Contract Operations Manager in Paris

Purpose

IDEMIA Secure Transactions, a division of IDEMIA Group, is the leading technology provider making it safer and easier to pay and connect.

With unmatched expertise in cryptography and credential issuance, IST is trusted by over 2,000 financial institutions, mobile operators, automotive manufacturers, and Io T providers worldwide.

Every day, IST secures billions of essential transactions, ensuring the highest levels of data protection and convenience

The role can be based either in

• Paris, France , or
• Tewkesbury, UK

The Operations Contract Manager is a global strategic role responsible for driving contract management excellence, business transformation, and contract lifecycle governance across IDEMIA Secure Transactions' Payment Services Business Unit.

Operating across regions and functions, the role supports the transformation of contract management into a consistent, scalable, and business-enabling capability that strengthens operational performance, mitigates risk, and protects contractual value throughout the customer lifecycle.

Positioned at the intersection of commercial strategy, operational execution, and organizational transformation, the role champions the implementation of global best practices, governance frameworks, and standardized ways of working.

It ensures that contract management is embedded as a proactive business function that supports growth, operational efficiency, compliance, and long-term customer success, rather than a downstream administrative activity.

The role plays a key part in enabling global business transformation initiatives by establishing governance disciplines, driving process improvement, increasing contractual visibility, and supporting the operationalisation of strategic and high-risk customer agreements.

It provides structure, coordination, and execution support for transformation programmes, contract governance forums, change request management, contractual milestone tracking, risk and opportunity monitoring, early warning mechanisms, and lessons learned activities.

Working across a diverse global stakeholder network, the Operations Contract Manager collaborates closely with Sales, Legal, Finance, Delivery, Operations, Customer Success, Program Management, and senior leadership teams to ensure alignment between contractual commitments, business objectives, and operational execution.

While operating within the accountability framework defined by the Contract Management operating model, the role serves as a catalyst for continuous improvement, business excellence, and transformational change.

Through strong stakeholder engagement and disciplined governance, the Operations Contract Manager helps embed sustainable and scalable operating practices, improve decision-making through enhanced contract visibility, reduce operational leakage, strengthen risk management, and support the successful delivery of strategic business transformation objectives across the global organization

• Key Missions
• Business Excellence and Contract Operations Transformation
• Define and support the transformation roadmap for Contract Management and related business excellence initiatives, aligned with IST’s global strategic priorities and BU operating model expectations.
• Shape the as-is / to-be vision by assessing current regional practices, designing target ways of working, and supporting transition plans that improve consistency, efficiency, and control.
• Drive digital enablement including Salesforce integration, CLM, repositories, dashboards, and workflow industrialization to reduce cycle time and strengthen transparency for decision-makers.
• Lead change management across Legal, Contract Management, Sales, Finance, Delivery, Operations, and regional teams to ensure adoption, manage resistance, and embed continuous improvement.
• Define and monitor KPIs and dashboards linking contract operations performance to measurable business outcomes, including efficiency, risk mitigation, contract visibility, and customer satisfaction.
• Prepare regular reporting for senior leadership on contract status, portfolio risks, leakage exposure, governance performance, and improvement actions.
• Contract operations and governance
• Support controlled contract lifecycle governance by reinforcing contractual visibility, governance routines, obligation monitoring, and lifecycle discipline for strategic and high-risk projects.
• Contribute to pre-signature readiness where engaged by supporting commercial structuring within approved parameters, identifying contractual risk areas, and ensuring appropriate SME coordination.
• Manage post-execution governance activities including contractual milestone monitoring, action tracking, early warning alerts, escalation preparation, and governance meeting support and lessons learned.
• Coordinate complex Change Requests end-to-end for updated or new scope, ensuring documentation, SME consultation, commercial decision support, approval tracking, and amendment preparation are completed in line with the operating model.
• Support amendment, renewal, and close-out activities by contributing to renewal preparation, critical deal reviews, contract close-out, and return-on-experience capture.
• Reinforce commercial value monitoring by supporting visibility on MVC/MRC governance, indexation, billing reconciliation, discount governance, scope creep, and operational leakage in collaboration with accountable functions.
• Clarify role boundaries between Sales, Legal, Contract Management, Customer Success, Project Management, Finance, Delivery, and Operations, ensuring Contract Management acts as a governance and risk management function, not as a substitute for Legal advice or functional ownership.
• Sales enablement, training and knowledge sharing
• Design and deliver recurring training for Sales, account, and regional teams on contract standards, risk identification, governance routines, escalation routes, and approved ways of working.
• Act as a practical advisor to Sales and business stakeholders on live deals, providing commercially aware guidance while ensuring appropriate Legal, Finance, and SME involvement.
• Build and maintain contract playbooks, clause guidance, standard positions, fallback libraries, deal-review checklists, and approval matrices.
• Coach stakeholders on post-signature obligations so that account and delivery teams understand what has been contractually committed.
• Facilitate monthly knowledge-sharing sessions and SME deep dives, including open Q&A forums, to build stakeholder confidence, strengthen contracting know-how, and promote consistent best practice across global sales teams.
• Profile & Other Information
• Minimum of 8 years' experience in contract management, contract operations, commercial management, business excellence, transformation, or legal-commercial roles.
• Experience supporting high-value strategic projects, complex commercial agreements, and post-signature governance in an international environment.
• Strong understanding of contractual risk management, commercial governance, lifecycle processes, operating model deployment, and stakeholder accountability boundaries.
• Experience working across matrixed, multi-country organisations and influencing distributed stakeholder groups.
• Strong financial and commercial awareness, with the ability to understand margin drivers, pricing mechanics, leakage risks, and contractual value levers.
• Strong understanding of contractual risk management, commercial governance, lifecycle processes, operating model deployment, and stakeholder accountability boundaries.
• Familiarity with CLM platforms, Salesforce, contract repositories, workflow tools, dashboards, or contract analytics.
• Key Skills
• Project Management: skilled in managing multiple contracts and projects simultaneously, with a focus on meeting deadlines and ensuring successful outcomes.
• Risk Management: expertise in identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks related to contracts, protecting the company from potential liabilities.
• Stakeholder

Management: strong ability to engage and influence senior stakeholders (internal and external), fostering alignment across Sales, Legal, Finance, Program Management, and customer executives.

• Commercial and contractual governance: ability to support negotiations and post-execution governance in collaboration with Sales, Legal, Finance, Delivery, and Operations, while respecting functional accountabilities.
• Contract operations: strong knowledge of post-execution obligation monitoring, change request coordination, amendment preparation, contractual milestone tracking, and lessons learned processes.
• Contract Lifecycle Management Tools: proficiency in using CLM tools and other digital solutions to manage contracts, track progress, and maintain accurate records.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft applications.
• Fluency in English, to work fluently in both written and spoken English in an international context.

Education/Certification

• Masters degree in Law, Business, Finance, Project Management, or a related discipline.
• Certification in Contract Management, such as World CC / IACCM, or Legal Operations would be a plus.
• Project management, business excellence, or continuous improvement certification would be an advantage.
• About IDEMIA Secure Transactions

IDEMIA Secure Transactions, a division of IDEMIA Group, is the leading technology provider making it safer and easier to pay and connect.

With unmatched expertise in cryptography and credential issuance, IST is trusted by over 2,000 financial institutions, mobile operators, automotive manufacturers, and Io T providers worldwide.

Every day, IST secures billions of essential transactions, ensuring the highest levels of data protection and convenience

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