Contracts Specialist

Join us as a Contracts Specialist and play a key role in supporting Food Safety and Biosecurity

At Fera, we're looking for a Contracts Specialist to join our Contracts, Legal & Compliance team. Acting as a trusted business partner, you'll provide practical and commercially focused contract management support that helps drive strategic growth, enables new business opportunities, and safeguards organisational interests. This is an exciting opportunity to work across a diverse portfolio of commercial, supplier, research and partnership agreements, while contributing to strategic initiatives, including corporate transactions, investments and mergers & acquisitions. You'll collaborate with colleagues across the business, building strong relationships and helping ensure that contractual risk, governance and compliance are effectively managed. If you're looking for a role that combines commercial impact, professional growth and meaningful work, we'd love to hear from you.

What you'll be doing:

• Support the Head of Contracts, Legal & Compliance and Contracts Manager in delivering a high-quality, commercially focused contract management service.
• Draft, review and negotiate a wide range of commercial agreements, including customer, supplier, collaboration, research and confidentiality agreements.
• Provide contractual support for bids, proposals, strategic partnerships and new business opportunities.
• Manage contracts throughout their full lifecycle, including negotiation, execution, amendments, renewals, extensions and close-out.
• Provide practical contractual advice and guidance to stakeholders, supporting informed decision-making and effective risk management.
• Support strategic projects, including partnerships, investments, mergers & acquisitions and other corporate initiatives.
• Conduct contractual due diligence, identify key risks and support transaction delivery where required.
• Identify, assess and manage contractual risks, escalating complex or high-risk matters when appropriate.
• Ensure compliance with Fera's governance framework, delegated authorities, legal obligations and regulatory requirements.
• Maintain accurate contract records and support reporting, audits, compliance monitoring and process improvement initiatives.
• Contribute to the ongoing development of contract management processes, governance controls and standard template documentation.

What we're looking for:

• We're interested in hearing from candidates who can bring:
• Experience in contract management or a related legal, commercial or compliance role.
• Experience drafting, reviewing and negotiating commercial contracts.
• A sound understanding of contract law, contractual risk, governance and compliance principles.
• Strong commercial awareness and the ability to balance business objectives with legal and contractual considerations.
• Excellent communication, negotiation and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines.
• High attention to detail, sound judgement and a pragmatic, solution-focused approach.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications.

Desirable

• Experience supporting strategic partnerships, investments, corporate transactions or mergers & acquisitions.
• Experience working within a regulated, scientific, research or technical environment.

What’s in it for you?

• 25 days’ holiday (rising to 29) with the opportunity to buy & sell extra leave.
• Flexible working hours, on-site gym, restaurant, free parking and a discounted on-site nursery.
• The opportunity to take a paid day out of the office, volunteering for our charity partners or a cause of your choice
• Company matched pension, life assurance, a cycle2work scheme, 15 weeks’ fully paid maternity, adoption and shared parental leave, paternity pay of two weeks…and plenty more.
• Voluntary benefits designed to suit your lifestyle - from discounts on retail and socialising, to health & wellbeing, travel and technology
• Fera operates a LTIP ( Long Term Incentive Plan) under which all employees are awarded points towards shares in the Employee Benefits Trust on an annual basis. The Employee Benefits Trust holds shares on behalf of our employee, at the point of an equity event the shares will realise a cash value.

What we hope you’ll do next:

We’re an equal opportunity employer, which means we recruit and develop people based on their merit and passion.

We’re committed to providing an inclusive, barrier-free recruitment process and working environment for everyone.

If you need the job description or application form in an alternative format or if you’d like to discuss other changes or support you might need going forward, please email at recruitment@fera.co.uk and we’ll get back to you.