Associate General Counsel

Gulf Coast Blood•Houston, TX

About The Position

The Associate General Counsel (“AGC”) serves as a key member of the OGC and provides strategic and operational legal support across the organization. This role reports directly to the General Counsel and has broad responsibility for legal, regulatory, risk management, and compliance matters. The AGC partners closely with executive leadership, operations, People & Culture, Medical Services, Quality, IT, and Business Development teams to ensure legal compliance while supporting the organization’s mission to safely collect, process, and distribute blood and related products. The AGC also serves as key resource in IP-related matters.

Requirements

Juris Doctor (J.D.) from an accredited law school.
Active Texas law license in good standing.
Minimum five (4) years of relevant legal experience in healthcare, life sciences, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, or other regulated healthcare environments.
Strong contract drafting and negotiation skills, with some IP experience.
Experience working directly with business leaders and cross-functional teams.
Strategic thinker with strong business acumen.
Ability to translate complex regulatory requirements into practical guidance.
Strong risk assessment and judgment skills.
Excellent written and verbal communication.
High integrity and discretion.
Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities in a dynamic environment.
Collaborative leadership style.

Nice To Haves

Experience in blood banking, biologics, laboratory medicine, or regulated biologic manufacturing.
Robust intellectual property experience, particularly patents.
In-house legal experience.
Experience supporting nonprofit or mission-driven organizations.
Experience managing outside counsel.

Responsibilities

Provide legal guidance regarding federal and state healthcare laws and regulations, including FDA regulations applicable to biologics and blood establishments; HIPAA privacy and security requirements; and CLIA and laboratory regulatory frameworks.
Advise on quality systems, inspections, and regulatory audits.
Partner with Quality and executive leadership to assess and mitigate regulatory risk.
Support internal investigations and corrective action initiatives.
Assist the General Counsel with board and committee matters, including governance documentation.
Draft and review corporate policies and procedures.
Support mergers, affiliations, joint ventures, and strategic partnerships.
Draft, review, and negotiate contracts, including hospital agreements, vendor and supplier contracts, clinical trial and research agreements, and IT and data management agreements.
Advise on contract risk allocation, indemnification, insurance, and limitation of liability provisions.
Identify enterprise legal risks and help develop mitigation strategies.
Oversee claims management and coordinate with outside counsel on litigation matters.
Advise on insurance coverage and risk transfer strategies.
Assist in business continuity and crisis response planning.
Support patent strategy related to laboratory innovations, devices, biologics processes, or proprietary technologies.
Coordinate with outside IP counsel on patent prosecution and portfolio management.
Advise on trade secret protection, licensing agreements, technology transfer, and freedom-to-operate analyses.
Support research and development initiatives from a legal perspective.
Advise People & Culture on employment law compliance, investigations, and disciplinary matters.
Assist with workforce risk management in a regulated healthcare environment.
Advise on data governance, cybersecurity, and health data use.
Support compliance with evolving AI and digital health regulatory considerations.
Review software licensing and SaaS agreements.