CO Team Member
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Job Description
Position Summary / Role Purpose
The Contract Operations (CO) Team is a global team within Takeda’s Global Legal Function that enables Takeda’s contracting process by delivering simplified, agile and reliable contracting support across Legal, Procurement, Finance, Data Digital & Technology (DD&T) and business stakeholders. The team supports accurate contract intake, review coordination, approvals, signatures, records, purchase enablement, issue resolution, user support, metrics and continuous improvement for Takeda’s enterprise contracting ecosystem, including CLM, SAP and DocuSign.
The CO Team Member supports the end-to-end operational contracting process, including validating contract request information, coordinating Legal review where required, reviewing documents not requiring legal review, confirming use of Legal-approved templates and terms, managing contract records and metadata, supporting signature and purchase-order enablement, and helping business users navigate contracting workflows. The role requires strong functional knowledge of contracting systems and related source-to-pay processes, while partnering with technical teams to understand system configuration, integrations and technical delivery.
Key Objectives
- Deliver the end-to-end contracting process in an effective, efficient and user-focused manner, with emphasis on cycle time, accuracy, compliance and business continuity.
- Support accurate contract intake, routing, review coordination, approvals, signature enablement, contract activation, filing and purchase enablement through CLM, SAP and DocuSign workflows.
- Track and monitor contract-related metrics, service levels, queue volumes, aging, bottlenecks, data quality, issue trends and user-experience feedback.
- Provide recommendations to improve contracting processes, contract performance, data quality and user experience in partnership with Legal, Procurement, Finance, DD&T, TBS and other impacted functions.
- Identify and document opportunities for refinement of contracting technology, workflows, notifications, search, reporting, signatory logic, data cleanup and integration performance.
- Escalate operational, legal, procurement, finance, system or integration issues to the relevant support group and coordinate practical interim solutions where appropriate to keep urgent business needs moving.
Key Accountabilities
- Process and review contract requests received from business stakeholders, ensuring data completeness, appropriate documentation, use of approved templates, and alignment with applicable Legal, Finance, Procurement, Delegation of Authority, signing authority and records requirements.
- Review contract submissions against Legal-approved template terms and playbooks, identify issues or deviations, and route matters to Legal reviewers or other subject matter experts when formal legal, policy or business input is required.
- Manage contract records, metadata, parent-child documentation relationships, amendments, signatures, workflow status, approvals and supporting documentation to support auditability, reporting and downstream purchase-order activity.
- Serve as a functional contracting-system expert for Contract Lifecycle Management systems and related workflows, providing user guidance, triage, training support, queue management, troubleshooting and practical workarounds for known system limitations.
- Coordinate with Takeda Data, Digital & Technology team, CLM, SAP and DocuSign service teams to investigate and resolve workflow, integration, signature, approval, PR/PO, data, notification and access issues.
- Prepare, monitor and communicate relevant operational metrics, including request volumes, cycle time, queue aging, service levels, bottlenecks, issue trends, user feedback and enhancement priorities.
- Support continuous improvement by documenting recurring issues, enhancement requests, workaround needs, data-quality gaps and user pain points, and by participating in user testing and release readiness activities.
- Provide strong customer service and maintain collaborative relationships with internal and external stakeholders through professional behavior consistent with Takeda policies, practices and values.
- Resolve, coordinate or participate in the resolution of complaints, urgent escalations and disputes involving requestors, purchasing, receiving, vendors, Legal reviewers, Procurement, Finance, DD&T and other applicable stakeholders.
Critical Role Elements
- Operational ownership mindset, creative thinking, practical problem solving and timely issue resolution in a high-volume contracting environment.
- Strong communication, user-support, presentation and consulting skills, including the ability to translate complex workflow or system issues into clear business guidance.
- Ability to identify and resolve potential issues or risks in contracting, including data-quality, approval, signatory, workflow, integration and purchase-enablement risks.
- Functional expertise in CLM, SAP and DocuSign workflows sufficient to guide users, define business requirements and partner effectively with DD&T and system administrators.
- Fluent in English, written and spoken.
Technical / Functional Expertise
- Proven knowledge of contracting processes, contract development, operational legal support and source-to-pay interactions in a global legal operations environment.
- Significant experience analyzing and reporting contract and process metrics, including cycle time, queue aging, approval latency, data quality, bottlenecks, user feedback and operational issue trends.
