How CLM can propel your career to new heights

An astronaut, a chef, or maybe even the sixth member of the Spice Girls! Do you remember your answer to the age-old question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” 

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” often garners the same answers. Big “name brand” jobs like doctor, veterinarian, teacher, professional athlete, rockstar, maybe a lawyer? Now that we’re all grown up, we can see the volume of jobs that are out there in the world.

For example, while “lawyer” might be a popular answer for children around the globe, all the roles, responsibilities, and jobs available in the legal profession might surprise a young mind. Even further, how you get there and what you can do with the job itself changes – and technology like Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) software can help you get ahead.  

How CLM enhances career advancement  

To start, contract data is impossible to organize, standardize, and leverage without an end-to-end process established. Enter: CLM software. Teams that use CLM to standardize both their processes and data can leverage this tech for individual and organization-wide growth.  

Implementing CLM software automates those manual, tedious steps in your contracting process, empowering users to focus on meaningful, actionable tasks. With this increased productivity, users can take time to analyze contract data to enact strategic change across the organization. For example, with Agiloft’s no-code interface, users can implement rules, workflows, and AI-powered contracting processes without the help of an IT or professional services resource.  

With contract-specific and generic technology administration skills, career paths for contract managers, procurement specialists, sales operations, and more, are endless.  

Success stories: How CLM advances careers 

Don’t take our word for it – Agiloft users are already taking advantage of CLM software to advance their careers.  

Mona Stone, EVP, CAO, and CLO at Goodwill of Central & Northern Arizona, and COO and CLO at Thrive Services Group attributes her impressive career to her advanced knowledge of CLM and administrative contract practices, saying: “I never would have imagined when I was in private practice being able to build the skill set and really expand not only my legal skills but my business acumen and business leadership skills. For anybody who wants to be seen more as wearing that legal hat, raise your hand.” 

Laurie Longo started her career as an admin at Educational Testing Services (ETS) in the early 2000s and held many roles until she started as a new contract manager in 2020. Being brand new to contract management, Laurie decided to dive in headfirst, volunteering to lead the contracting team in their CLM implementation with their new partner, Agiloft. Laurie led the team in a successful CLM implementation, with the broader organizational impact being recognized immediately. The project was so successful that Laurie leveraged that experience to move beyond contract management, and even CLM administration, to becoming responsible for how all of ETS’ external technology is being used to its full potential, as the team’s Operations Strategic Planning Director. 

Starting your legal career 

Let’s look at some of those supporting roles, their responsibilities, and how they help the larger organization. 

Legal operations manager/analyst: The legal operations manager is responsible for streamlining the overall legal workflow and process. Legal operations professionals often implement and manage legal tech like CLM tools, platforms overseeing the budget and analyzing data to optimize the overall performance of the legal team.    

Contract manager/administrator: The contract managers on your legal team are responsible for drafting, reviewing, and ultimately managing contracts throughout their lifecycle. Often most successful when leveraging CLM software, they maintain the contract database and track key deadlines, ensuring compliance with both company policies and legal standards, and they’re the connection to the rest of the organization on contract data and performance.  

Compliance officer/specialist: Compliance specialists focus on both regulatory and ethical compliance policies, conducting audits, and conducting assessments for risk. These roles can sit within the legal department or other parts of the organization but work closely with contracts and contract details. 

Cross-functional partners: Beyond those sitting directly in the legal department, there are several different roles across the organization that rely on contract details for success in their daily responsibilities like Vendor Relationship Managers and other procurement professionals, Sales Operations professionals, Finance professionals, Accounts Payable (AP) professionals, and more.  

Exploring these responsibilities makes one thing clear – contracts, the details within them, and the importance and impact that contract data can have on the broader organization stretches beyond the confines of Legal. With the untapped potential of contract information, those who work closely with these documents can think not only how this information can affect their company – but how perfecting the analysis and strategic use of contract information can affect their individual career journey? 

Conclusion 

Whether you’re looking to learn more about the art of project management, building new processes, analyzing data, or the overall strategic impact that technology can have on your company and your career, it’s clear that getting closer with your CLM is a smart move – for both you and your organization. See why Agiloft CEO Eric Laughlin thinks the role of CLM admins is on the rise in 2025 – who knows, maybe you’ll have another chance to answer the question – what do you want to be when you grow up?