Research Operations Specialist, Contracts, Vendors & Spend

Our client, a leading global travel and technology company, is looking to hire a Research Operations Specialist – Contracts, Vendors & Spend for a 100% remote contract opportunity.

Pay Rate Range: $100/hour to 110/hour on W-2, depending on experience

Responsibilities:

• Manage the end-to-end contract lifecycle for research vendors and agencies, from project intake and SOW development through approvals, execution, renewals, and offboarding.

• Manage vendor onboarding and maintenance, including supplier documentation, compliance reviews, and coordination with Legal, Procurement, Privacy, and Security.

• Manage purchase orders, requisitions, change orders, invoice approvals, and related procure-to-pay workflows.

• Maintain contract repositories, supplier records, retainer trackers, project status, and renewal timelines.

• Partner closely with Finance and research leaders on spend tracking, budgeting, forecasting, and monthly financial reviews.

• Coordinate contract workflows across cross-functional teams and proactively identify and resolve approval or execution delays.

• Support vendor evaluation, consolidation, and commercial discussions, including data privacy and AI-related vendor terms.

• Maintain operational data and workflow tracking in Airtable and other business systems.

• Identify opportunities to streamline processes, improve visibility, and leverage automation and AI to increase operational efficiency.

Requirements:

• 7–10 years of experience in contracts administration, legal operations, procurement, vendor operations, or a related field.

• Strong experience managing contracts such as MSAs, SOWs, NDAs, DPAs, and vendor/service agreements.

• Experience coordinating with Legal, Procurement, Finance, Privacy, Security, and other cross-functional stakeholders.

• Hands-on experience with procure-to-pay systems such as Oracle, Zip, Coupa, SAP Ariba, or similar platforms.

• Experience managing purchase orders, requisitions, invoices, change orders, renewals, and vendor spend.

• Ability to review contract terms, identify potential issues, and determine when Legal involvement is required.

• Experience supporting global contracting, including familiarity with regional requirements in EMEA and China.

• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple contracts, vendors, projects, and approval stages simultaneously.

• Clear and proactive communication skills with both internal stakeholders and external vendors.

• Experience supporting research, UX research, consumer insights, or market research teams is preferred.

• Hands-on Airtable experience is a plus.

• Experience with AI tools, workflow automation, or AI-assisted operational processes is a plus.

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience preferred.