Senior Counsel, Commercial Contracts

Kinder's•Walnut Creek, CA

2d•$180,000 - $210,000•Onsite

About The Position

As Senior Counsel, Commercial Contracts, you will provide legal leadership and advice to the Company, supporting business units on a broad range of commercial contracting matters and partnering closely with co-manufacturing and procurement teams. In this key role, you’ll assist in drafting, reviewing, and negotiating corporate agreements, while also creating and improving legal department and contracting processes. You will collaborate with Company leaders and other internal stakeholders across our organization, playing a central role in mitigating risk, protecting the Company’s interests, and enabling disciplined yet entrepreneurial deal-making to drive the Company’s growth and strategic initiatives. Additionally, as a member of a small but mighty legal department, you will tackle other general matters such as privacy, marketing/advertising, import/export and IP as needed in partnership with the General Counsel.

Requirements

Juris Doctor (JD) degree from an accredited law school.
Must be admitted to practice law in at least one state
8+ years of relevant legal experience
Minimum of 5 years of substantive experience drafting and negotiating commercial contracts with a corporate legal department or well-regarded law firm
Experience with CPG-related agreements such as co-manufacturing, supply, logistics and broker agreements
Skilled lawyer with the ability to independently manage heavy workload in a highly dynamic environment
Ability to effectively and efficiently manage multiple matters and changing priorities and to complete projects in a timely and accurate manner. Detail-oriented but capable of working with ambiguity. Ability to meld a long-term view of success while working with short-term urgency
Excellent communication (oral and written), organization, analytical, and interpersonal skills. Ability to clearly communicate complex concepts to internal clients and externally.
Sound judgement; ability to think critically, make and articulate well-reasoned recommendation and determine who should be kept informed
Ability to counsel internal clients on the risk associated with various options and to present creative solutions to difficult problems to achieve the desired business outcome while appropriately managing risk.
Motivated by the challenge to find ways to say "yes" as both a doer and a leader to support important priorities that can arise quickly
Reputation as a smart, trustworthy, collaborative and strategic partner with the ability to build rapport quickly with stakeholders
Strong communicator and relationship building who takes initiative and speaks their mind, but has the humility to seek and be open to new ideas, new approaches and other points of view
Approachable, with a low ego, and focused on building strong working relationships and a positive team environment
Team player with a growth mindset evidenced by a hunger for continuous learning to increase our collective ability to drive business growth
Comfort in ambiguity with an excitement for building a way forward tailored to Kinder's vs. walking into something fully established or deploying previously used systems because "that is how things are done"
Inspired by the idea of being part of a high growth company with the ability to roll up your sleeves as both a leader and a follower

Responsibilities

Draft, analyze, and negotiate complex and routine commercial contracts, including co-manufacturing agreements, supply agreements, logistics agreements broker agreements, distributor agreements, NDAs, master services agreements, SOWs, professional services agreements, and licensing/technology agreements.
Structure agreements to appropriately allocate risk, including indemnity, limitation of liability, insurance requirements, IP ownership, data/privacy terms, and similar provisions.
Oversee contract matters from intake to execution, assisting with ongoing contract management, dispute resolution, and advising on performance issues and contractual risks and remedies.
Create and implement contract management systems and processes, including intake system, prioritization frameworks and turnaround targets
Identify, collect and report on KPIs and metrics
Support contract lifecycle management, create and maintain templates, and develop contracting standards to ensure organization-wide consistency and continuous improvements.
Identify contractual gaps or other contractual risks created by the Company's evolving business strategies and go-to market approaches and partner with internal stakeholders to drive remedies.
Research and evaluate contract management software and legal technology tools to streamline legal processes and implement innovative solutions.
Drive implementation, governance, and ongoing optimization of contract management tools and processes, including adoption across business teams.
Develop negotiation strategies, checklists, playbooks, and clause libraries based on contract terms, legal compliance, and company strategies.
Create and deliver training materials and toolkits for business teams and help develop and implement contracting processes to reduce legal bottlenecks and empower business teams.
Create escalation processes and risk frameworks.
Support various corporate legal matters and projects depending on the needs of the business and Law Department, which may include privacy, marketing, advertising, IP, trademarks, import/export, and other matters. Manage outside counsel and legal vendors when needed, including scope, performance and cost.