Senior Legal Counsel (Technology and Procurement)

Northern Trust • Chicago, IL

5d • $160,100 - $272,300 • Hybrid

About The Position

As a member of Northern Trust’s Legal Department, this attorney will be responsible for providing high quality legal advice and counsel to our senior management and business partners in a manner consistent with our enduring principles of service, expertise, and integrity. The ideal candidate will be an attorney with broad experience in technology and procurement matters for a global financial organization, including general commercial contract negotiations, SaaS and licensing contracts, client facing technology tools and products, cloud and on-prem technologies, distributed ledger technology, and artificial intelligence. The candidate will work in the Legal Department’s Procurement and Technology team and support business partners across the enterprise on a wide range of legal issues, including vended AI tools, technology licensing, new product development, and the applicable regulatory landscape that applies to financial institutions operating across multiple geographies. The position will report to an Assistant General Counsel.

Requirements

• Must possess a J.D. degree from an accredited law school and must meet attorney licensing requirements in the jurisdiction in which the position will be located, prior to and after commencing employment.
• Minimum combined ten (10) years of experience at a nationally recognized law firm and/or in-house legal department advising clients in relevant areas.
• Proven record of independently drafting, negotiating, and reviewing various types of technology contracts and agreements, including software licenses, distributed ledger technologies, managed services, and on-prem and SaaS license agreements, with an appreciation of the issues on both the vendor and client sides.
• In-depth experience with the legal and regulatory aspects that can impact contract requirements, including familiarity with the impacts of placing data in the cloud.
• Experience working for a regulated industry, financial industry preferred.
• Ability to work cooperatively with all levels of the organization and provide legal advice and counsel on a wide range of technology-related matters.
• Ability to conduct in-depth legal analysis and provide practical, solutions-oriented advice.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to manage relationships with business partners, clients, and outside counsel.
• Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future. Northern Trust will not sponsor applicants for U.S. work visa status for this opportunity (no sponsorship is available for H-1B, L-1, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, F-1, J-1, OPT, CPT or any other employment-based visa)

Nice To Haves

• Financial Industry regulations preferred (e.g., FRB SR23-4, PRA SS2/21, GDPR, CCPA, DORA, EU AI Act).
• Current knowledge of applicable existing and upcoming regulations impacting the banking industry highly desired.

Responsibilities

• Support the Procurement and Technology legal team’s efforts to accelerate Northern Trust’s responsible adoption of AI consistent with legal and regulatory requirements and client and supervisory expectations.
• Advise business units, technology engineers, product development teams and business unit legal teams in the development, negotiation and support of vended AI tools, client facing contracts involving technology products and concepts (e.g., SaaS; software licenses; data licenses; distributed ledger technology; federated single sign on).
• Develop and update template contracts, playbooks, terms of use, and other terms and conditions related to technology initiatives and products (e.g., Northern Trust web portals and platforms, APIs, other software) for use by business units across the enterprise.
• Collaborate with and provide legal support to other cross functional teams and SMEs (e.g., Data Privacy, Information Security, Risk, Compliance, Tax), including in other jurisdictions, as needed.
• Advise and contribute to committees and working groups (e.g., IT Risk; Cloud governance; AI) focused on new technology initiatives at the bank.
• Advise and lead negotiations around strategic transactions including complex license agreements, reseller agreements, and other corporate development arrangements.
• Provide legal support for technology related corporate initiatives as requested and support other Legal Department team members.
• Advise on legal and regulatory developments that impact Northern Trust’s procurement organization and technology initiatives and adapt template contracts and playbooks as needed.

Benefits

• retirement benefits (401k and pension)
• health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, spending accounts and disability)
• paid time off
• parental and caregiver leave
• life & accident insurance
• other voluntary and well-being benefits
• discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree