Procurement Contract Manager

Would you like to be part of a value-driven, commercially oriented international environment where we enable global trade every day?

We are hiring a Contract Manager to join our team in Cape Town, South Africa who will be accountable for post‑execution contract governance, legal compliance, and lifecycle management of supplier agreements across assigned regions and categories. The role ensures executed contracts are interpreted, applied, and governed in line with legal intent, regulatory and authority requirements, while enabling operational execution, protecting contractual value, and mitigating risk.

In addition, this role acts as the IMEA functional lead for Contract Governance & Lifecycle Excellence, defining legal governance standards, playbooks, and controls across the region.

WHAT WE OFFER:                                                                                                    

When you join Maersk, you’ll find that the world is your workplace. You’ll work in a culturally diverse, stimulating environment, surrounded by new ideas and different ways of doing things. We believe in individual performance within highly professional teams supported by our distinctive values. To us teamwork means acceptance, respect, dedication, and the idea that we can achieve more when we all pull together.

Living our values means competing in the marketplace in an ethical way so our name is synonymous with being a credible and valuable business partner. Through Constant Care and Humbleness, we strive to prepare for the future, while never forgetting that our customers and competitors are key to our ability to improve. In our daily work, Uprightness and Our Employees mean that transparency and accountability in everything we do go hand in hand with being an inspiring, challenging place to work. At Maersk, we take pride in hiring the best person for the job – irrespective of gender, age, nationality, or religious belief.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Contract Communication & Operationalization:

• Develop and drive awareness of executed contract terms, legal intent, execution strategies, and compliance requirements across key internal stakeholders.

• Lead structured contract handovers to ensure Operations, Finance, P2P, and relevant teams fully understand contractual obligations, SLAs, payment terms, and key legal and commercial risks.

• Translate complex contractual terms into business‑executable formats without deviation from approved legal positions, including SLA frameworks, rate applicability, payment logic, and master data requirements.

• Ensure timely and accurate maintenance of rate management systems, contract repositories, and visibility dashboards to support transparency and execution efficiency.

• Establish and standardize legally aligned post‑execution contract operationalization playbooks across IMEA.

Contract Governance & Lifecycle Management:

• Own governance of the contract lifecycle post‑execution including contract interpretation, amendment control, renewals, expiries, and formal contractual correspondence.

• Define and maintain standards for contract interpretation, version control, repository accuracy, and audit readiness ensuring legally defensible documentation and traceability.

• Ensure contracts are applied consistently and in line with approved terms, Legal guidance, regulatory requirements, and the Global Authority Matrix.

• Act as the centre of expertise on contract obligations, risks, and compliance issues, providing guidance to regional and functional teams.

• Establish structured escalation and resolution mechanisms for contractual issues and disputes arising during contract execution in consultation with In-House Legal and in line with internal dispute governance protocols.

Performance Management & Compliance:

• Implement action plans for non‑compliant contracts in collaboration with Sourcing Managers and relevant stakeholders.

• Oversee governance and execution of Service Level Agreements (SLAs), ensuring contractual performance obligations are clearly tracked and enforced.

• Develop and maintain category‑level performance and compliance KPIs in partnership with Performance and Process Excellence teams.

• Establish clear roles and responsibilities for post‑execution performance management and compliance across stakeholders.

• Ensure contract execution outcomes feed into performance governance forums and corrective action plans with documented compliance and risk considerations.

Value Protection, Risk & Continuous Improvement:

• Provide early visibility of contractual risks and opportunities impacting service, cost, compliance, or supplier performance, including potential legal and compliance exposure.

• Partner with Operations, Procurement, Finance, and Market teams to mitigate execution risks and protect contractual value.

• Drive payment performance optimization in collaboration with Procure‑to‑Pay teams by ensuring legally accurate contractual setup correct contractual setup and issue resolution.

• Integrate learnings from contract execution cycles into future sourcing, contracting standards, SLAs, and governance frameworks.

• Identify, drive, and implement continuous process improvement and digitization initiatives related to contract governance and lifecycle management.

ESG, Governance & Cross‑Functional Collaboration:

• Monitor and manage ESG‑related contractual obligations, screening requirements, and improvement plans in collaboration with Sourcing, Ocean Fulfillment, and Sustainable Procurement teams, ensuring contractual enforceability and compliance.

• Ensure contract governance supports audit, regulatory, and compliance expectations across the region.

• Foster strong cross‑functional collaboration to drive a consistent and disciplined approach to post‑execution contract management.

Regional & Functional Leadership:

• Maintain full responsibility for managing executed contracts in the individual’s assigned region across all three verticals, ensuring consistent legal interpretation and application.

• Act as the IMEA functional lead for Contract Governance & Lifecycle Excellence, defining legally aligned standards and supporting adoption across IMEA region.

• Collaborate closely with global transformation and process excellence teams to drive a One Procurement Maersk mindset.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

Someone with:

• At least 8 years of experience in contract management, commercial governance, or in‑house legal/procurement roles, with strong post‑execution focus.

• Demonstrated expertise in contract interpretation, lifecycle governance, compliance, and risk management.

• Strong understanding of procurement, sourcing, P2P, and financial controls, including rate logic and invoicing mechanisms.

• Proven ability to translate legal language into operationally and system‑executable requirements.

• Experience operating within structured governance frameworks, authority matrices, and audit environments.

• Strong stakeholder influence across Operations, Finance, Legal, Procurement, and senior leadership.

• High standards of accuracy, judgement, and ethical decision‑making.

Preferred:

• Formal legal qualification (Law degree or equivalent).

• Prior experience in shipping, logistics, ports, terminals, or infrastructure‑heavy industries.

• Exposure to CLM tools, contract repositories, rate management systems, and regulatory audits.

• Experience supporting regional or global governance transformations.

• Familiarity with ESG contractual frameworks and supplier compliance programs.

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Maersk is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace, and we embrace different styles of thinking. Maersk is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applicants without regard to race, colour, gender, sex, age, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy or parental leave, veteran status, gender identity, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with all legal requirements.

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