Paralegal/Contracts Manager

Key Responsibilities:

• Provides support to the Legal Department in managing all legal contract processes and legal matters pertaining to the U.S. organization.
• Manages the overall contract process from request to execution and provides advice and guidance to internal clients regarding contract requests.
• Serves as point of contact for the legal contract process.
• Reviews and revises a high volume of contracts and ensures adherence to company policies and procedures, company standards and other requirements, and conformance to master agreements and HTU templates.
• Reviews appropriate terms and conditions, coordinating with internal legal counsel and business units, for acceptance of any non-standard agreement terms where necessary.
• Organizes and analyzes information and cross-checks and validates information relating to contracts and other legal matters.
• Prepares correspondence, proofreads and edits legal forms and documents for accuracy.
• Implements and maintains electronic management systems for contracts to track progression of agreements and manage deadlines.
• Coordinates and expedites the review and execution of legal documents with Helsinn Group Legal.
• Responsible for ongoing implementation of technical and procedural improvements to contract life cycle management.
• Assists the Finance department in tracking payment of invoices vs. contract terms and tracks external legal fees for payment.
• Assists VP, Legal in updating appropriate HTU SOPs and providing training.
• Builds and manages relationships with HTU’s internal stakeholders and business partners as well as relevant third-party vendors/business partners.
• Identifies and escalates issues and risks, current and potential, to the internal client/or VP Legal.
• Supports administrative needs of the department, such as invoice processing, expense reporting and other requests, as needed.
• In collaboration with Compliance Department, assists with third party due diligence and HCP needs assistance.
• Performs project administration and other responsibilities as directed.
• Performs additional duties as assigned.
• Incumbent will work closely with all HTU departments and will collaborate with Helsinn Group Legal at HHC in Lugano.
• Build excellent inter and intra department relationships within Helsinn, in addition to working effectively with outside counsel, vendors and other third parties.

Required Experience:

• 7 years of either paralegal or legal department administrative experience, including 3 years of in-house experience in a pharmaceutical, biotech or life sciences company.
• Experience in implementation and integration of electronic contract managements systems.
• Knowledge of contract structure and ability to identify specific provisions contained within contract, with ability to read and analyze legal documents.
• Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.
• Ability to produce high quality work and with great attention to detail and accuracy, strong proofreading skills.
• Ability to demonstrate creativity, critical thinking, initiative, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work quickly, efficiently, and calmly in a high-volume, high-demand environment.
• Discretion in handling sensitive and confidential information.
• Excellent professional ethics, integrity, and judgment.
• Ability to work accurately, follow instructions precisely and handle multiple priorities efficiently and effectively.
• Self-motivated with excellent interpersonal and communications skills, including tact, diplomacy, and flexibility.
• Ability to function independently as well as have effective interactions with team members.
• Strong computer literacy (including Microsoft Office) and ability to learn specialized computer programs
• Strong project management skills.

• Knowledge of or experience in the Pharmaceutical or Biotech industry highly desired.
• Ability to work in an international environment, with experience in a multinational corporation preferred.
• U.S. Paralegal certification is highly desired.