Research Operations Specialist – Contracts, Vendors & Spend

About the role

We are seeking an experienced Research Operations Specialist to own contracts, vendor relationships, and spend for a research team of about sixty researchers and a portfolio of fifty active agencies and tool vendors. This hands‑on individual contributor role will guide contracts from request through agreement, partner with Finance on budgets, and provide clear project visibility.

Key responsibilities

• Execute contracts end‑to‑end, guiding projects through scoping, statements of work, approvals and kickoff.
• Partner with Finance and research leads on budgeting, spend tracking, quarterly forecasts and monthly reviews.
• Manage spend requests in Zip and Oracle, including purchase orders, change orders, invoices and requisitions.
• Onboard and offboard vendors, handling questionnaires, NDAs, risk and privacy reviews, legal routing and tool integrations.
• Coordinate master service agreements, statements of work, NDAs and renewals with Legal and Procurement, adapting to international requirements.
• Maintain contract repository, retainer trackers and supplier lists, tracking renewals and supporting vendor consolidation.

Required profile

• 7+ years of experience in procurement, contract administration, or vendor operations (10+ years ideal).
• Strong contract‑reading judgment and ability to spot gaps or risks early.
• Experience with global contracting, legal, privacy and procurement variations.
• Hands‑on experience with procure‑to‑pay systems, preferably Zip and Oracle.

Required skills

• Zip
• Oracle
• Airtable (including automations)
• Salesforce
• DocuSign
• AI tool automation experience

What we offer

• Pay rate $100‑$114 per hour
• Medical, dental, vision benefits
• 401(k) retirement plan