Senior Legal Counsel, Global Legal, Construction & Power (US/Japan Focus)

NTT Global Data Centers•NorCal, CA, United States of America, CA

1d•$175,000 - $220,000•Remote

About The Position

This role is for a Senior Legal Counsel within the Global Legal, Construction & Power team at NTT Global Data Centers. The position offers a high degree of autonomy while working as part of a wider legal team, reporting to the Senior Director, Legal. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience and knowledge of construction and power legal issues, as well as related regulatory law within the data center sector. The role is global in scope but with a specific focus on the US and Japan markets, and the candidate is preferred to be based in the US with prior exposure to large US and/or Japan data center deals. The business is undergoing significant expansion, including pursuing large megadeals, and this role will be instrumental in supporting these efforts. The Senior Legal Counsel will provide legal advice on US/Japan construction, power, and regulatory matters, including EPCs, ESAs, utility tariffs, PPAs, and interconnection agreements. This includes advising on utility regulations, supporting large-scale power procurement, and managing load interconnection for capital-intensive data center infrastructure projects. The role involves assessing contractual, regulatory, and commercial risks, and providing practical guidance to business, engineering, and finance stakeholders. The internal deal team is spread between the US and UK, and a US candidate is preferred.

Requirements

Deep understanding of the US (and ideally Japanese) data center market, including construction, power, utility and regulatory issues.
Ability to assess regulatory approval risk, unique challenges inside the US (and Japan) market and timing impacts on projects.
Working knowledge of utility markets and pathway to power inside of the US/Japan (i.e. TSOs/DSOs arrangements).
Experience engaging with Japanese utility providers (TEPCO PG/KEPCO, Chubu, etc.) would be beneficial.
Candidate will also be familiar with utility-scale and/or corporate renewable PPAs (solar, wind, storage), virtual PPAs, clean energy tax credits, RECs, green tariffs and decarbonization strategies.
Self-starter, well organized, effectively manages stress in a fast-paced environment and produces consistent, positive results, calmly under deadline pressure.
Strong fluent written and verbal English communication skills.
Demonstrates strong judgment and willingness to give clear, practical answers.
Superb attention to detail; good organizational, communication and multitasking skills.
Ability to operate with imperfect information and moving regulatory targets.
Ability to work well both independently (on a remote basis) and as part of a highly collaborative cross-jurisdictional team working across multiple timezones.
Applies broad experience and professional knowledge to develop and resolve complex issues in creative ways, to deliver distilled and robust legal and commercial advice.
Strong and calm tactical decision-maker, handles unforeseen issues.
Developed business acumen, and the ability to combine legal and business analysis and judgment in a practical manner.
Recognizes cultural norms and practices inside of Japan.
Recognised internally as a subject matter expert with the ability to work on significant and unique issues where analysis of situations or data requires an evaluation of intangibles.
Extended knowledge of the unique power issues affecting the data center sector.
Ability to work in an international team environment and interact with all levels of management, including C-Suite reviews.
Strong executive presence – able to convey complex and technical concepts to a non-construction audience.
Fluent English is mandatory.
Juris doctorate, bachelor’s degree in law from an accredited US law school, international diploma or relevant international legal equivalent certification.
Good command of standard IT platforms.
Current active member of the legal bar in good standing.
Minimum eight (8+) years relevant industry, private practice and/or inhouse experience or relevant work.
Job-related experience must be relevant for position, either law firm (construction/power/regulatory practice) or inhouse (EPC, utility, developer, infrastructure, or large consumer role).

Nice To Haves

Japanese fluency would be a distinct advantage.
Relevant industry qualification, certification and/or accreditation in construction/power bodies or organisations considered a positive (but not mandatory).
Extended experience in data center or similar mission critical facilities construction is desirable, although not mandatory.
Prior work for or with Japanese multi-nationals would be a plus.

Responsibilities

Provides legal support to the business on all forms of construction and power agreements, including ESAs, interconnection agreements, PPAs (utility, wholesale and behind-the-meter), heat & waste re-use/management, transmission and distribution agreements, substation design & EPC construction contracts.
Advising on large-load customer connection requests, cluster studies, phased energization and load ramp-up (including vis-à-vis customer contract commitments), cost responsibility for network upgrades and curtailment/interruption/reliability provisions.
Clearly provide support to and advise the business on jurisdiction-specific ‘take-or-pay’ risk and ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ provisions.
Support the business with due diligence processes on large site acquisitions and ‘pathway to power’ discussions.
Provides legal oversight and reporting for all construction and power contractual and regulatory issues affecting data center construction and connection requests across the US (and Japan).
Liaise with and closely support cross-functional teams (including Construction, Supply Chain, Sustainability, Procurement) on relevant construction, power and regulatory issues.
Responsible for identifying/assessing/developing mitigations for, risk presented by construction and power contracts across NTT GDC to meet business CAPEX commitments and client SLA commitments.
Horizon scanning for regulatory issues affecting NTT GDC delivery or obtaining of power in the US (and Japan).
Advises company ELT & management on complex matters, using persuasion in delivering messages, with the ability to adapt style to differing audiences and often advises others on difficult matters, including potential risks in contractual, regulatory, compliance, financial, and legal areas.