Contract Specialist

We are looking for a Contract Specialist to join our Engineering Team in Milan.

Purpose of the role:

• Supporting oversight and governance of the company's contract management processes, controls and tools throughout all areas of operation, including bidding, project delivery and operations.
• Reporting on contractual and risk areas
• Providing assistance in enforcing and defending Arkad SpA contractual interests against customer and suppliers during the whole of a project life cycle, including monitoring and assessment of changes and deviations
• Defending and enforcing claims.
• Managing contractual aspects of claims and disputes to the extent of role’s accountability
• Providing legal, contractual and commercial know-how in respect to Arkad SpA’s partnerships and strategic alliances; (joint-ventures, consortia, etc.)

Primary responsibilities and duties:

• Help ensure the portfolio of contracts in the business follows contract and claim management methodologies in accordance with internal standard procedures.
• Review and comment on commercial and technical tender terms and conditions.
• Help develop contract strategy based on Arkad SpA policies, customer requirements, and the overall execution strategy taking into account risk, pricing, scope, and schedule.
• Identify the contract baseline (including terms and conditions, specifications, drawings, estimate, proposal, schedule and other documents incorporated in the contract) and highlights areas of potential risk.
• Help ensure timely and accurate execution of commercial aspects in portfolio of contracts (i.e. payments, claims, variation orders, warranties, provisions, guarantees, etc.).
• Assist Manager in verifying that both parties to the contract have fulfilled their contractual obligations and there are no responsibilities outstanding.
• Support Manager in assessing success of the contract and determine if there are any lessons learned for future contracting.
• Document and communicate to relevant parties any deficiencies found as part of the closeout process.
• Help Manager develop the negotiation strategy and supports negotiations. Support handling formal dispute resolution, litigation and arbitration.
• Assist Manager in reporting major claims and keeps Legal updated of any critical development during project execution.
• Support drafting of Purchase Orders, Contracts and Subcontracts and ensure that relevant (sub) contracts contain appropriate contract terms to protect Arkad SpA interest, including flow-down of main contract terms.
• Analyze prime contract terms to highlight areas of potential opportunity and risk, such as ambiguities, omissions and conflicts, as work proceeds.
• Help Manager analyse contract insurance provisions to ensure they are adhered to contract requirements.
• Support Manager in ensuring professional advice to Management across either a broad range of contractual and legal issues, or within one specialized area, and help manage disputes and litigations as requested.
• Liaise with external service providers, including external legal counsel.