At a Glance
- Tasks: Draft, review, and negotiate research contracts in a dynamic academic setting.
- Company: Join a leading higher education institution with a mission-driven culture.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, flexible work arrangements, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Fast-paced environment with strong potential for career advancement.
- Why this job: Make a real impact by managing strategic research agreements before year-end deadlines.
- Qualifications: Extensive experience in drafting and negotiating complex commercial contracts.
The predicted salary is between 41850 - 51150 $ per year.
Randstad is recruiting a proven Research Contracts Officer for a prominent higher education partner.
This role requires exceptional contractual acumen, meticulous attention to detail, and the ability to foster enduring stakeholder relationships within an agile, mission-driven academic environment.
About Your New Role
Research Contracts Officer is primarily responsible for hitting the ground running to clear a peak year-end surge of strategic research and commercial funding agreements before the Christmas deadline.
Operating with substantial autonomy, the successful candidate will draft, review, redline, and negotiate a diverse portfolio of competitive grant and commercial agreements including collaborative research arrangements, contract research, sub-contracts, Co-operative Research Centres (CRCs), Centres of Excellence, and intellectual property licensing deals.
They are tasked with managing clause-level terms, rigorously evaluating legal, financial, and operational risks (especially regarding IP rights, warranties, indemnities, and liability caps), and preparing formal risk recommendations for authorised delegates to execute agreements.
- What you will need to exceed
- Extensive experience reviewing, redlining, and drafting complex, multi-party commercial and research agreements from scratch or bespoke client templates.
- Ability to propose creative, alternative wording to unblock negotiation impasses between institutional policy requirements and commercial counterparty demands.
- Mastery of high-risk commercial clauses, including mutual vs. unilateral indemnities, liability caps/carve-outs, warranties, insurances, IP warranties, publication delays, dispute resolution, and termination for convenience/default.
- A firm grasp of how background IP, project/foreground IP, and third-party IP are allocated, licensed, or commercialised in joint ventures and collaborative research.
- Practical understanding of balancing academic publication rights and student graduation dependencies against patent filing timelines and commercial confidentiality.
- Direct familiarity with Australian research funding structures, including Australian Research Council (ARC) grant schemes, NHMRC, Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs), Centres of Excellence, and Defence/government procurement guidelines.
- Strong organisational stamina to maintain meticulous audit trails in contract management systems
- Must have
- Be available ASAP
- Must have substantial, hands-on experience reviewing, drafting, and redlining commercial contracts at the clause level (e. g., Commercial Lawyers, Contract Lawyers, or Dispute Lawyers who transitioned into commercial drafting).
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Research Contract Officer in Melbourne employer: Randstad HR Partners
At Randstad, we pride ourselves on being an exceptional employer, offering a flexible work environment that fosters collaboration and support within our dynamic Workforce Transformation team. As a People Advisor in Melbourne, you'll have the opportunity to engage in meaningful organizational change initiatives while benefiting from a culture that values diversity and promotes professional growth through hands-on HR experience and strong stakeholder engagement.
