Vice President, Contracting Innovation Lead

About this role Team Overview BlackRock SMA Solutions helps clients customize portfolios for unique tax, values-alignment, or investment exposures across direct indexing, fixed income, active equity, and multi-asset. We deliver world-class service to all of our clients, from wealth advisors to family offices to endowments and foundations. About this Role   We are seeking a highly motivated professional to join our SMA & Models Contracting team and drive operational scale, process improvement, and innovation across our contracting function through automation, workflow optimization, and AI-enabled solutions. While the role will initially focus on driving innovation within the contracting space, it sits within the COO organization and offers opportunity to apply learnings more broadly across SMA Solutions and work cross-functionally to support the development and execution of an AI strategy framework for the SMA business to amplify innovation across the ecosystem. This role will focus on enhancing the end-to-end contract lifecycle by identifying opportunities to improve efficiency, reduce manual effort, streamline stakeholder interactions, and support business growth. Working closely with Sales, Operations, Legal & Compliance, and other key stakeholder teams across BlackRock, the successful candidate will lead initiatives that improve how contractual work is managed, tracked, and delivered. This is a unique opportunity to help shape the future operating model of a growing contracting organization process design, technology enablement, AI adoption, data-driven decision making, and change management.   Key Responsibilities: ·        Lead process improvement, automation, and innovation initiatives across the contract lifecycle. ·        Design and implement scalable workflow solutions that improve efficiency, consistency, and stakeholder experience. ·        Identify opportunities to reduce manual effort, eliminate bottlenecks, improve turnaround times, and increase operational scale. ·        Evaluate, develop, and deploy AI-enabled solutions, workflow automations, knowledge assistants, copilots, and other productivity tools that support contracting operations. ·        Leverage AI and emerging technologies to improve contract review, knowledge management, reporting, self-service support, and operational decision-making. ·        Partner with business and technology stakeholders to gather requirements, prioritize opportunities, and deliver practical, scalable solutions. ·        Develop reporting, dashboards, and metrics to monitor operational performance and measure business impact. ·        Create and maintain process documentation, playbooks, and training materials that promote consistency and adoption. ·        Support governance, change management, and user adoption efforts associated with new tools, processes, and ways of working. ·        Stay informed on trends and developments in AI, automation, contract lifecycle management, and legal operations, identifying opportunities to apply them within the contracting function.

Bachelor's degree or equivalent industry experience. At least 6 years of experience in contract management, legal operations, business operations, process improvement, or a related function. Demonstrated experience leading process improvement, automation, technology implementation, or operational transformation initiatives. Experience supporting contract lifecycle management processes and related business workflows. Experience with Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) platforms, preferably DocuSign CLM. Familiarity with workflow automation and low-code platforms such as Salesforce, Airtable, Microsoft Power Platform, or similar technologies. Hands-on experience leveraging AI and automation technologies to solve business problems and improve operational efficiency. Strong familiarity with