Upwork ($UPWK) is the world's work marketplace. We serve everyone from one-person startups to large, Fortune 100 enterprises with a powerful, trust-driven platform that enables companies and talent to work together in new ways that unlock their potential.
Last year, more than $3.8 billion of work was done through Upwork by skilled professionals who are gaining more control by finding work they are passionate about and innovating their careers.
The award-winning Upwork Legal & Policy team aims to be a highly cohesive and communicative team that, among other things, loves to work on cutting-edge legal issues, generate creative business solutions to enable the company's continued growth in a compliant manner, enable the new world of remote work for millions of independent professionals and clients globally in over 180 countries, and has a passion for what we do. The Upwork legal team won The Recorder's prestigious 2016 Legal Department of the Year (Emerging Companies) award and the 2021 American Legal Technology Award for Law Department of the Year. The team has also been recognized by The Financial Times as One of Top 25 Most Innovative In-House Legal Teams in North America.
T his unique in-house opportunity is tailor-made for a senior contracts manager who enjoys autonomy and thrives on making an impact. You will assist internal business clients with contract review requests and improve on existing processes and procedures. You will lead the negotiation, documentation, and analysis of a broad range of vendor agreements, including SaaS, technology, licensing and services agreements and will directly interface with Upwork's vendors as well as internal clients ranging from, among others, our Procurement, Information Technology, Information Security, Engineering, Product, Finance, and Payments teams.
The Upwork Legal & Policy team is one that believes each of its team members is super equipped to figure out the hardest problems with minimal supervision. The team prides itself on being enablers for the business, our colleagues and our users - their success is our success. The team also likes to laugh a bunch too. We are not micromanagers, not know-it-alls, and not empire builders.
Your Responsibilities:

• Provide end-to-end vendor agreement support for various internal departments and train requesters on appropriate processes.
• Work directly with internal partners including procurement, accounts payable, and infosec and external parties to draft, review, and/or consult on a range of commercial and technology vendor agreements.
• Respond promptly to business requests, and identify and escalate non-standard, complex matters where required.
• On occasion, manage outside counsel's review of specialized agreements and act as internal liaison with key stakeholders.
• Help the commercial team scale, working within the legal department and cross functionally to develop, implement, and continuously refine forms, playbooks, systems, processes, and procedures.

What it takes to catch our eye:

• 5+ years of work experience in contract review, drafting, negotiation, management and administration.
• Strong working knowledge of commercial contracts.
• Experience reviewing, negotiating, and/or drafting agreements including: procurement master agreements, ancillary project schedules, order forms, data privacy addendums, NDAs, SOWs, amendments, inbound SaaS/technology/software licensing agreements, services agreements, termination agreements, evaluations/proof of concepts, online terms of service, and other agreements.
• Ability to independently identify issues, identify and triage the impact and urgency of agreement issues, and understand the business and business objectives.
• Experience collaborating with internal and cross-functional departments (including procurement, information security, IT, privacy, etc.) to assess vendors onboarding.
• Ability to execute tasks for multiple ongoing projects simultaneously.

How to really knock our socks off:

• Prior in-house experience, especially at top Internet / SaaS company.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills-an ability to explain complex issues and concepts in straightforward, everyday terms is key.
• Experience as a problem solver, subject matter expert and thought leader among colleagues.
• Ability to work effectively with external stakeholders (e.g., counterparties to an agreement or outside counsel), with limited support.
• Experience implementing contract management tools, processes, and procedures.
• Privacy knowledge and experience with DPAs.
• Proactive nature, self-motivated, resourceful, and "can-do" attitude.

The annual base salary for this position in California and Washington ranges from $99,000 - $163,000. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum salary for this position in California and Washington, and individual base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Additionally, this position is eligible for the annual bonus plan or sales incentive plan and eligibility to participate in our long term equity incentive program.
Come change how the world works.
At Upwork, you'll shape talent solutions for how the world works today. We are a remote-first organization working together to create exciting remote work opportunities for a global community of professionals. While we have physical offices in San Francisco and Chicago, currently we also support hiring of corporate full-time employees in 19 states in the United States. Please speak with a member of our recruitment team to determine whether you are located in a state in which we are hiring corporate full-time employees.
Our vibrant culture is built on shared values and our mission to create economic opportunities so that people have better lives. We foster amazing teams, put our community first, and have a bias toward action. We encourage everyone to bring their whole selves to work and grow together through development opportunities, mentorship, and employee resource groups. And oh yeah, we've also got amazing benefits - including medical insurance for you and your family, unlimited PTO, 401(k) with matching, 12 weeks of paid parental leave, and a generous Employee Stock Purchase Plan. Check out our Life at Upwork page to learn more about our benefits and the employee experience.
Check out our Life at Upwork page to learn more about the employee experience.
Upwork is proudly committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse and inclusive workforce. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we never discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.
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