We Do  Transamerica is organized into three distinct businesses. These include 1) World Financial Group, including Transamerica Financial Advisors, 2) Protection Solutions and Savings & Investments, comprised of life insurance, annuities, employee benefits, retirement plans, and Transamerica Investment Solutions, and 3) Financial Assets, which includes legacy blocks of long term care, universal life, and variable and fixed annuities. These are supported by Transamerica Corporate, which includes Finance, People and Places, General Counsel, Risk, Internal Audit, Strategy and Development, and Corporate Affairs, which covers Communications, Brand, and Government and Policy Affairs.  Transamerica employs nearly 7,000 people. It’s part of Aegon, an integrated, diversified, international financial services group serving approximately 23.9 million customers worldwide.* For more information, visit transamerica.com.   Job Description Summary Leads end-to-end contracting execution, from contract-ready intake through negotiation, approvals, signature, and coordination of PR/PO/C-Term execution, with accountability for quality, cycle time, and workload management. Partners with Procurement Business Partners supporting Corporate Services and Revenue Enablement and leads internal and outsourced contracting resources through consistent processes and controls. Guides complex negotiations, develops team capabilities, exercises sound commercial judgment, and drives a scalable and effective contracting service. Job Description Responsibilities • Lead, coach, and develop contracting professionals, establishing clear ownership, service expectations, quality standards, training, performance feedback, and escalation paths. • Manage a centralized contracting queue across internal and outsourced resources, triaging work based on contract type, complexity, and risk while balancing capacity, priorities, and service expectations. • Oversee end-to-end contracting execution from complete intake through negotiation, required reviews, approvals, signature, contract record, and coordinated PR/PO/C-Term completion, ensuring clear status and handoffs with Procurement Business Partners. • Provide hands-on direction for complex and nonstandard agreements, including negotiation strategy, commercial terms, issue resolution, and practical alternatives for business decision makers. • Oversee contracting across technology and data, professional services, outsourcing, external workforce, market data, amendments, renewals, and other contract types, developing appropriate expertise while maintaining a consistent service model. • Partner with Procurement Business Partners to understand business objectives, deal context, and intended commercial outcomes and provide a coordinated Procurement experience throughout the contracting process. • Coordinate with Legal, Third Party Risk Management, Privacy, Information Security, Compliance, Finance, Technology, and other specialists to obtain required reviews and approvals, appropriately escalating exceptions and risk-acceptance decisions. • Maintain contracting governance and controls, including appropriate contracting entities, authorized approval and signature paths, documented decisions, accurate records, templates, playbooks, standard operating procedures, negotiation guidance, and quality standards. • Use contract lifecycle management (CLM) workflows and data to monitor throughput, cycle time, quality, rework, workload, and stakeholder experience, translating trends and recurring issues into measurable process improvements. • Partner with Operational Enablement and outsourced contracting providers to strengthen processes, reporting, controls, technology, automation, analytics, and responsible AI adoption while maintaining quality, human oversight, confidentiality, and alignment with organizational priorities. Qualifications • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent relevant professional experience • 7+ years of experience drafting and negotiating commercial supplier agreements and managing contracting activity across varied levels of complexity; able to explain commercial trade-offs and recommend workable solutions • Experience leading and developing contracting or comparable professional-services teams, including prioritization, workload management, quality assurance, and performance coaching • Experience managing a high-volume portfolio of concurrent matters while meeting deadlines, maintaining sound controls, and communicating clearly with stakeholders • Ability to work effectively with Procurement, Legal, risk and control functions, Finance, and business stakeholders, with a clear understanding of decision rights and when to escalate • Experience improving contracting operations through playbooks, templates, training, process discipline, metrics, and effective use of CLM or comparable workflow technology • Strong written communication, negotiation, analytical judgment, and ability to provide concise, fact-based recommendations to leaders Preferred Qualifications • Juris Doctor, MBA, or other relevant advanced education • Experience leading a centralized contracting service or working with embedded outsourced/BPO contracting capacity • Experience in insurance, financial services, a public company, or another regulated environment • Experience with procurement-to-pay handoffs, including requisitions, purchase orders, and contract-term setup • Experience implementing or improving CLM, automation, analytics, or responsible AI in contracting Working Conditions • Hybrid Office environment Compensation The Salary for this position generally ranges between $108,000 - $143,000 annually. Please note that the salary range is a good faith estimate for this position and actual starting pay is determined by several factors including qualifications, experience, geography, work location designation (in-office, hybrid, remote) and operational needs. Salary may vary above and below the stated amounts, as permitted by applicable law. Additionally, this position is typically eligible for an Annual Bonus based on the Company Bonus Plan/Individual Performance and is at the Company’s discretion.  Applicants must possess legal authorization to work for our company in the U.S. without the need for immigration, sponsorship or otherwise serving as an employer of record for immigration employment purposes. At this time, this role is not eligible for immigration-related employment authorization sponsorship.   This is a hybrid position requiring