Legal Counsel, Risk & Compliance Manager - North America

Benelux•Houston, TX

6d•Onsite

About The Position

Bureau Veritas is seeking an experienced, commercially minded Legal Counsel, Risk & Compliance Manager to support the Fuels business across the United States and Canada. Based in Houston, Texas, this role reports directly to the Vice President- General Counsel, Risk and Compliance Officer – Fuels. It provides comprehensive legal, risk, compliance, and governance support and serves as a trusted adviser to management and operational teams. The role calls for sound legal judgment, a practical and solutions-oriented approach, responsiveness, independence, strong stakeholder management, and the ability to translate complex legal and regulatory requirements into clear guidance for a fast-paced international business. The position advises on general business matters and commercial contracts; corporate governance and risk management; compliance, ethics, and regulatory matters; sanctions, export controls, and trade compliance; claims, disputes, and investigations; and employment and workplace matters. It also collaborates across business functions, manages legal matters and external advisers, supports reporting and continuous improvement, and monitors legal and regulatory developments affecting the North American business.

Requirements

Juris Doctor or equivalent law degree.
Active admission in good standing to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction, with eligibility to support matters across the United States and Canada.
7–10 years of relevant post-qualification legal experience in a reputable law firm, an in-house legal department, or a combination of both.
Substantial experience in commercial contracting, corporate and governance matters, legal risk management, and general business counseling.
Demonstrated knowledge of corporate compliance programs and regulatory requirements, including anti-bribery and anti-corruption, competition and antitrust, investigations, third-party risk, and ethics.
Practical experience advising on economic sanctions, export controls, restricted-party issues, or related trade compliance matters.
Excellent drafting, negotiation, analytical, communication, and stakeholder-management skills.
Sound judgment, integrity, discretion, and confidence in providing independent, practical, business-oriented advice.
Strong organizational skills, responsiveness, and ability to manage multiple priorities and work effectively across functions, cultures, and time zones.
Fluent written and spoken English.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting a regulated, industrial, energy, fuels, commodities, testing, inspection, certification, or other international business.
Previous experience with Canadian legal or regulatory matters.
Employment-law and workplace-investigation experience.
French language capability for Canadian matters.

Responsibilities

Provide timely, clear, and pragmatic legal advice to the Fuels business across the United States and Canada.
Advise management and operational teams on day-to-day legal matters, strategic initiatives, business expansion, and risk-based decision-making; interpret legal, regulatory, policy, and contractual requirements and provide practical guidance.
Build trusted relationships with business leaders while preserving independent professional judgment.
Draft, review, negotiate, and advise on commercial agreements, including customer and supplier agreements, master services agreements, terms and conditions, confidentiality agreements, consulting agreements, leases, technology arrangements, and strategic partnerships.
Support bids, tenders, proposals, procurement, and contractual risk assessments, including liability, indemnity, insurance, warranty, data protection, and termination risks.
Promote use of approved templates, Group Terms & Conditions, contracting policies, delegated authorities, and approval processes.
Support corporate development, restructuring, integrations, joint ventures, acquisitions, divestitures, and other strategic transactions as required.
Advise on corporate law, entity management, governance, board and shareholder matters, delegated authorities, powers of attorney, and internal approvals for North American entities.
Support preparation and maintenance of corporate records, resolutions, policies, governance documents, registrations, and required filings with relevant internal and external resources.
Identify, assess, communicate, and help mitigate legal and compliance risks, with appropriate escalation and reporting to senior management and Group Legal.
Support design and implementation of controls, policies, procedures, and remediation plans, and monitor material legal developments affecting the business.
Provide legal guidance on applicable U.S. and Canadian federal, state, provincial, and local laws and regulatory requirements relevant to the Fuels business.
Oversee and support implementation of the Group compliance program, Code of Ethics, policies, risk assessments, controls, certifications, monitoring, and reporting.
Advise on anti-bribery and anti-corruption, fraud, conflicts of interest, gifts and hospitality, competition and antitrust, third-party risk, whistleblowing, privacy, records management, and other compliance matters.
Support internal reviews and investigations, including issue intake, evidence preservation, interviews, findings, remediation, escalation, and stakeholder coordination.
Provide or coordinate practical legal and compliance training, communications, and employee and management guidance.
Manage regulatory inquiries, inspections, information requests, filings, and interactions with authorities, coordinating with subject-matter experts and external counsel as appropriate.
Advise on economic sanctions, export controls, import requirements, embargoes, restricted-party screening, anti-boycott rules, and related trade compliance obligations affecting customers, suppliers, transactions, and cross-border activity.
Support sanctions and trade-control due diligence, risk assessments, escalations, licensing questions, contractual protections, screening processes, and investigation and remediation of potential concerns.
Coordinate with Group specialists and external counsel on complex or high-risk trade compliance matters and changes in applicable requirements.
Manage and advise on claims, disputes, litigation, subpoenas, incidents, and pre-litigation strategy, emphasizing early risk assessment and commercially appropriate resolution.
Preserve privilege and coordinate legal holds, document collection, factual investigations, reporting, settlement authority, and lessons learned.
Select, instruct, and manage external counsel and other advisers, including scope, strategy, performance, and legal spend.
Partner with Human Resources on employment and workplace matters, including policies, employee relations, investigations, performance and disciplinary processes, accommodations, separations, restrictive covenants, and employment-related claims.
Coordinate with specialist employment counsel where necessary.
Collaborate with Finance, Tax, Human Resources, Credit, Compliance, Procurement, Operations, HSE, IT, Data Privacy, and other functions.
Manage competing priorities and matter records, contribute to legal and compliance reporting, and support continuous improvement of templates, processes, controls, and knowledge resources.
Monitor external legal and regulatory developments and provide timely, actionable business updates and recommendations.
Undertake other legal, risk, compliance, and governance responsibilities reasonably required to support the North American business.