Designation : Senior Contracts Lead

Function : Legal - Office of the General Counsel

Division : Contract Management

Reports to : Group General Counsel & Partner

Direct reports : Contract Management team

Location : Mumbai - Dadar Office

Role : To lead the full lifecycle of the group's commercial contracting - from drafting, review and negotiation, through risk and obligation management, to renewal and expiry - while building the team, processes, templates and technology that allow contracting to scale safely and efficiently alongside the firm's growth.

Key Responsibilities:

01. Contract Drafting, Review & Negotiation

- Lead the drafting, review and negotiation of the full spectrum of client-facing agreements, including client service engagement letters, master service agreements and statements of work, consultancy contracts, investment banking mandates, referral and reseller agreements, joint business and joint venture agreements, and trademark and licensing agreements.

- Lead the drafting, review and negotiation of vendor, procurement and partner agreements, including SaaS and subscription contracts, end-user licence agreements, sub-contracts, loan and secondment staffing agreements, non-disclosure agreements, and supplier master agreements.

- Draft bespoke agreements from first principles where no template exists, balancing legal protection with commercial pragmatism and speed to signature.

- Act as senior negotiator on complex, high-value or sensitive contracts, and as the escalation point for the team on contentious terms.

02. Contract Risk Management

- Identify, assess and clearly articulate the legal, commercial, financial, data-protection and regulatory risks embedded in client and vendor contracts, and recommend practical mitigations.

- Develop and maintain a contract risk framework - risk-rating criteria, fall-back positions, approval thresholds and escalation matrices - calibrated to the group's risk appetite and to the regulatory profile of each entity.

- Advise on liability, indemnities, limitation of liability, insurance requirements, intellectual property, confidentiality and data protection, including obligations under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act and applicable cross-border requirements.

- Partner with the Risk, Independence and Finance teams to ensure contracts are consistent with the firm's independence, client and engagement acceptance, and regulatory obligations - including NFRA, ICAI and PCAOB considerations relevant to the assurance entities.

03. Obligation & Lifecycle Management (CLM)

- Establish and own contract lifecycle management end-to-end - from intake and triage, through drafting, negotiation, approval, execution and storage, to renewal, variation and expiry.

- Build an obligation-management capability that captures, tracks and reports on key obligations, deliverables, milestones, renewal and expiry dates, auto-renewals and termination rights across the entity portfolio.

- Maintain a single, reliable contract repository and metadata model, ensuring contracts are searchable, version-controlled and auditable.

- Drive proactive management of renewals, expirations and obligation triggers to prevent value leakage and missed deadlines.

04. Templates, Playbooks & Standardisation

- Create, maintain and continuously improve a library of standard templates, clause banks and negotiation playbooks for each major contract type.

- Define standard, fall-back and walk-away positions for key clauses, enabling faster and more consistent contracting across the business.

- Establish drafting standards and a house style that promote clarity, consistency and risk-appropriate terms.

05. Process Design & Operating Model

- Design, document and operationalise the contracting process end-to-end, including SOPs, intake forms, turnaround-time standards (SLAs), approval workflows and the delegation-of-authority matrix.

- Define the operating model and interfaces between Contract Management and the business, procurement, finance, risk and the broader legal team.

- Drive continuous improvement through metrics, root-cause analysis and process refinement.

06. Technology & AI Enablement

- Evaluate, select and implement CLM and contract-intelligence tooling, and embed AI-enabled drafting, review and obligation-extraction capabilities into the workflow.

- Champion the responsible, controlled use of AI in contracting, with appropriate guardrails for accuracy, confidentiality and data protection.

- Use data and reporting from the CLM platform to surface insights on cycle times, risk concentrations and bottlenecks.

07. Business Partnering & Regulatory Awareness

- Develop a deep understanding of the group's business model and service lines - Business Advisory, Audit, Deal Advisory, Tax & Regulatory, Financial Services, Technology and Digital Services - and the regulatory landscape applicable to each entity.

- Act as a trusted advisor to service-line leaders, partners and support functions, translating legal and commercial risk into practical, business-ready guidance.

- Track relevant legal and regulatory developments - data protection, contract law, sector regulation, and IFSC / GIFT City requirements - and update templates, playbooks and processes accordingly.

- Conduct and oversee legal research on questions arising from contracts and the applicable law.

08. Team Leadership & Capability Building

- Build, lead, mentor and develop a high-performing contracts team, setting clear objectives, quality standards and career-development pathways.

- Allocate work, manage capacity across the team, and ensure consistent quality through structured review and supervision.

- Train and upskill team members and business stakeholders on contracting standards, playbooks, tools and risk awareness.

09. Governance, Reporting & Stakeholder Management

- Provide the General Counsel with regular, insight-led reporting on contract volumes, turnaround times, risk exposures, obligations and the status of key negotiations.

- Manage internal stakeholder expectations and relationships, balancing speed, quality and risk.

- Support governance, audit and assurance requirements relating to contracts across the group's entities.

Candidate Profile

Qualifications & Experience:

- LLB from a recognised institution; CS, LLM, or specialised contract-law qualifications and certifications strongly preferred.

- 15-20 years' post-qualification experience in commercial contracting, ideally including in-house experience within a professional services firm, consulting, technology or a large corporate.

- Demonstrable experience leading a contract management or commercial legal function, including building processes, templates and teams from the ground up.

- Hands-on experience across the full range of client-side and vendor-side commercial agreements, including SaaS and technology contracts.

Technical Competencies

- Expert contract drafting, review and negotiation across diverse agreement types.

- Strong command of contract risk, liability and indemnity structuring, intellectual property, confidentiality and data-protection principles, including the DPDP Act.

- Working knowledge of the regulatory environment relevant to professional services and the group's regulated entities.

- Familiarity with CLM platforms and AI-enabled contracting tools; high proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Leadership & Behavioural Attributes:

- Proven people leadership - building, mentoring and retaining high-performing teams.

- Strategic and systems thinking, with the ability to design processes and operating models that scale.

- Strong commercial judgement and the ability to balance risk with business needs.

- Exceptional written and verbal English; a clear, persuasive communicator with senior stakeholders.

- High attention to detail, strong analytical ability, and the capacity to manage multiple priorities under deadline.

- High integrity and sound judgement, consistent with a regulated professional services environment.