Director, Legal Affairs & Operations

Banyan Software•Toronto, ON

1d•CA$175,000 - CA$200,000•Hybrid

About The Position

This is a unique and demanding role for a commercially minded lawyer at Banyan Software, a company focused on acquiring and growing software businesses. The position serves as the primary legal resource for Banyan's portfolio of independent software businesses, acting as shared in-house counsel. Simultaneously, the role involves working directly with the General Counsel on Banyan HQ matters, including procurement, corporate governance, HQ employment, and commercial disputes. The role is primarily focused on North America but has connectivity to international teams. A key aspect of this role is its dual nature: being reactive to immediate legal problems within portfolio companies and proactive in building scalable legal infrastructure (templates, playbooks, training, systems) to empower operators. Success in this role requires the ability to context-switch quickly, operate with a light touch, and build scalable solutions, thriving in a breadth-focused, high-growth environment.

Requirements

Called to a Canadian Law Society or U.S. state bar, in good standing.
6-9+ years of experience, with meaningful in-house time at a technology or software company.
Experience operating in a lean environment, owning a broad scope, and being the primary legal voice.
Demonstrated, hands-on use of AI tools in legal practice with actual workflow integration and results.
Strong commercial judgment: ability to identify material issues, provide plain-language advice, and facilitate business progress.
Experience managing external counsel relationships, including coordinating instructions, reviewing invoices, and ensuring advice aligns with business context.
An instinct for enablement: preference for building reusable solutions over repetitive tasks.
Excellent drafting and communication skills, with the ability to write for operators.
Comfortable operating autonomously, advising senior leadership, and making decisions under ambiguity.

Nice To Haves

Experience with M&A transactions: reviewing purchase agreements, conducting due diligence, or supporting post-close integration.
Familiarity with multi-jurisdiction corporate governance and entity management across Canada, the U.S., UK, or Australia.
Prior experience in a shared services, portfolio, or multi-company legal model.

Responsibilities

Lead post-close legal onboarding for newly acquired portfolio companies, including contract review, risk identification, and alignment with Banyan standards to foster independence.
Maintain and develop a network of overflow counsel across North America to handle day-to-day legal needs for portfolio companies, ensuring quality control and adherence to Banyan standards.
Manage Intellectual Property (IP) matters for the global portfolio through external law firm relationships, coordinating filings, renewals, enforcement, and strategic IP issues.
Advise portfolio companies on commercial disputes and litigation, engaging and managing external counsel as the strategic lead.
Advise portfolio companies on high-risk employment matters, including executive contracts, complex terminations, and HR-adjacent legal issues.
Manage privacy and data incidents across the portfolio, coordinating incident response, breach notifications, and remediation with cyber insurance carriers and the information security team.
Serve as a resource for strategic legal questions across the portfolio, including real estate, product/technology, and regulatory/compliance issues.
Build and maintain a self-serve legal resource library with template contracts, negotiation playbooks, and guidance to empower operators.
Design and conduct legal education programming for portfolio company teams.
Serve as the General Counsel's primary support on strategic legal matters at the Banyan HQ level.
Support day-to-day HQ legal needs, including procurement reviews, entity governance, and escalation matters.
Advise on HQ employment matters, including complex terminations, policy questions, and workplace investigations.
Manage disputes and post-close claims arising from Banyan's acquisitions.
Engage cross-functionally with M&A, Finance, HR, and Operations teams on holding company legal matters.
Actively lead and model AI adoption across legal workflows, building AI-enabled processes to improve efficiency and scalability.
Continuously evaluate and implement legal technology tools to enhance the legal function.