Legal and Contracts Operations Manager

To support Striveworks’ business growth, this role takes ownership of the execution life cycle for company legal operations, public sector contracts, and federal compliance. Operating as a critical individual contributor, you will have primary responsibility for the systematic triage, review, evaluation, and management of a broad range of agreement types—including customer contracts and subcontracts, teaming and partnership agreements, software license agreements, vendor agreements, and NDAs. You will turn complex contractual and regulatory requirements into clear, practical instructions for our operational teams, directly enabling excellent execution, protecting the company’s intellectual property, and managing risk. You will have primary responsibility for maintaining databases, optimizing tracking workflows, and building out a scalable internal legal function. You will collaborate heavily across teams—including business development, engineering, security, IT, and company leadership—to ensure that the company operates and expands responsibly and efficiently.

Responsibilities

Take ownership of the execution life cycle for company legal operations, public sector contracts, and federal compliance; Perform systematic triage, review, evaluation, and management of agreement types including customer contracts and subcontracts, teaming and partnership agreements, software license agreements, vendor agreements, and NDAs; Turn complex contractual and regulatory requirements into clear, practical instructions for operational teams; Protect the company’s intellectual property and manage risk; Maintain databases, optimize tracking workflows, and build out a scalable internal legal function; Collaborate heavily across teams including business development, engineering, security, IT, and company leadership to ensure responsible and efficient operations

Requirements

A bachelor’s degree and 3–7 years of professional experience in a corporate legal department or with a technology company or defense contractor focusing on legal operations, paralegal duties, or contract management; Direct experience executing initial document triage and comprehensive review of commercial and public sector agreements; Experience handling basic agreement term negotiations directly with counterparties; Proficiency analyzing, logging, and tracking Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and DFARS clauses, with a clear understanding of how to translate clause requirements into concrete internal actions; Experience implementing or administering process improvements for contract life cycle management; Exceptional attention to detail, document drafting skills, professional maturity, and excellent communication capabilities; A process-oriented mindset and a highly diligent approach to managing sensitive information; Eligibility and willingness to obtain and maintain a Secret US security clearance

Nice to have

A formal Paralegal Certificate from an ABA-approved program or a Certified Legal Operations Professional (CLOP) designation; Tech sector fluency, specifically with reviewing software licensing frameworks, End User License Agreements (EULAs), and third-party AI tool usage terms; Experience with export control frameworks, such as tracking Export Administration Regulations (EAR), International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), or managing export compliance gates; Baseline administrative exposure to patent processing; Experience with employment law; Experience establishing and maturing a legal function within a growth-stage startup; Direct experience selecting and implementing a Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) platform; Exposure to verifying or cross-mapping company practices against advanced compliance frameworks like NIST SP 800-171 or CMMC 2.0; Familiarity with Department of Defense (DOD) contracts and defense industry regulatory frameworks, including the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM)

Benefits

Medical/dental/vision insurance; Voluntary life, long-term disability, accident, and hospital indemnity insurance; HSA and FSA (including dependent care FSA) plans; 401(k) plan; Unlimited PTO; Paid parental leave; Equity grants; Cash bonuses