Deputy General Counsel (Procurement)

Ferrovial•Austin, TX

5d•Onsite

About The Position

Based in Austin, Texas, the Deputy General Counsel, Procurement provides senior legal leadership for procurement and pursuit of complex transportation and infrastructure projects, particularly projects for state departments of transportation, other public agencies, and private-sector owners. The role acts as a strategic business partner during the front end of project delivery, advising on procurement strategy, proposal development, joint venture and teaming structures, risk allocation, subcontracting approaches, and commercial negotiations from pursuit through contract award. The position works closely with business development, estimating, procurement, operations, and executive leadership to structure and negotiate joint venture agreements, teaming arrangements, major subcontracts, supplier agreements, professional services agreements, and other procurement-related documents. It requires a deep understanding of public procurement requirements and delivery models, and responsibility for aligning owner solicitation requirements, pursuit commitments, joint venture arrangements, and downstream procurement strategies. The role also supports the transition from procurement to project execution, procurement-related disputes and investigations, compliance, process improvement, and risk management across the organization. Periodic travel may be required to public agencies, private-sector owners, and other locations as business needs require.

Requirements

Practical, responsive, detail-oriented, and able to independently manage multiple high-value procurements and competing deadlines.
Strong business judgment and negotiation skills, with the ability to translate complex owner and joint venture requirements into practical procurement guidance.
Strong understanding of public-contract flow-down requirements and construction risk allocation, including payment, schedule, changes, claims, indemnity, insurance, bonding, guarantees, warranties, audit, records, compliance, and dispute resolution.
Demonstrated experience drafting and negotiating joint venture agreements, teaming agreements, governance arrangements, subcontracts, purchase agreements, design or professional services agreements, and other complex project procurement documents.
Ability to travel periodically to state departments of transportation, other public agencies, private-sector owners, and other locations as business needs require.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with federal or state funding requirements, Buy America requirements, disadvantaged-business-enterprise commitments, prevailing-wage requirements, and public-procurement compliance.
Experience working with joint venture boards, management committees, project executives, procurement personnel, and cross-functional corporate teams.
Active membership in at least one U.S. state bar.
Direct experience supporting state departments of transportation, other public agencies, and private-sector owners.
Significant joint venture, consortium, or teaming-agreement experience.
15+ years of legal experience, including substantial experience with procurement and contract matters for transportation, heavy civil, infrastructure, engineering, or similarly complex project-based businesses.

Responsibilities

Serve as senior legal adviser to business development, estimating, procurement, and project leadership during pursuits and procurements.
Advise on commercial strategy, risk allocation, procurement structures, and contracting approaches for major transportation and infrastructure opportunities, and communicate significant risks and recommendations to executive leadership.
Lead legal support for procurements involving state departments of transportation, other public agencies, and private-sector owners, including RFQs, RFPs, alternative delivery procurements, best-value competitions, and predevelopment agreements.
Advise on owner requirements, procurement restrictions, certifications, approvals, records obligations, audit rights, and project-specific procurement procedures.
Provide legal support throughout the pursuit lifecycle, including proposal compliance reviews, bidder exceptions, clarifications, alternative technical concepts, procurement communications, risk assessments, award recommendations, and contract-award negotiations.
Structure, draft, review, and negotiate joint venture agreements, LLC agreements, teaming agreements, memoranda of understanding, governance arrangements, delegated authority, deadlock mechanisms, funding commitments, guarantees, indemnities, defaults, exits, and dispute-resolution provisions.
Identify material commercial, contractual, and procurement risks and develop practical mitigation strategies; guide matters through project, joint venture, and corporate approval processes.
Analyze owner contracts, procurement documents, and pursuit commitments, translating applicable requirements into joint venture structures, procurement strategies, and downstream agreements.
Ensure alignment of schedule, payment, change, claims, audit, safety, quality, environmental, Buy America, disadvantaged-business-enterprise, prevailing-wage, insurance, bonding, warranty, indemnity, and dispute-resolution obligations.
Develop procurement strategies and lead preparation, review, and negotiation of major subcontracts, purchase and supply agreements, professional-services agreements, equipment agreements, and other critical commercial arrangements.
Advise on agreements with designers, engineers, consultants, and other professional service providers, including scope coordination, standard of care, professional liability, intellectual property, deliverables, licensing, reliance, and interface risk.
Support compliance with public-procurement laws, ethics and conflicts-of-interest requirements, anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws, lobbying restrictions, sanctions, third-party diligence, DBE commitments, prevailing-wage requirements, and applicable federal and state funding obligations.
Collaborate with Insurance, Surety, Finance, and project teams to evaluate and structure bonding requirements, parent guarantees, letters of credit, insurance programs, subcontractor default insurance, and other security arrangements.
Develop and maintain procurement templates, clause libraries, playbooks, approval tools, flow-down matrices, training materials, and best practices to improve procurement efficiency, consistency, speed, and risk management.
Support transition from procurement to project execution by advising on notices, change management, payment provisions, schedule impacts, defaults, terminations, records preservation, and contract administration, with a focus on early issue resolution and protecting contractual rights.
Support procurement-related disputes and investigations, including subcontractor, supplier, consultant, joint venture, bid protest, and public-contract matters; assist with strategy, document preservation, factual investigations, privilege considerations, and outside counsel management.