Director of Legal, North America
About The Position
The Director of Legal, North America is responsible for providing comprehensive legal support and guidance across the North American region, with primary responsibility for the United States and additional oversight of legal matters involving Mexico and Canada. This position serves as a key legal business partner to the President, Americas and works closely with the Group General Counsel to provide practical, commercially focused legal advice. The Director will manage a broad range of legal matters, with particular emphasis on litigation and commercial contracts, while also supporting corporate governance, employment law, compliance, and mergers and acquisitions. This is a high-impact leadership opportunity for an experienced legal professional seeking to expand their scope and develop into a broader senior leadership role. The position will have the opportunity to work on regional and global initiatives and will build and develop the North American legal support team over time.
Requirements
- Active admission to a U.S. state Bar; Bar admission is required.
- Approximately 5–7 years of relevant legal experience.
- Demonstrated experience with litigation and commercial contracts.
- Strong legal research, analysis, negotiation, drafting, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to independently manage multiple legal matters and priorities.
- Strong business judgment and ability to provide practical, commercially focused legal advice.
- Ability to work effectively with senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders.
Nice To Haves
- In-house legal experience.
- Experience or exposure to corporate legal matters, compliance, employment/labor law, or mergers and acquisitions.
- Experience supporting a manufacturing or commercial business environment.
- Experience working across multiple jurisdictions or regions.
Responsibilities
- Manage and actively handle litigation and dispute-related matters across North America.
- Develop and execute litigation strategies in partnership with business leaders and the Group General Counsel.
- Select, direct, and manage outside counsel as appropriate.
- Monitor litigation deadlines, discovery requirements, litigation holds, and related legal obligations.
- Provide practical legal guidance to business leaders regarding potential disputes and risk mitigation.
- Draft, review, negotiate, and manage commercial agreements throughout the contract lifecycle.
- Provide legal guidance on commercial transactions and business arrangements.
- Partner with internal stakeholders to identify and mitigate contractual and business risks.
- Support contract templates and contract lifecycle management processes.
- Manage legal entity matters for North American companies.
- Support corporate governance requirements, including board matters, corporate records, minute books, and statutory filings.
- Ensure appropriate maintenance of legal entity documentation and related obligations.
- Provide legal guidance on routine employment and labor matters, primarily supporting U.S. operations.
- Support matters involving employment law issues in jurisdictions including Tennessee, California, and Colorado.
- Partner with Human Resources and business leaders on employment-related legal matters.
- Coordinate with external counsel on complex employment or labor matters when appropriate.
- Coordinate and implement the North American compliance program in partnership with the Group Head of Compliance.
- Provide legal and compliance guidance to regional business leaders.
- Support the implementation and ongoing administration of compliance initiatives across North America.
- Support mergers, acquisitions, and other strategic transactions as they arise.
- Work under the leadership of the Group General Counsel on transaction-related legal matters.
- Coordinate operational legal activities associated with M&A transactions and support appropriate due diligence and execution.
- Build and develop the North American legal team as the function grows.
- Initially lead and develop a paralegal with a broad/general and litigation focus.
- Support the addition and development of a second paralegal with a commercial/corporate focus as business needs warrant.
- Foster a collaborative, service-oriented legal team that effectively partners with the business.
- Occasional participation in global legal projects and initiatives.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
Education Level
No Education Listed
