The Trade Desk is a global technology company and the world’s leading independent platform for digital advertising, with nearly 4,000 employees across more than 30 offices. Our technology helps advertisers reach the right audiences across the open internet — from streaming TV and podcasts to mobile apps, news, and more.
Advertising powers the content people love. By making it more transparent, effective, and responsible, we help support trusted journalism, quality entertainment, and creators worldwide. The world’s brands and agencies rely on us to reach their customers and grow their businesses responsibly.
The scale of our platform brings unique technical challenges — from processing massive datasets in real time to building systems that operate reliably on a global scale. When you work here, your impact is worldwide. We welcome diverse perspectives, encourage curiosity, and build teams that learn from one another. If you’re driven to solve meaningful challenges, we’d love to meet you.
What we do:
We are seeking an experienced Senior Contracts Manager to lead and evolve our Contracts Management function within our growing Legal Operations team. This is a leadership role for someone who is passionate about building and scaling high-performing contracts organizations, driving operational excellence, and expanding the impact of contracts professionals within a modern legal department.
The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in contract drafting, review, and negotiation, coupled with a strong vision for how a contracts management team can operate as a strategic business partner. This individual will lead a team of Contracts Managers while helping transform our contracts support model, expand the scope and sophistication of work performed by the team, and drive greater efficiency, consistency, and scalability across the contract lifecycle.
What you'll do:
- Lead the continued evolution of our Contracts Management function, developing and executing a vision for how the team supports the business and legal department at scale.
- Drive the expansion of the Contracts Management team's capabilities, enabling the team to independently review, draft, negotiate, and manage an increasing range of agreements while ensuring appropriate risk management and escalation practices.
- Establish best practices, playbooks, training programs, quality standards, and operational processes that enhance consistency, efficiency, and service delivery across the team.
- Manage and develop a team of Contracts Managers, providing coaching, mentorship, performance management, and career development opportunities.
- Review, draft, and negotiate a broad range of agreements, including NDAs, service agreements, amendments, order forms, statements of work, procurement agreements, and other standard contracts.
- Partner closely with attorneys and business stakeholders to identify opportunities to shift appropriate workstreams, streamline contract review processes, and increase organizational self-service capabilities.
- Analyze team performance, contract metrics, and workflow data to identify trends, optimize resource allocation, and continuously improve team effectiveness.
- Serve as a trusted advisor and key point of contact for internal stakeholders, providing guidance on contract processes, policies, and contract status.
- Partner with Legal Operations and technology teams to implement and optimize CLM solutions, automation opportunities, and other tools that improve contract lifecycle management.
- Lead strategic projects and initiatives that support broader Legal Operations and Legal Department goals.
Who you are:
- 10+ years of contracts management experience, including significant experience drafting, reviewing, and negotiating agreements.
- 3+ years of people leadership experience, with a demonstrated ability to build, develop, and lead high-performing teams.
- Proven experience designing, scaling, or transforming contracts management programs, support models, or operational processes within a legal, procurement, or commercial organization.
- Strong judgment and ability to independently negotiate agreements while appropriately assessing risk and escalating complex legal issues.
- Demonstrated success driving process improvement, operational excellence, and organizational change.
- Experience developing playbooks, workflows, training programs, and other tools that enable teams to operate more efficiently and consistently.
- Strong analytical mindset with the ability to leverage data and metrics to inform decisions and improve team performance.
- Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and relationship-building skills, with the ability to influence across all levels of the organization.
- Strong technology aptitude and experience leveraging CLM platforms, workflow tools, and automation solutions to improve contracting processes.
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, evolving environment while balancing strategic initiatives with day-to-day operational leadership.
The Trade Desk does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firm recruiters. Fees will not be paid in the event a candidate submitted by a recruiter without an agreement in place is hired; such resumes will be deemed the sole property of The Trade Desk. The Trade Desk is an equal opportunity employer. All aspects of employment will be based on merit, competence, performance, and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law.
The Trade Desk will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, Ordinance No. 184652.
Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
In accordance with various US state laws, the range provided is the Trade Desk's reasonable estimate of the base compensation for this role. The actual amount may differ based on non-discriminatory factors such as experience, knowledge, skills, and location. All employees may be eligible to become The Trade Desk shareholders through eligibility for stock-based compensation grants, which are awarded to employees based on company and individual performance. The Trade Desk also offers other compensation depending on the role such as variable compensation-based incentives and commissions. Plus, expected benefits for this role include comprehensive healthcare (medical, dental, and vision) with premiums paid in full for employees and dependents, retirement benefits such as a 401k plan and company match, short and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance, well-being benefits, reimbursement for certain tuition expenses, parental leave, sick time of 1 hour per 30 hours worked, vacation time for full-time employees up to 120 hours thru the first year and 160 hours thereafter, and around 13 paid holidays per year. Employees can also purchase The Trade Desk stock at a discount through The Trade Desk’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
The Trade Desk also offers a competitive benefits package. Click here to learn more.
Note: Interns are not eligible for variable incentive awards such as stock-based compensation, retirement plan, vacation, tuition reimbursement or parental leave
As an Equal Opportunity Employer, The Trade Desk is committed to creating an inclusive hiring experience where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
Please reach out to us at accommodations@thetradedesk.com to request an accommodation or discuss any accessibility needs you may require to access our Company Website or navigate any part of the hiring process.
When you contact us, please include your preferred contact details and specify the nature of your accommodation request or questions. Any information you share will be handled confidentially and will not impact our hiring decisions.
Skills Required
- 10+ years of contracts management experience
- 3+ years of people leadership experience
- Experience designing, scaling, or transforming contracts management programs
- Strong judgment and ability to negotiate agreements
- Demonstrated success driving process improvement and operational excellence
- Experience developing playbooks and training programs
- Strong analytical mindset
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills
- Strong technology aptitude and experience with CLM platforms
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment
The Trade Desk Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about The Trade Desk and has not been reviewed or approved by The Trade Desk.
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Affordable Benefits — Healthcare premiums are often paid in full for employees and dependents, reducing out-of-pocket costs. Coverage includes medical, dental, and vision alongside mental health and wellness support.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Packages commonly include new-hire stock grants, a generous Employee Stock Purchase Plan, and equity refreshers tied to performance. Feedback suggests equity meaningfully boosts total compensation alongside base pay and bonuses.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Generous PTO, paid holidays, paid sick time, and sabbaticals are available. Paid parental leave and extensive family-planning support broaden time-off and caregiving coverage.
The Trade Desk Insights
What We Do
The Trade Desk is changing the way global brands and their agencies advertise to audiences around the world. Our mission is to transform media for the benefit of humankind. Our media-buying platform helps brands deliver a more insightful and relevant ad experience for consumers — and sets a new standard for reach, accuracy, and transparency.
Why Work With Us
With up to 11 million queries per second and SLAs in the milliseconds, we’re tackling data and software challenges at massive scale. While we’re growing fast, investing in our value based company culture remains one of our top priorities. If you’re talented, driven, and hungry to bring something entirely new and wildly ambitious, let's talk.
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