[Hiring] Software Licensing Subject Matter Expert @Infowaysolutions

Role Description

The Software Licensing SME will evaluate the full software and platform licensing landscape across Worldwide Clinical Trials (WWCT) as part of the Fortrea acquisition due diligence and discovery phase. This role is responsible for determining which licenses are transferable to Fortrea, which require renegotiation or renewal, which will be terminated as part of system disposition decisions, and where compliance or contractual risk exists. The SME's output feeds directly into the 180-system application inventory, tower-level disposition decisions (retain / retire / replace / consolidate), and the Wave 1 migration factory planning.

Key Responsibilities

• License Discovery & Inventory:
  • Conduct a full inventory of software licenses, subscriptions, and entitlements across all ~80 systems in the application inventory, cross-referencing against the existing tower/sub-category taxonomy (Enterprise, Data Integration & AI, Clinical, Commercial).
  • Identify license type for each application: perpetual, subscription/SaaS, usage-based, site license, named-user, concurrent-user, or embedded/OEM.
  • Confirm license ownership entity (WWCT vs. Fortrea-held) and flag ambiguous cases requiring legal or procurement verification.
  • Pay particular attention to proprietary and in-house tools (e.g., MOODS, RIVRS, SMART, ANSWRS) to confirm whether third-party components embedded within them carry separate licensing obligations.
• Assignability & Change-of-Control Review:
  • Review vendor contracts for change-of-control, assignment, and anti-assignment clauses that may block or complicate license transfer to Fortrea.
  • Flag contracts requiring vendor consent, renegotiation, or novation as a condition of transfer.
  • Identify licenses tied to entity-specific terms (e.g., named to WWCT legal entity) that will not automatically carry over post-close.
• Compliance & Risk Assessment:
  • Assess current compliance posture: are deployed instances, user counts, or usage levels within contracted entitlements?
  • Identify over-deployment, shelfware (paid-for but unused licenses), and audit exposure, particularly for GxP-relevant systems where compliance gaps carry regulatory as well as financial risk.
  • Evaluate license terms for systems flagged as rationalization candidates (functional overlap, e.g., duplicate ITSM or overlapping EDC/eCOA platforms) to inform which contract to retain.
• Renewal & Transition Planning:
  • Build a license transition roadmap identifying licenses transferring as-is, licenses requiring renewal/renegotiation before or at close, licenses to be terminated in line with system disposition decisions, and net-new licenses required for Fortrea-side tooling.
  • Flag near-term renewal or expiration dates that intersect with the 12-month integration timeline and Wave 1 move groups, to avoid lapses in coverage for systems still in active use during migration.
  • Estimate cost impact of required renewals, true-ups, or renegotiations, and highlight any opportunities for consolidated/enterprise licensing agreements post-integration.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration:
  • Work directly with the CMDB/application inventory owner to enrich the master Excel inventory with license status, transferability, and renewal-risk fields.
  • Partner with Legal/Procurement on contract review and vendor negotiations.
  • Coordinate with the cybersecurity SME workstream where license terms intersect with data processing agreements, vendor risk certifications, or third-party access rights.
  • Support executive reporting by surfacing clear decision points and cost/risk exposure for CXO-level review.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in software asset management (SAM), IT license compliance, or vendor contract management, ideally within M&A carve-out or integration contexts.
• Working knowledge of major licensing models across enterprise software categories relevant to this engagement: ERP/back-office (e.g., Workday), collaboration platforms (SharePoint), CRM/procurement (Salesforce), analytics/AI platforms, and clinical/life-sciences applications (CTMS, EDC, LIMS, eTMF).
• Experience reviewing vendor contracts for assignment, change-of-control, and termination-for-convenience provisions.
• Familiarity with life sciences / clinical trial technology vendors and GxP-relevant compliance considerations is strongly preferred, given that roughly half the WWCT portfolio is GxP-relevant.
• Proficiency with Excel-based inventory management; ability to work within an existing structured taxonomy rather than building tooling from scratch.
• Strong written communication skills; ability to translate contract and licensing detail into clear, decision-ready summaries for non-specialist and executive audiences.

Preferred Experience

• Prior involvement in a technology due diligence or post-merger integration engagement, ideally in life sciences, CRO, or pharma services.
• Experience with Software Asset Management (SAM) tools and/or ServiceNow-based CMDB environments.
• Exposure to in-house/proprietary software licensing questions (embedded open-source, OEM components, custom-built platforms).
• Certification in IT Asset Management (e.g., CSAM, CITAM) or relevant procurement/contracts credential.

Key Deliverables

• License inventory enrichment layered onto the existing 180-system application inventory (license type, ownership entity, transferability, renewal date, compliance status).
• License risk register flagging assignment/change-of-control blockers, compliance exposure, and near-term renewal deadlines.
• Transition plan mapping each license to a disposition path (transfer / renew / renegotiate / terminate / net-new), sequenced against Wave 1 and the 12-month timeline.
• Cost and risk summary for CXO-level reporting, aligned to Cognizant brand and presentation standards.

Success Criteria

• Zero unplanned license lapses or compliance gaps during migration and cutover.
• All GxP-relevant systems have a confirmed, compliant licensing path before Wave 1 migration begins.
• Clear, executive-ready visibility into license-driven cost and risk to support system disposition and rationalization decisions.