Job Title: Associate Contracts Manager - Outgoing MTA Program
Location: South San Francisco, CA 94080
Pay rate: $40.00 - $43.48/ hr
Work schedule: Full-Time | Hybrid | 3 days a week on-site, 2 days remote. Monday through Friday (8-hour shifts). - Flex Starting Schedule
The Associate Contracts Manager operates within the Research Contracts Group organization to process and complete a high volume of Outgoing Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs), managing up to 400 agreements per year. This role handles the entire MTA lifecycle, actively tracking a queue of 70 to 110 agreements at any given time. Acting as a core point of contact, this position ensures rapid email responsiveness and data integrity while collaborating with research scientists, internal legal counsel, outside technology transfer offices, and shipping teams.
This is an entry-level operational role providing temporary coverage for a worker on leave.
Key Responsibilities
Lifecycle Program Management: Process the full operational lifecycle for the Outgoing MTA Program, ensuring steady progression for active contracts.
Email & Queue Optimization: Proactively prioritize and resolve a high influx of daily email correspondence, maintaining rapid corporate response times without sacrificing analytical accuracy.
Execution & Signatures: Organize and process signature routing for Outgoing MTAs following approved compliance procedures.
Post-Execution Logistics: Send fully executed agreements to counterparties, file documents with Legal Records, input contract data fields, and initiate material shipments (including necessary import/export compliance paperwork).
Real-Time Database Tracking: Maintain real-time records in the MTA Database, ensuring precise logging of party names, effective dates, and expiration timelines.
Stakeholder Correspondence: Articulate salient agreement points and contract statuses clearly to internal scientists, organizational leadership, legal counsel, and academic technology transfer offices.
General Administration: Coordinate group meetings, perform routine database entry, and file systematic backups with Legal Records.
Must Have Skills / Requirements
Scientific Nomenclature Foundation: Practical understanding of fundamental scientific terminology and lab reagents (e.g., antibodies, plasmids, DNA, progeny, derivatives, genetically modified animal models, and knockouts).
Contract Structure Comprehension: Foundational familiarity with basic legal agreement structures, amendments, obligations, and party roles.
Fast-Paced Adaptability: Proven capacity to multi-task and maintain high-volume output in an environment demanding rapid turnaround times.
Technical Proficiency: Comfortable utilizing enterprise databases, office suites (Microsoft Word, Excel), and Google Applications (Mail, Calendar, Docs).
Critical Thinking: Strong problem-solving abilities, with the independence to propose workflow solutions even if they moderately deviate from standard guidelines.
Candidate Screening Note During the initial screening process, candidates will be evaluated on their practical scientific context by being presented with a list of material types and asked to identify them accurately.
Education & Experience
Experience: Target of 2–4 years of relevant contract administration, paralegal, or specialized administrative business partner experience. Advanced negotiation expertise is not required.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in a scientific discipline is required to ensure the necessary scientific context. Legal education or a paralegal certification is a plus.
Term: 6-Month Contract Assignment
Assignment Duration: 07/27/2026 to 01/26/2027 (Extension potential is dependent upon the leave status of the permanent employee).
Round 1: Initial virtual preliminary interview with the Hiring Manager.
Round 2: 45-minute virtual interview with the Next Level Manager.