Vice President, Contracts

The Vice President, Contracts (VP, Contracts) will report to the Chief Legal Officer (CLO) and will lead STR's contracts function as a strategic enabler of growth, speed, and mission impact. This role oversees the full lifecycle of STR's contractual agreements while ensuring disciplined compliance, risk management, and execution quality.

As STR accelerates its company-wide pivot to a Tech-Enabled Services (TES) strategy-building reusable software and hardware "TES Cores" and deploying them rapidly across multiple missions-the VP, Contracts will help design and operationalize contracting models that support (i) faster time-to-award and time-to-impact, (ii) scaling product reuse, (iii) higher margins through value-based and outcomes-aligned pricing, and (iv) customer-funded R&D and early prototypes that mature into larger, longer-term programs.

The VP, Contracts will be a valued member of STR leadership, relied upon as a subject matter expert, and key partner to the other Functional and Division Leaders. This role will lead a team of approximately 20 employees.

Duties and Responsibilities

Contracting Strategy for TES, Prototyping, and Transition-to-Scale

• Partner with executive leadership (CLO, COO, CFO, Product leadership, and Program/Pursuit leaders) to develop contracting strategies that enable STR's TES business model.
• Build repeatable contracting "playbooks" for:
  • Productized software / software-enabled systems,
  • Reference designs and modular hardware/firmware deliverables,
  • Customer-funded prototypes and pilots,
  • Transition pathways from prototype to production/sustainment.
• Create and continuously refine contract structures that align incentives and produce mission outcomes for our customers, and scalable delivery and acceptable risk allocation for STR.

FFP, OT, and Alternative Acquisition Pathways

• Lead STR's approach to FFP and OTA contracting, including:
  • Working with the Government to select the right contract type and incentive structure for the technical and delivery risk profile,
  • Establishing practical strategies for scope definition, acceptance criteria, and change management,
  • Supporting rapid negotiation and award timelines for prototypes and early deployments,
  • Designing clear, executable paths for follow-on production and scaling.
• Advise capture and program teams on pricing, milestones, and performance measures that support predictable delivery and value-based outcomes.

Contract Management and Negotiation

• Review solicitations and advise on business-impactful requirements, clauses, and acquisition strategies.
• Analyze, negotiate, and execute agreements including prime contracts, subcontracts, proprietary information agreements, teaming agreements, consulting agreements, licensing agreements, vendor agreements, and lease agreements.
• Ensure agreements are documented, accurate, internally consistent, aligned with company policy, and compliant with applicable regulations and customer requirements.
• Support price-to-win negotiations, including contract milestone development.
• Own enterprise procurement strategy and operating model in partnership with Finance and Operations, ensuring STR has scalable, compliant, and cost-effective sourcing and purchasing capabilities across indirect spend (IT, facilities, professional services) and direct program-related procurements where appropriate.

IP, Data Rights, and Product Commercialization Enablement

• Serve as the contracts lead for IP/data-rights strategy to support TES Cores and product reuse, including:
  • Negotiating appropriate data rights and license terms consistent with STR's long-term product strategy,
  • Ensuring STR preserves the ability to reuse, improve, and scale TES Cores across programs while meeting customer mission needs,
  • Structuring licensing, subscriptions, enterprise-use rights, and other commercialization-relevant terms where appropriate.
• Collaborate with Legal, Finance, Product, and Engineering leadership to ensure contracting terms align with STR's IP governance, repository strategy, and emerging accounting structures for product IP.

Risk Mitigation and Decision Support

• Provide counsel on mitigating contractual risks, including IP/data rights, indemnity, cybersecurity, security/classification, export controls, schedule, warranty, acceptance, pricing/payment terms, and flowdowns.
• Ensure material risks and tradeoffs are clearly articulated with recommended options to senior leadership, including structured decision memos when appropriate.
• Drive practical, mission-aware risk allocation-avoiding both unnecessary risk-taking and unnecessary conservatism that slows delivery or impedes scale.

Responsiveness, Prioritization, and Escalation

• Be responsive to business needs, transparent about constraints, and proactive in anticipating and escalating risks (capacity, timing, negotiation friction, or customer dependencies).
• Work closely with the COO's staff to prioritize contracting actions aligned with enterprise objectives, major captures, product roadmaps, and critical business milestones.
• Establish and enforce clear service expectations (turnaround times, escalation paths, and "fast lanes" for high-priority pursuits and prototypes).