- Understanding of policies and processes related to contracts, procurement, Delegation of Authority, signing authority, records, purchase requisitions, purchase orders and supplier enablement.
- Functional knowledge of enterprise contracting ecosystem, including CLM, Ariba and DocuSign workflows, integrations, notifications, data fields, reporting outputs and common workaround needs.
- Adherence to Takeda policies and their practical application throughout the contracting process, with ability to distinguish Contract Operations responsibilities from Legal, Procurement, Finance and DD&T responsibilities.
Leadership / Collaboration
- Proven ability to be self-directed while operating as part of one Takeda team, with a focus on business continuity, stakeholder partnership and Patients at the center.
- Ability to form strong working relationships with key stakeholders across Legal, Procurement, Finance, DD&T, TBS, business functions, vendors and system support teams.
- Excellent communication, listening and influencing skills; ability to understand customer needs and provide clear, practical guidance during routine work and urgent escalations.
- Strong stakeholder and relationship management skills, including the ability to facilitate alignment across teams that share responsibility for contracting outcomes.
Decision-Making and Autonomy
- Technically and operationally strong with proven ability to identify potential issues in contracting workflows, records, approvals, signatures, data quality, PR/PO enablement and user experience.
- Solutions oriented, with the ability to develop timely, practical and policy-aligned solutions or interim workarounds while longer-term system or process fixes are evaluated.
- Broad knowledge of source-to-pay processes and the interactions among contract intake, Legal review, Ariba approvals, DocuSign signatures, purchase-order activation and contract record management.
- Make operational decisions that support robust agreements, accurate records, effective business support and appropriate risk mitigation for Takeda.
- Know when to escalate issues or seek guidance from CO Team leadership, Legal, Procurement, Finance, DD&T, system administrators, partner resources or manager to ensure the best outcome.
- Perform permitted updates to contract information, metadata, routing, assigned resources, signatory details or workflow status where appropriate and within role-based system access.
- Monitor, report and present performance metrics, operational risks, issue trends and enhancement priorities to support continuous improvement and stakeholder decision-making.
Internal and External Interaction
- Establish credibility and earn respect of the CO Team, business stakeholders, Legal reviewers, Procurement, Finance, DD&T and system support partners.
- Facilitate alignment through effective influencing, issue triage, stakeholder management and clear communication of roles, responsibilities and next steps.
- Engage with internal and external stakeholders as required to clarify contract information, improve accuracy, resolve operational questions and support effective contracted arrangements.
- Communicate system incidents, process updates, interim solutions, training guidance and escalation paths in a clear, timely and customer-focused manner.
Innovation / Continuous Improvement
- Challenge the status quo to continually evolve and improve contracting services, user experience, workflow clarity and operational reliability.
- Seek continuous-improvement opportunities while ensuring business continuity and minimal business disruption, including enhancements to notifications, search, reporting, signatory logic, data quality and integration performance.
- Share knowledge, training tips, known workarounds and best practices within the team and with user communities.
- Apply digital-environment knowledge to identify better solutions, insights, user guidance and data-driven prioritization for contracting improvements.
Complexity
- Operates in a complex, heavily regulated environment.
- Works within an international / global remit and within and across other cultures.
Education and Experience
- Bachelor’s degree or college-level education preferred.
- 2+ years operational experience with contracting processes, legal operations, procurement operations, source-to-pay processes or contract lifecycle management systems.
- Experience or knowledge of global, regional or shared-service operating environments.
Required Skills and Competencies
- Fluent in English and preferred business-level fluency in the region’s primary operating language.
- Strong communication skills and demonstrated ability to translate business, legal, procurement and system requirements into clear operational guidance.
- Strong functional knowledge of data, content and contract-management technology solutions, including CLM platforms, electronic signature tools, procurement systems, workflow reporting and user-support models.
- S2P process knowledge, including understanding of PRs, POs, approvals, signatory workflows, supplier enablement and invoice-related handoffs.
- High diligence in administration, documentation accuracy, metadata quality, records management and audit-ready process execution.
- Ability to assume accountability for an efficient, responsive and customer-focused operational legal contracting process, including urgent escalation support and cross-functional coordination.
Travel Requirements
Some limited travel may be required.