Senior Contracts Specialist

About This Role

Nobody has written the contracts for manufacturing in orbit and returning product to Earth at hypersonic speeds. You will.

As Senior Contracts Specialist, you'll own first-of-kind agreements across microgravity pharmaceutical manufacturing, hypersonic reentry vehicles, and novel government space programs. You'll work directly with the Contracts Manager on a lean team, where one person's work visibly moves the company. When you remove a blocker, a mission moves forward. When you protect Varda's interests well, we can take on bigger bets.

You'll manage the full contract lifecycle across government and commercial customers: pre-award strategy and proposal support, negotiation, FAR/DFARS compliance, export-control management, and post-award execution and closeout. Your judgment and cross-functional communication will directly determine how fast Varda can move.

What You'll Do

• Represent Varda as the counterpart contracting officer for government and commercial missions
• Lead or support negotiations with customers, building strong working relationships while protecting the company's interests
• Clear the path to signature quickly, finding the structure that works for both sides
• Keep mission management, operations, proposals, sales, product, and leadership aligned with signed contracts and regulations
• Own compliance with the FAR, DFARS, and export-control regulations
• Run contract closeout, including final deliveries, payments, and resolving open issues
• Maintain accurate contract and business files
• Advise leadership on Varda's rights and obligations under its agreements
• Draft, review, and negotiate NDAs, customer agreements, partnership agreements, and other contracts

What You Bring

• BA/BS in law, business, finance, or a related field (equivalent professional experience considered)
• 4-6 years of hands-on contract management experience, with an emphasis on government contracts
• Experience with Firm Fixed Price (FFP) and Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreements
• Working knowledge of compliance under the FAR, DFARS, and NASA FAR Supplement (NFS)
• Experience negotiating NDAs
• A track record of making persuasive written and verbal arguments in negotiations
• The ability to juggle competing priorities and hit aggressive deadlines
• Experience with export-controlled materials under ITAR and EAR
• Willingness to travel up to 10% as needed
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret clearance
• This is a full-time, 100% on-site role in El Segundo, CA

Bonus Points

• Active Top Secret/SCI eligible clearance
• Experience structuring commercial agreements in dual-use or regulated technology environments, including IP licensing, data rights, or export-controlled deliverables
• Hands-on experience in spacecraft integration, satellite manufacturing, or GMP/regulated pharmaceutical production, where process discipline and documentation integrity are non-negotiable

Compensation

• Base salary: $155,000-$175,000 per year
• Stock options and/or long-term cash awards, so you share in what we build
• On-site in El Segundo, CA
• Leveling and base salary are determined by job-related skills, education, experience, and performance

ITAR Requirements

Varda, like all employers, must ensure that its employees working in the United States are lawfully authorized to work in the U.S. Additionally, our employees are exposed to and have access to certain export-controlled items. Because our employees are provided access to export-controlled items, our policy is to only hire "U.S. persons" who are permitted to have access to our technology without an export license.

"US person" means: U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) (i.e., individual admitted to the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum).