Senior Commercial Counsel

Janus Henderson•Denver, CO

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

This role involves drafting, reviewing, and negotiating a wide range of commercial agreements, with a particular focus on technology, outsourcing, and fund services. The Senior Commercial Counsel will provide practical legal advice on complex contractual issues, manage the company's trademark portfolio, and ensure compliance with data privacy and DORA regulations. The position also includes developing legal resources, supervising contract managers, and collaborating with various internal teams to manage third-party risk and improve contracting processes. The role offers an opportunity to contribute to building a scalable commercial contracts function.

Requirements

Qualified lawyer in good standing in an appropriate jurisdiction, with strong post-qualification experience in commercial contracts, technology contracting, outsourcing, financial services, privacy, procurement legal support or a related practice area.
Significant experience drafting and negotiating complex commercial agreements, including technology, software, SaaS, cloud, professional services, outsourcing, fund services, data processing and confidentiality arrangements.
Strong understanding of commercial contracting principles, including limitation of liability, indemnities, warranties, IP ownership and licensing, confidentiality, data protection, service levels, audit rights, termination, exit assistance and dispute resolution.
Strong knowledge of data privacy and protection regulations and contracting requirements, including GDPR, UK GDPR and other relevant privacy regimes.
Working knowledge of DORA and related operational resilience, ICT third-party risk, outsourcing and regulatory access requirements relevant to financial services firms.
Demonstrated ability to advise on legal and contractual risks associated with AI, machine learning, automation, cloud, data analytics and other emerging technologies.
Experience developing legal playbooks, templates, clause libraries, fallback positions, training materials or process guidance for legal, procurement or contracting teams.
Experience supervising, coaching or providing quality review for paralegals, Contract Managers, junior lawyers or contracting support teams.
Excellent drafting, negotiation, analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to provide clear, practical and risk-based advice.
Strong stakeholder management skills, including the ability to engage senior business partners, influence outcomes and communicate complex legal issues in plain English.
Highly organized and able to manage multiple matters, deadlines and stakeholder priorities in a fast-paced environment.
Sound judgment, integrity and professionalism when handling confidential legal, commercial, supplier, client, employee and business information.

Nice To Haves

Experience in asset management, investment management, banking, insurance, fintech or another regulated financial services environment.
Experience supporting global contracting activity across the US, UK, EMEA and APAC.
Familiarity with procurement, contract lifecycle management, vendor risk, e-signature, workflow or reporting platforms such as Agiloft, DocuSign, Coupa, SAP Ariba, Ironclad, OneTrust, Power BI or similar tools.
Experience supporting third-party risk management, vendor onboarding, information security reviews, privacy reviews, business continuity reviews or audit-readiness activities.
Experience advising on AI governance, AI procurement, AI vendor diligence, model risk, data governance, cybersecurity, information security, outsourcing or operational resilience.
Experience advising on intellectual property matters, including copyright, patents, trademarks, IP ownership, licensing and protection of technology-related deliverables.
Interest in helping build a scalable commercial contracts function that combines legal expertise, contracting operations, procurement discipline and technology-enabled workflows.

Responsibilities

Draft, review and negotiate a broad range of commercial agreements, including software, SaaS, cloud, AI-enabled technology, market data, professional services, consulting, outsourcing, managed services, fund services, data processing, confidentiality, statements of work, order forms, amendments and renewal documentation.
Lead negotiations on complex and higher-risk supplier arrangements, including outsourcing and fund services agreements and those involving access to Janus Henderson systems, confidential information, personal data, ICT services, critical business processes, AI/ML functionality or regulated outsourcing considerations.
Provide practical legal advice on key contractual issues, including liability, indemnities, warranties, intellectual property, data protection, confidentiality, information security, audit rights, service levels, exit assistance, subcontracting, assignment, regulatory access, resilience and termination rights.
Advise on emerging technology contracting risks, including AI governance, responsible use, model/output risk, vendor use of customer data, training data restrictions, explainability, human oversight, IP ownership, confidentiality, cybersecurity, bias, operational resilience and vendor accountability.
Manage Janus Henderson’s trademark portfolio, including oversight of trademark registrations, renewals, clearances, brand protection matters, enforcement support and coordination with external counsel where required.
Support alignment of supplier contracts with applicable data privacy and protection requirements, including GDPR, UK GDPR, CCPA/CPRA and other relevant privacy and data protection regulations, as well as Janus Henderson data privacy standards and privacy-by-design expectations.
Support DORA-related contracting and governance requirements for ICT third-party service providers, including review of contractual provisions relating to access, audit, information security, subcontracting, incident notification, service continuity, exit, termination and regulatory cooperation.
Develop, maintain and improve legal playbooks, fallback positions, clause libraries, templates, guidance notes, risk matrices and training materials to support consistent contracting positions and scalable legal review.
Provide day-to-day supervision, coaching and escalation support to Contract Managers and other contracting support resources, including guidance on issue spotting, drafting quality, negotiation strategy and appropriate escalation thresholds.
Partner with Strategic Sourcing to support sourcing strategy, negotiation planning, supplier due diligence, renewal management and commercially effective outcomes for material vendor relationships.
Collaborate with Information Security, Data Privacy, Compliance, Business Continuity, Records Management, Architecture and Technology teams to ensure supplier arrangements are reviewed and managed in accordance with applicable governance requirements.
Help triage contracting requests, prioritize legal support based on risk and business impact, and improve workflow discipline across intake, review, negotiation, approval, execution and repository processes.
Identify recurring negotiation issues, process gaps, bottlenecks and opportunities for standardization, automation or improved stakeholder experience.
Support internal training for Legal, Strategic Sourcing, Contract Managers and business stakeholders on contracting standards, privacy, DORA, AI contracting considerations and third-party risk issues.
Carry out other duties as assigned.

Benefits

Hybrid working and reasonable accommodations
Generous Holiday policies
Excellent Health and Wellbeing benefits including corporate membership to Wellhub
Paid volunteer time to step away from your desk and into the community
Support to grow through professional development courses, tuition/qualification reimbursement and more
Maternal/paternal leave benefits and family services
Unique employee events and programs including a 14er challenge
Complimentary beverages, snacks and all employee Happy Hours
Annual Bonus Opportunity
Competitive compensation
Pension/retirement plans
Various health, wellbeing and lifestyle benefits