Director, Contracts and Lead Counsel

ACT Education•Iowa City, IA

1d•Remote

About The Position

ACT is seeking a highly accomplished attorney with extensive leadership experience to serve as Director, Contracts and Lead Counsel. This high visibility strategic leadership role is responsible for overseeing the company's end-to-end contract function and providing expert legal guidance across commercial transactions, risk management, and regulatory compliance. The ideal candidate combines deep contract law expertise with strong business acumen, extraordinary leadership skills and a demonstrable track record of serving as a trusted advisor to senior leadership and individuals across organizations.

Requirements

A minimum of seven years of experience as an attorney in a law firm or corporate legal department that includes providing commercial contract management services.
Significant experience in partnering with business clients and cross-functional teams and leading strategic projects and initiatives.
Proven track record drafting and negotiating complex commercial, and/or licensing agreements.
Extensive experience managing and growing a contracts or legal team.
Highly self-motivated and able to work independently with minimal supervision.
Possess strong analytical, drafting, and negotiation skills, as well as excellent oral and written communication skills and judgment.
Strong cross-functional stakeholder management skills.
Able to think creatively to find practical solutions to complex issues.
Organized and detail oriented.
Demonstrated experience managing multiple matters and projects, meeting deadlines and working effectively individually and as part of a team in a dynamic, fast-paced, challenging environment.
Sophisticated interpersonal skills, including the ability to develop strong internal relationships, influence others, and work as part of cross-functional teams and in partnership with team members at all levels of the organization.
Maintain a high level of confidentiality regarding corporate information.
Juris Doctor degree from ABA-accredited law school.
Active bar membership in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
Or an equivalent combination of education and experience from which comparable knowledge and abilities can be acquired.

Nice To Haves

Experience working in a corporate legal department.
Experience with contract lifecycle management platforms (e.g., Ironclad, Icertis, DocuSign CLM).
Familiarity with data privacy law (GDPR, CCPA) and IP licensing.

Responsibilities

Provide leadership for the company’s contract services team.
Perform quality control function of the substantive services provided by the Contract Services team to ensure accuracy of deliverables created for the internal customer.
Draft contracts for specific transactions for which no customer templates exist; this involves working closely with business areas to understand the transaction.
Review, analyze, and negotiate governmental procurement and complex contracts.
Create, update, or monitor Contract Services process and training documents.
Monitor and facilitate the management of the contracts repository, reporting, and related databases.
Facilitate the implementation of a technological solution to increase team efficiency and accuracy in the review and execution of contracts.
Provide senior attorney guidance to Contract Services team, including personnel management responsibilities.
Take a leadership role in addressing other internal customer issues that arise within the Contract Services area of responsibility.