Status Visibility, Metrics, and Operating Cadence

• Design and maintain simple, visible status tracking for contracting actions (e.g., "Received, In Review, With External Party, Waiting on Requestor, Complete").
• Provide regular visibility to the business on cycle times, backlog, and throughput; segment metrics by agreement type and business purpose (e.g., OT prototype, FFP delivery, subcontract flowdown, license).
• Use metrics to drive staffing plans, standard work, prioritization, and continuous process improvement-explicitly supporting faster pursuit cycles and faster transition from prototype to fielded capability.

Stakeholder Collaboration and External Relationships

• Build and maintain relationships with external stakeholders, including acquisition executives, contracting officers, consortium/OT intermediaries, and key primes/partners.
• Build strong internal partnerships with the COO, CFO, Division Leads, Program Managers, Capture, Product leadership, Security, and Export Compliance.
• Advise leaders on legal/contractual implications of strategic decisions, including partnering, co-investment models, and customer-funded R&D approaches.

Compliance, Audit, and Readiness

• Advise and support compliance with FAR/DFARS and other applicable regimes (export controls, cybersecurity requirements, security/classification obligations, etc.).
• Collaborate cross-functionally to support internal and external audits and to strengthen controls and documentation quality without sacrificing speed.
• Maintain audit-ready records and ensure appropriate retention, accessibility, and traceability across the agreement lifecycle.

Records Management

• Organize and maintain business records concerning the agreement lifecycle, ensuring appropriate retention, accessibility, and auditability.

Team Leadership and Continuous Improvement

• Lead, develop, and recruit a high-performing contracts organization that is responsive, mission-oriented, and business-enabling.
• Assign complex agreements to appropriately skilled contracts managers and actively develop junior staff.
• Continuously improve contracts processes, templates, playbooks, and systems to increase quality, predictability, and speed-supporting product reuse and scaled delivery while maintaining compliance.

Requirements / Qualifications

• Security Clearance: Ability to obtain a TOP SECRET clearance.
• Government Contracting Expertise: Deep expertise in government contracting, including FAR/DFARS, and demonstrated experience with FFP strategies, OTA structures, and other non-traditional acquisition pathways (e.g., CSO/BAA patterns where applicable).
• TES/Product Contracting Orientation: Experience structuring agreements that support reusable software/hardware products, modular delivery, licensing/data rights, prototyping, and scaling/transition.
• Leadership: Demonstrated capability leading a functional organization supporting multiple business units, balancing speed, risk management, and compliance.
• Business Judgment: Ability to translate strategy into practical contracting mechanisms that align incentives, enable rapid execution, and support margin expansion and scalability.
• Communication and Collaboration: Strong written and verbal communication; able to clearly articulate risk, options, and recommendations to technical, business, and executive stakeholders; effective partner to capture/program/product leaders.
• Operational Discipline: Demonstrated ability to implement metrics-driven operating cadences, improve processes, and increase throughput and predictability.

STR is a growing technology company with locations near Boston, MA, Arlington, VA, near Dayton, OH, Melbourne, FL, and Carlsbad, CA. We specialize in advanced research and development for defense, intelligence, and national security in: cyber; next generation sensors, radar, sonar, communications, and electronic warfare; and artificial intelligence algorithms and analytics to make sense of the complexity that is exploding around us.

STR is committed to creating a collaborative learning environment that supports deep technical understanding and recognizes the contributions and achievements of all team members. Our work is challenging, and we go home at night knowing that we pushed the envelope of technology and made the world safer.

STR is not just any company. Our people, culture, and attitude along with their unique set of skills, experiences, and perspectives put us on a trajectory to change the world. We can't do it alone, though - we need fellow trailblazers. If you are one, join our team and help to keep our society safe! Visit us at www.str.us for more info.

STR is an equal opportunity employer. We are fully dedicated to hiring the most qualified candidate regardless of race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation and pregnancy), marital status, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

If you need a reasonable accommodation for any portion of the employment process, email us at appassist@str.us and provide your contact info.

Pursuant to applicable federal law and regulations, positions at STR require employees to obtain national security clearances and satisfy the requirements for compliance with export control and other applicable laws.

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