Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Hobbies and Interests
References
Timeline
Generic

Basit Zafar

New York,NY

Summary

Seasoned Senior Contracts Manager with demonstrated background in managing complex contract portfolios. Strong negotiation skills, combined with deep understanding of legal requirements and risk management principles, have led to successful vendor relationships and contract compliance. Known for strategic insights and ability to drive process improvements, resulting in enhanced operational efficiency and cost reductions.

Overview

7
7
years of professional experience

Work History

Senior Contract Manager

Atos
09.2021 - Current
  • Managed high-value contracts for key strategic accounts exceeding $800M, across health, utility, and consumer goods sectors, ensuring consistent value delivery and compliance.
  • Negotiated complex contract terms as a trusted advisor to the executive team, ensuring awareness and adherence to contract management processes across cross-functional teams.
  • Drafted and reviewed complex Statements of Work (SOWs), Amendments, and Change Requests for major IT transformation and SaaS projects, collaborating with global delivery and service teams to ensure clear scope definition.
  • Supported business transformation by proactively assessing customer needs and adjusting contract terms to align with evolving requirements, driving contract-related revenue growth.
  • Developed and executed negotiation strategies to resolve commercial and contractual challenges, ensuring alignment with organizational objectives.
  • Optimized contracts by identifying opportunities within underutilized clauses, leading to incremental profit and improved profit margins; successfully negotiated unit cost increases following a detailed analysis of contract terms.
  • Fostered strong relationships with key stakeholders, negotiating revenue opportunities and resolving issues; for example, successfully secured inflation-based revenue increases despite contract restrictions.
  • Led negotiations to ensure supplier and client compliance with company policies, mitigating risks, including managing supplier adherence to contract flow-downs to safeguard business interests.
  • Ensured accurate documentation and monitoring of contract changes (Amendments, SOWs, and Change Requests), tracking performance and ensuring contractual obligations were met.
  • Provided expert guidance on contractual interpretation, acting as the primary point of contact for dispute resolution.
  • Streamlined internal processes, including optimizing the Request for Service (RFS) process, enhancing response times and accuracy of information.
  • Led training initiatives for junior staff, improving team performance, contract utilization, and fostering a culture of continuous learning.

Contract & Commercial Manager

BT Global
12.2019 - 09.2021
  • Led new business development, contract management, financial performance, and service delivery for a top 5 account (International Airlines Group - IAG), driving growth and ensuring seamless service execution.
  • Managed contract P&L for data network and data centre services with a revenue responsibility of £250M, identifying and mitigating commercial risks in collaboration with delivery teams.
  • Owned month-end reporting for all projects, including revenue and profit forecasting, identifying risks and opportunities to ensure financial objectives were met across active and pipeline projects.
  • Engaged with clients to understand long-term IT strategies, identifying and capitalizing on opportunities for new business; notably, collaborated with IAG to replace a costly global network with an SD WAN solution and upgrade end-of-life equipment at core sites.
  • Spearheaded initiatives to improve forecasting accuracy and P&L management, creating automated forecasting tools using advanced Excel functions (VLOOKUPs, Index Match, and IF statements), streamlining reporting processes.
  • Drove cost reduction strategies, collaborating with internal teams and external suppliers to negotiate contract renewals, rationalize network services, and replace legacy solutions, contributing to significant savings.
  • Led dispute resolution and contract negotiations, interpreting and ensuring adherence to contractual obligations between clients and suppliers, maintaining strong, positive relationships.
  • Drafted and signed off all contractual documents for new projects, work packages, and change controls, ensuring compliance with contractual terms and project scope.
  • Optimized internal processes for project initiation, contractual sign-off, service delivery, and billing, enhancing the quality and efficiency of managed services provided to clients.
  • Managed and mentored offshore and onshore teams for project management, billing, and service request management, fostering a high-performance culture focused on continuous improvement.

Project Manager

BT
09.2017 - 12.2019
  • Led project and program management for large multinational clients and Communication Providers (CPs), ensuring successful delivery of key metrics including time, cost, quality, and scope.
  • Developed business cases for high-value projects (>£2M), conducting impact assessments, feasibility studies, and creating Statements of Work (SoWs) to drive project success.
  • Managed large-scale network transformation projects, including the decommissioning of an MSAN platform and the migration of 30,000+ circuits to a new infrastructure, ensuring seamless transitions.
  • Led Next Generation Voice transformation, overseeing the migration of 250,000+ PSTN lines to a modern VoIP system, improving operational efficiency and client satisfaction.
  • Effectively managed project budgets ranging from £2M to £30M, consistently identifying opportunities for incremental revenue growth and cost-saving initiatives within existing projects.
  • Utilized process mapping and Agile/Lean methodologies to improve performance and eliminate non-value-added activities (NVA), such as creating a new service process for BT Enterprise's Managed Install service.
  • Managed key stakeholder relationships, providing clear communication, reporting, and expectation management, while applying the “management by exception” principle for escalations.
  • Ensured diligent change control and proactive risk management, preventing scope creep and mitigating delays to maintain project timelines and compliance.
  • Created innovative MS Excel solutions for project tracking and reporting, including the development of dashboards and customized reports for director-level stakeholders to monitor KPIs (time, cost, quality).

Education

Bachelor of Arts - Business Management

University of Westminster
London
06-2017

Skills

  • Contract Negotiation
  • C Level Engagement
  • Prince 2 Foundation and Practitioner
  • MS Excel
  • Commercial Management
  • P & L Management
  • Ethernet Delivery
  • SD - WAN
  • New Business Development
  • Profit Protection Plans
  • Cyber Security
  • Account Management
  • Process Mapping / Improvement
  • Critical Thinking / Analysis
  • Change Control / Scope Management
  • Cloud Compute
  • Risk Management
  • Contract Management
  • Dispute Resolution Resolution
  • Contract Drafting
  • Legal Compliance

Hobbies and Interests

  • Challenge Cup BT Enterprise, Team leader of an initiative that wanted to increase volunteering participation within BT by creating an App to drive engagement.
  • Student Ambassador, University of Westminster, Selected to promote the University of Westminster and Higher Education to external and internal clients.

References

References available upon request.

Timeline

Senior Contract Manager

Atos
09.2021 - Current

Contract & Commercial Manager

BT Global
12.2019 - 09.2021

Project Manager

BT
09.2017 - 12.2019

Bachelor of Arts - Business Management

University of Westminster

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Basit Zafar