Contracts and Legal Operations Specialist (60437)

Supports AAA Northeast's legal department by managing the full lifecycle of commercial agreements and the operational systems, processes, and reporting that enable effective legal service delivery. This role independently drafts, reviews, and negotiates contracts across the Club's service lines, including information technology, roadside assistance, insurance, banking and lending, travel, driver training, and member discount programs. The position also serves as the primary administrator and power user of LinkSquares and supports the broader legal technology environment through workflow improvement, technology adoption, data integrity, and performance measurement. Reporting to the Chief Legal Officer, this role collaborates with the legal team and business partners across Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and New York.

What you will do:

• Contract Drafting and Negotiation: Drafts, reviews, and redlines a wide variety of commercial agreements, including vendor and supplier contracts, service provider agreements, licensing arrangements, nondisclosure agreements, technology agreements, and statements of work across AAA Northeast's operational areas – with a strong emphasis on technology related agreements. Given the organization's breadth of services, contracts may involve roadside assistance service providers, insurance program partners, financial services vendors, travel suppliers, and marketing or member discount program participants. This individual manages negotiations with internal and external counterparties, balancing AAA Northeast's risk tolerance against business priorities to reach commercially reasonable terms. The role requires maintaining and updating the organization's template library and standard playbooks within LinkSquares to reflect current legal requirements and business practices.
• Contract Management: Partners with business teams to manage contract administration throughout the agreement lifecycle, including renewals, amendments, expirations, and terminations. Tracks contract milestones, notice periods, obligations, and critical dates through LinkSquares; coordinates timely follow-up with business owners and legal team members; and maintains complete, accurate, and accessible records of executed agreements and related correspondence. Ensures data integrity and consistent use of required metadata across the contract repository.
• Legal Technology and CLM Administration: The Contracts and Legal Operations Specialist serves as the day-to-day administrator of LinkSquares and the legal department's broader technology stack, including e-signature platforms, document management systems, matter management tools, and AI-assisted review solutions. Within LinkSquares, this includes managing system configuration, workflow automation, and reporting, as well as building and refining automated alerts for key contract dates such as renewals, expirations, and option exercise deadlines. The role involves generating reports and dashboards that provide leadership with visibility into AAA Northeast's contract portfolio and overall legal department performance. The Contracts and Legal Operations Specialist evaluates emerging legal technology solutions, coordinates with vendors on system updates and enhancements, manages platform integrations across the legal technology ecosystem, and trains internal stakeholders on platform usage and best practices.
• Legal Department Operations: Manages and continuously improves the legal department’s workflows, processes, and operational infrastructure. Coordinates matter intake and tracking so legal requests are consistently captured, prioritized, assigned, and monitored through completion. Develops and maintains metrics, key performance indicators, and recurring reports that provide the Chief Legal Officer  with visibility into workload, turnaround times, contract volume, and departmental spend. Leads process improvement initiatives by identifying service-delivery bottlenecks, documenting standard operating procedures, and implementing approved changes that improve efficiency, consistency, and cycle times.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partners with IT, insurance, travel, roadside assistance, banking and lending, driver training, marketing, finance, procurement, and human resources to understand business needs and translate them into appropriate contractual and operational requirements. Provides practical guidance on contracting processes, templates, required approvals, and LinkSquares usage; develops training materials; and participates in cross-functional system implementations, policy rollouts, and other initiatives involving contractual or legal-operations components. Escalates substantive legal interpretations and matters outside established guidelines to legal counsel.  Assists with litigation-related support as needed.

What You Will Need

• Bachelor's Degree business administration, legal studies, or a related field required or 6-8 years of additional relavent work experience required.
• Master's Degree or other advanced degree in business administration, legal studies, or a related field preferred.
• 4-6 years progressive experience in contract management, legal operations, commercial contracting, or a related function, including at least two years in an in-house legal department or corporate environment required.
• Demonstrated experience drafting, reviewing, and negotiating commercial agreements required.
• Proficiency with contract lifecycle management platforms and Microsoft Word and Excel required.
• LinkSquares experience and exposure to matter management or document management systems. Direct experience administering or configuring LinkSquares, including workflow automation, custom reporting, and AI-powered contract analytics, is highly valued preferred.
• Experience developing operational metrics, reports, or dashboards preferred.
• Knowledge of insurance, automobile club, consumer privacy, or other regulations relevant to AAA Northeast’s operations preferred.
• Familiarity with complementary legal technology tools, such as AI-assisted contract review platforms, e-signature solutions, e-billing and matter management platforms, and legal project management methodologies preferred.
• Experience leading legal operations initiatives, including process mapping, workflow redesign, and change management within a legal department preferred.
• Certified Legal Manager credential, or comparable professional certification upon Hire preferred.
• Certified Commercial Contracts Manager (CCCM) upon Hire preferred.
• CLOC Legal Operations Certified Professional designation upon Hire preferred.

Why AAA Northeast

Career Growth: With ongoing world-class training and proven career paths, you'll have the opportunity to develop expertise and advance your career within AAA Northeast.
Trusted Legacy: With over 120 years of service excellence, we have a long track record of protecting our members as well as our employees and their families.
Future-Focused: With new business offerings and increasing digital presence, we are focused on innovating for the future to sustain our success.

What We Offer

• Award-Winning: We’ve been named as a Top Employer for the last 7 years
• Health Coverage: Medical coverage with employer contributions covering up to 93% of the premium cost, plus dental and vision options.
• Retirement: 6% company match on 401(k) retirement plan contribution, with contributions fully vested and made every pay period
• Paid Time off: 3 weeks’ vacation, 12 holidays, 8 sick days, 48 hours of volunteer time annually
• Additional Perks: Free AAA membership, insurance discounts, travel commission refund, up to $625 in Wellness Incentives, up to $6k in tuition reimbursement, and more!
• Compensation: Competitive base pay, annual bonus opportunities, and for certain roles, additional monthly and/or quarterly incentive compensation. The posted salary range represents the full range grade for this role, with individual pay based on job-related skills, experience, shift, and geographic location.

At AAA Northeast, how we work together matters. We are a highly collaborative organization that values connection, transparency, and trust. Our “cameras on” approach during virtual meetings reflects our expectation that team members are present, engaged and actively participating, helping to build strong working relationships and a sense of shared accountability, no matter where we’re located.

We are also proud of our diverse culture, shaped by the talents, experiences, and perspectives of our employees. AAA Northeast is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to fair and equitable practices in recruiting, hiring, and advancement. We do not discriminate based on race, color, creed or religion, national origin, sex, age, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity or expression, disability, genetic information, marital status, pregnancy, or membership in any other protected class. We thrive when our team members bring their whole selves to work.