Sales Contract Manager - Publishing

Overview

The organization is seeking a Sales Contract Manager (Publishing) to oversee the full contract lifecycle for institutional sales and ensure licensing compliance in line with organizational policy and industry standards. This role manages legal negotiations, renewals, and third-party agreements, partnering closely with Sales, Sales Operations, Finance, and Legal. The position also uses CRM systems and AI-enabled resources to move deals from initial proposal through final signature.

This role follows a remote-first approach within the United States, with most work performed remotely.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the contract lifecycle for institutional subscription agreements and special deals.
• Use manual processes and AI-enabled tools to review and revise contracts, amendments, and provisions to ensure licensing terms meet organizational and industry standards.
• Collaborate with the Sales Support Manager and support team annually to review and collect licenses for single-site licenses.
• Respond to inquiries related to contract terms per organizational policy and standards.
• Maintain accurate contract and licensing data in CRM (Salesforce), including monitoring licensing workflow to ensure data accuracy and completeness.
• Serve as a key expert for the Licensing AI tool, IVO, including ensuring the organization is updated on new releases and that licensing SOP are updated.
• Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to review and resolve licensing terms for special sales deals (e.g., consortia and Open Access).
• Act as the primary point of contact for Legal, Finance, and Sales teams when retrieving agreements or analyzing contract data.
• Ensure single-site user licenses are collected frequently (annually or bi-annually).
• Draft complex license agreements for the Sales team.
• Conduct licensing reviews, including review of supplier and purchase order terms.
• Review and ensure license modification requests, amendments, and additional provisions meet organizational requirements and industry standards.
• Track special licensing procurement processes for consortia, corporate, and government sales.
• Manage contract records and logistics in the CRM database (institutional portal).
• Utilize standardized legal playbooks and pre-approved clauses to draft licensing agreements.
• Maintain an up-to-date “clause library” of pre-approved, legally compliant templates and alternative language used for standard negotiations on IVO (third-party AI licensing tool).
• Track license expiration dates and maintain automated alerts for renewals.
• Complete standard administrative tasks (e.g., meetings, filing, scanning).
• Perform other license-related duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Associate degree required (Associate in business administration, finance, marketing, pre-law, or LIS preferred). Bachelor’s degree preferred.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in contract management, paralegal work, or related roles (publishing, contract, or library administration).
• Advanced knowledge of scholarly publishing contracts, licensing, and negotiation.
• Proficient knowledge of Open Access knowledge and publishing trends.
• Advanced data analysis and software proficiency (CRM, Salesforce, MS Office Suite, Google Suite).
• Excellent customer service and communication skills.
• Exceptional ability to problem-solve, be detail-oriented, independent, and collaborative.
• Ability to adapt quickly to changing schedules and the publishing landscape (licensing terms and deal types).
• Experience leveraging CLM resources (AI-Assisted Review) to speed up legal reviews and highlight non-standard deviations.

Preferred Qualifications

• Paralegal certification.
• Experience at a publishing firm or association.

Travel

This position requires up to 10% travel to attend events and meetings, including travel to offices in Long Island, NY; Washington DC; and College Park, MD, along with other off-site locations for periodic meetings and training sessions. Additional travel may be required as assigned by the supervisor.

Compensation & Benefits

• Hiring Range: $80,800/year - $110,090/year (USD)
• Target Starting Range: $80,800/year - $89,890/year (USD)

The salary range accounts for skill sets, experience, training, and other business and organizational requirements. The organization’s compensation philosophy targets the midpoint of the market, with typical hiring within the target starting range; exceptional, rare cases may be reviewed above the target starting range for specialized or niche skills aligned with strategic operational goals.

A total compensation package includes salary, outstanding benefits, and excellent paid time off.