Contracts Associate
The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries, while strengthening the capabilities of governments and the private sector in those countries to create and sustain high-quality health systems that can succeed without our assistance. For more information, please visit: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org
Team Overview:
CHAI's Finance team is based out of our Boston office, and provides operational support to programmatic teams working across Africa, Asia and North America. Our teams work to improve access to quality health care and focus on a number of different issues and disease areas including, but not limited to HIV, vaccines, malaria, and maternal and newborn health.
Position Overview:
The Contracts Associate provides legal and compliance-related support and direction to CHAI country and program teams spanning over 30 countries. The Associate vets, analyzes, modifies, revises and advises on program, financial, and legal content in CHAI contracts governing program implementation. To improve the internal workflow of the Contracts department, the Associate leads and advises on new and existing procedures and supports intra and inter-departmental tools, policies, reports and more. The Associate is expected to be an advocate for, lead on and help create Contracts department standards and best practices, including those around the processing and tracking of documents, reviewing agreements, interacting with CHAI teams and communicating with partner organizations and agencies.
This position reports to the Associate Director of Finance, Contracts and will be based at CHAI's office in Boston.
Responsibilities:
Contract Review and Advice - 80%
- Vet, analyze, modify, and revise program, financial, and legal content in CHAI contracts governing program implementation.
- Lead and work closely with a sophisticated portfolio of program teams and Contracts department staff throughout the agreement review process, using independent judgment to vet contract language for compliance with CHAI policies and procedures, grant agreements, and local laws regarding business registration and independent contractor classification.
- Build relationships across CHAI, including guiding CHAI program teams in matters of contracts strategy, management, process and best practices.
- Proactively communicate within the Contracts team and routinely update manager on workload, anticipated challenges, and progress on meeting deadlines. Share with Contracts team on challenges and successes of teams supported, including developments, tools and learnings.
Policy Development and Departmental Documentation - 15%
- Review, collaborate on, and analyze departmental policies and procedures for implementation across CHAI’s global operations, including the prescribed use of the Contracts department template agreements as well as standard operating procedures for teams to draft agreements, effective management and monitoring of CHAI’s contractual partners, requirements surrounding signing agreements, and processes around working with the Contracts department to address other legal questions.
- Lead ad-hoc projects, including the generation of reports and documents for headquarters departments, programmatic teams and leadership.
Trainings - 5%
- Conduct trainings for CHAI’s program managers on contract drafting, departmental best practices, standards and procedures.
- Other responsibilities as needed
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree required; law degree or graduate degree in relevant field preferred (public policy, public administration, public health, nonprofit management, business, or other social sciences).
- Three to five years of relevant professional experience, with strong preference for experience in a contracts or legal environment
- Demonstrated experience building relationships and establishing credibility with diverse teams
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, including impeccable command of English grammar and usage. Ability to perceive subtleties in language and nuanced sentence structure
- Proficiency or fluency in French or other language spoken in a program country is strongly preferred, including but not limited to Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, and Cambodian
- Fluency in Microsoft Office, with emphasis on Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and Access
- Comfort analyzing financial data and budgets
- Expertise interpreting various legal documents and experience drafting documents
- Detail-oriented with strong organizational skills
- Strong ability to multi-task and adjust priorities with minimal oversight
- Highly motivated to seek out resolutions and capable of working independently and effectively with minimal oversight
- Demonstrated experience working in a collaborative, team environment
- Passionate about CHAI values