Senior Corporate Counsel-Procurement and Vendor Strategy

Section 1: Position Summary

Senior Corporate Counsel will handle all legal aspects of procurement and vendor strategy across Ascensus.  This is a new position that will partner with Ascensus’s new head of procurement and vendor strategy to create the framework necessary to ensure the organization is maximizing its purchasing power, identifying and delivering on consolidation opportunities, and overseeing the vendor oversight program.  The successful candidate will also work with and advise senior leadership from all business lines and shared services functions to ensure that Ascensus achieves its business objectives and mitigates risk across a wide range of vendor contracts.  Key job responsibilities include: acting as subject matter expert in relevant areas of law; reviewing, analyzing, negotiating, and drafting contracts; and advising business leaders on strategy and tactics to achieve the most favorable contract terms.   

Counsel will initially focus on vendor consolidation and optimization opportunities arising from Ascensus’s pending acquisition of Newport Group.  This project is expected to take 12 – 24 months to complete.  Upon completion of this project, and during the project as time allows, Counsel will focus on vendor contract opportunities that arise in the ordinary course of business and future acquisitions.

The individual must demonstrate sound legal and business judgment.  Experience in the financial services industry is strongly preferred.  This is a full-time, exempt position.

Section 2: Job Functions, Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Partner with the head of procurement and vendor strategy to define, communicate and implement a framework that supports effective and efficient execution of procurement policies/procedures and vendor oversight strategies
• Review, draft, negotiate, and interpret a wide range of contracts and other legal documents, with vendors and other third parties across Ascensus’s business, including software licenses, service agreements, platform agreements, strategic partnership contracts, and other complex, heavily-negotiated contracts
• Collaborate with the head of procurement and other business leaders to ensure contracts achieve the best possible terms for Ascensus, including with respect to pricing and risk mitigation
• Create and ensure adherence to standardized terms that reflect Ascensus’s key business goals and best practices
• Provide advice and counsel to internal business leaders on negotiation strategies and tactics, contractual terms, vendor due diligence, and vendor oversight
• Be responsible for handling legal tasks involving complex legal, business, and factual matters for which sound legal judgment, experience, and independent reasoning is required
• Responsible for protecting, securing, and proper handling of all confidential data held by Ascensus to ensure against unauthorized access, improper transmission, and/or unapproved disclosure of information that could result in harm to Ascensus or our clients.
• Our I-Client service philosophy and our Core Values of People Matter, Quality First and Integrity Always® should be visible in your actions on a day to day basis showing your support of our organizational culture.
• Assist with other tasks and projects as assigned

Supervision 

• N/A

Section 3:  Experience, Skills, Knowledge Requirements

• Understand Ascensus’s businesses and business objectives, and give practical advice to business leaders and other internal clients to ensure those objectives are achieved
• Think and act strategically
• Communicate effectively, verbally and in writing, with business leaders, vendors, business partners, and others
• Exhibit adaptability and lead change
• Think creatively, solve problems effectively, be proactive, and act decisively
• Work effectively independently with minimal instruction, and as part of a team with the willingness and desire to collaborate
• Be organized, proactive and entrepreneurial
• Multitask and prioritize while producing high-quality, on-time work
• Juris Doctorate from an accredited U.S. law school required with 10 – 15 years of experience  
• Licensed to practice law in at least one state and in good standing   
• Significant experience analyzing, reviewing, drafting and negotiating complex vendor contracts
• Law firm (preferably transactional practice) and in-house experience is a plus
• Desire to work in a fast-paced and demanding environment
• Remote candidates will be considered

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer

At Ascensus, we aspire to make a difference for others. We are a technology-enabled services company that helps people save for retirement, education, and healthcare through our network of institutional, financial advisor, and state partners. Our culture is guided by sound principles, is committed to high standards, operates with transparency, and welcomes diversity—housed within our Core Values: People Matter. Quality First. Integrity Always.®

As a leading independent recordkeeping services partner, retirement plan third-party administrator, and government savings facilitator, we aim to hire associates who find pride in going to work every day knowing that they help more than 12 million people save for what matters.