Research Operations Specialist - Contracts, Vendors & Spend

About the Role

We're looking for an experienced Research Operations Specialist to own the contracts, vendor relationships, and spending behind a research team of roughly sixty researchers and a portfolio of about fifty active research agencies and research tool vendors. In this hands-on individual contributor role, you'll:

• guide contracts from project request through signed agreement,
• serve as the team's go-to partner for Finance on budgets and forecasts,
• give researchers clear visibility into where their projects stand.

You'll join a small research operations team with real room to streamline how work gets done, including through the use of AI tools.

Key Responsibilities

• Execute contracts end to end: once a researcher raises a project, guide it through scoping, statement of work, approvals, and kickoff.
• Represent researchers in scoping and negotiation. Translate study needs into clear commercial terms and make confident calls that limit unnecessary back-and-forth.
• Partner closely with Finance and research leads on budgeting and forecasting so leads know how they're tracking against budget throughout the year. This includes spend tracking, quarterly forecasts, and monthly budget reviews.
• Maintain a clear, current view of all active contracts, onboarding, and approvals, and proactively keep researchers informed on status and next steps.
• Manage spend requests from intake through approval in Zip and Oracle, including purchase orders, change orders, invoices, and requisitions.
• Onboard and offboard vendors and tools from start to finish. This covers supplier questionnaires, NDAs, risk and privacy reviews, legal routing, and tool access and integrations.
• Coordinate master service agreements, statements of work, NDAs, and renewals with Legal and Procurement. Adapt to the differing legal, procurement, and data requirements of international markets, including EMEA and China.
• Maintain the contract repository, retainer trackers, and master supplier list.
• Track renewals at 30, 60, and 90 days, and support the transition of vendors and agencies to retainer-based models.
• Support vendor evaluation and consolidation, including reviewing data-use, model-training, and data processing terms for AI tools.
• Serve as the team's primary point of contact with Legal, Privacy, Security, Procurement, Sourcing, Finance, and Accounts Payable.
• Anticipate and resolve review bottlenecks, set clear timeline expectations with researchers, and escalate early when reviews stall.
• Maintain the team's operating data in Airtable and support knowledge management across the shared drive, research repository, and team tools.

Qualifications

Required

• 7+ years of experience in procurement, contract administration, or vendor operations; 10+ years is ideal.
• Strong contract-reading judgment. You can understand terms, spot gaps or risks early, and know when to involve Legal.
• Experience with contracting and procurement across global markets, including how legal, privacy, and procurement requirements differ by region.
• Hands-on experience with procure-to-pay systems, ideally Zip and Oracle. Candidates with strong experience on comparable platforms, such as Coupa, who learn new systems quickly will be considered.
• A systems-minded approach: you see the full lifecycle from intake to contract to spend, get ahead of problems, and find ways to work more efficiently.
• Exceptional organization and attention to detail, with clear, proactive communication with researchers, finance partners, and vendors.

Preferred

• A legal or contracts-focused background, such as paralegal or contract management experience.
• Experience working in or alongside research teams, particularly UX research, market research, or consumer insights.
• Hands-on Airtable experience, including automations.
• Experience with Salesforce and DocuSign.
• Day-to-day use of AI tools, ideally including building automations, agents, or AI-assisted workflows.

Key Details

• Start Date: October 19, 2026
• Duration: Estimated through December 31, 2027
• Location: Remote (within the U.S.)
• Work Schedule: Part-time, 30 hours per week (6 hours per day, Monday-Friday), with occasional flexibility needed to support international partners
• Pay Rate: $100-$114 per hour + benefits (medical, dental, vision, 401k)
• Work Authorization: Must be authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship.
• Engagement: W2 Contract role through Maleda Tech.