Contract Management Lead

As part of CESAME’s activities (Central Software Asset ManagEment) for the AXA Group, the Contract Manager, having the responsibilities of several contracts, is accountable for the contract execution and the referent for all contractual aspects. He/she has to drive the following activities, in coordination with the License manager and the chargeback manager assigned to those contracts, but also Procurement, legal, finance and product owner teams:

1. Identify all the elements of the contract to enforce our engagements and implement efficiently a standard process for the execution, including the contractual obligations of all parties, the evolution, the vendor governance and the financial risks (especially in regard to compliance).
2. Anticipate legal and compliance risks.
3. Understand all contract mechanisms (contractual, financial, legal, licensing) to maximize the value of the contract for the benefit of the Group.
4. Supervise all the CESAME activities related to the contract, in relationship with all stakeholders (Group Procurement, clients in AXA entities, product owner, finance, team support in India, etc.).
5. Follow-up and communicate to the customers in the AXA Entities all key elements of the contract life having a financial and/or operational impact on the vendor relationship and on the Client usage.
6. Work with Product owner and account manager to promote Contracts under her/his responsibility.
7. Manage specific governance or contribute to procurement governance with the vendor and address all pending points if needed.
8. Support procurement team for preparing the scope of renewal and new principal deals to negotiate.

DOMAINS OF RESPONSIBILITY

For the contracts he manages, the Contract Manager is responsible to manage “life of contract” which consists in:

Contract execution:

1. Contract mapping: Identify all documents related to the “Contract” that will structure the relationship with the vendor (MLA, ULA, Appendix, etc.), document it and maintain it.
2. Identify & Analyze Financial & Legal Risks. Set up a mitigation plan with Finance and legal teams. Follow up. Contribution to Budget instructions.
3. Complete Contract Prerequisites (install inventory tools, user registrations, Full Capacity, Virtualization, hard capping, etc.).
4. Identify and manage Time Driven Commitments (Reports, Renewals, Declarations, Disclosures…) with the support of the team.
5. Drive initiatives to optimize cost and maximize value of the contract by leveraging all contracts T&C. Recommend to Procurement any legal and financial improvement.
6. Manage scope variation (expansions / divestitures) and execution (services, products, entities).

Inventory and compliance management:

1. Implement a strategy to inventory products in the contracts by leveraging existing tools and Flexera. Liaise with CTO and CIO if needed.
2. Anticipate noncompliance risks with License manager. Calculate the financial exposure for AXA Group. Request mitigation plans to AXA entities or Product owner and follow-up.
3. Address Audit Requests Proactively.
4. Work with Partnership Office and Account manager to promote and value contract under her/his responsibility.

Governance:

1. Ensure that roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder have been clarified for the global management of the contract (Clients, Group Procurement, etc.). Clarify escalation process.
2. Set up and lead the global governance with the vendor on the contract execution side, in partnership with Procurement.
3. Support and give strategic directions to Procurement team during contract negotiation (Contract negotiation is not under contract manager responsibility) and for contract evolution.
4. Lead the CESAME Community Share vendor information and key contract information. Ensure contribution of license manager to provide information.
5. Be the escalation point for operational issues encountered at local level with a vendor.
6. Accountable for all activities related to the contract. Manages the activities of the license manager and the chargeback manager in the scope of the managed contracts.

KPI’s - Deliverables

1. All contract documents mapped together. Contract Summary template published and filled.
2. Contract Obligation and Risks Template published and filled. Mitigation plan available.
3. Stakeholders management: RACI matrix for global contract management.
4. Governance meeting minutes / Fortnightly reports.
5. Communication plan executed.
6. Financial situation (balance sheet, cash collection) up to date.
7. AXA contracts signed and stored.
8. Compliance situation available – Financial exposure mitigated.
9. Track records of savings and cost avoidance.

SKILLS REQUIRED

1. Software Asset Management and more particularly Contract management skills, legal and financial awareness.
2. Knowledge of major vendors is a must (Oracle, IBM, VMWare) but also SaaS vendors (Salesforce, Genesys, Adobe) or cloud provider (Microsoft Azure or AWS).
3. Leadership and management skills, able to evolve in a complex environment with multiple stakeholders (internal and external).
4. Very good communication skills to contribute to CESAME community (AXA Entities over the world).
5. Work in a team, build relationship with other team – Share to succeed.
6. Work in an International context – Speak fluently English.

DIMENSIONS

Group AXA global contracts.

Relationships with customers in AXA Group, vendors, Group Procurement, etc.

Can manage contracts portfolio up to 50 M€.