Strategic Negotiator

Who we are.

We are a team of passionate experts with a clear ambition: applying digital technology to advance what matters for our clients and society.

Together we create reliable and responsive digital foundations for the world’s businesses, institutions, and communities.

Learn more on Advancing what matters

Job in a nutshell:

The Strategic Negotiator – Senior Manager/Director rank, leads the client negotiations for the most strategic, complex, and largest pursuits (i.e., Atos level 1, level 2 and complex1 deals) globally and across the Atos portfolio for all key deal phases, up until close and including handover to the account team. The negotiator is a client facing, multi-disciplinary expert role and works in close tandem with the Deal Maker (the sales lead), who is ultimately responsible for and owns the deal and is part of the core deal team.

What will you be doing:

The main responsibilities of this position are (the below responsibilities/accountabilities may vary depending on deal scope on a case-by-case basis):

• A proven ability to collaborate effectively with all core deal team members (Deal Maker, Deal Lawyer, Bid Director, Solution Director, Engagement Lead etc.) on all aspects of the planning and execution of the negotiation strategy and contract,

• Provide leadership and ownership for the development and execution of the negotiation strategy and plan, including direct negotiations with clients. The negotiation strategy should be developed immediately following and back-to-back with the overall deal strategy and solution strategy (typically with a negotiation strategy workshop) and maintained and kept up to date throughout the pursuit life cycle,

• Together with the Bid Director, ensure that all relevant functions are represented on the deal team (e.g. transfers of staff and assets, which may occur as matters of law and regulation) and the relevant functions (HR, Finance, Procurement) then need to be represented on the deal team even if the draft contract states that such transfers are out of scope),

• Review contract documents provided by the client and/or advisor end-to-end to check for completeness and gaps, alignment with RFP requirements, consistency between contractual documents, alignment with Atos intended solution and commercial approach etc. Based on this assessment, define a response (mark-up) strategy, and implement the necessary redrafting, markup-up and otherwise for the response to the customer,

• Ensure, together with the Bid Director, that ownership of all contract documents is correctly assigned to the relevant deal team members, e.g. the SOW(s) to the Solution Manager, the Financial Schedule and Price Book to the Financial Architect, and that instructions are clear in terms of actions required related to such documents and support deal team members wrt such actions and documents,

• In consideration of the above, support as required deal team streams in terms of contractual redrafting of their respective contractual documents (e.g., the Deal Lawyer/MSA, the Financial Architect/Financial Schedule, Price Book and FRM, the Solution Manger/SOW(s)) to ensure consistency and that effective contractual mitigation is implemented,

• Make sure that Atos contract templates (Atos Model Contracts, model clauses and iBid SOW(s)) are used proactively whenever possible,

• Establish the negotiation bandwidth with relevant stakeholders and approvers and, together with the Deal Maker, consult and update these stakeholders and approvers throughout the pursuit life cycle (also outside formal reviews as required) to ensure an efficient and transparent pursuit process,

• Ensure, together with the Bid Director and Deal Lawyer in particular, that stakeholders and approvers have transparent access to all the relevant information to allow them to make informed decisions,

• Lead the client facing negotiations (typically face-to-face, on-site) in tandem with the Deal Maker and with the participation of the Deal Lawyer and other core deal team members as required,

• Support the Deal Lawyer to ensure that Key Contracting Principles (KCP’s) are adhered to and that, if applicable, deviation approvals are provided, and that effective alternative contractual mitigation is implemented (the Deal Lawyer is responsible to report on KCP compliance in internal reviews),

• Support preparations for and participate in formal deal reviews and provide clarity to stakeholders and approvers, in particular in relation to contractual matters and effectiveness (or lack thereof) of contractual risk mitigation and key issues,

• Ensure that the contract is comprehensive (no gaps) and that aspects critical to Atos and the successful delivery of the services are included in the contract (e.g., price structure, scope relevant provisions, client obligations, PCV),

• Ensure, where applicable, that back-to-back considerations (flow-downs and flow-ups) are reflected in the client contract as well as underlying subcontractor agreements (in collaboration with other relevant core deal team members and the Procurement function as applicable),

• Proactively develop alternative solutions and fallback positions for all relevant contractual aspects and seek the relevant approvals for such as required,

• Proactively consult and coach the core deal team regarding contracting best practices, alternative solutions, and commercial models (and consider lessons learned) including how and when they could/should be introduced to the client and promote them to the client to help ensure a robust and mutual beneficial contractual outcome of negotiations,

• Consult, coach, and collaborate with core deal team stream leads, in collaboration with the Bid Director in particular, to ensure that (across the board, MSA to SOW(s)):

 The contractual documents of each stream are aligned and comprehensive (complete, that items do not fall between the chairs, remove redundant parts, avoid

Experience:

• 10+ years management consulting experience and/or complex deal shaping/negotiations for business, managed services or IT transformation and strategic sourcing,
• 10+ years of experience leading and/or negotiating multi-geography strategic and commercially complex pursuits, working in a delivery environment with multiple resourcing capabilities (e.g. onshore, nearshore, offshore, consulting, strategy),
• Full pursuit life-cycle experience from opportunity identification through to contract close and handover,
• Mastery experience and proficiency in contract drafting and understanding of dependencies and how the dots are connected in IT industry contracts - MSA to SOW(s),
• Preferred working knowledge of delivery, finance, staff transfer, risk, compliance and tax processes,
• Preferred execution experience in strategic business and IT transformation, managed services, sourcing models, advisor processes.

Rewards and benefits:

• Join the ranks in groundbreaking digital projects, where you will craft the future of technology and positively impact our clients and society.
• Wellbeing programs & work-life balance - integration and passion sharing events.
• Opportunities for professional growth and career advancement.
• Remote and hybrid working possibilities.
• Benefits platform –culture, shopping, sport, etc.
• Continuous learning programs and online courses.
• Possibility to participate to charity and eco initiatives.

If you're ready to embark on this exciting adventure with us, sign in on jobs.atos.net.

For any questions, please contact our recruiter Shanna Goodman shanna.goodman@atos.net

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannagoodman/

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