Senior Corporate Counsel

JOB DESCRIPTION

Responsibilities:

The following information is intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, or required skills.

Our ideal candidate has demonstrated commercial contracting expertise (preferably in the staffing or contingent worker area), substantial experience supporting fast-paced business negotiations, outstanding legal and business acumen, excellent customer service and leadership skills, and a positive, proactive, “can-do” attitude. 

Additionally, our ideal candidate must have strong experience in mergers and acquisitions. After an initial onboarding period, she or he must be a self-starter and bring her or his expertise to bear to identify, manage, and mitigate risks by a business-practical application of Toptal’s policies, processes, and procedures.

 The ability to understand risks, balance competing interests, and provide appropriate, succinct, and actionable advice is critical to success for this position. She or he will have significant responsibility for the development and ongoing review of relevant commercial contracting processes, guidelines, and procedures.

This is an important, client-facing position. Like all roles within Toptal’s Legal department, it requires collaboration with others across many functional areas but ultimately will entail direct work more than managing the work of others. It is expected that the Senior Corporate Counsel will cultivate productive relationships with our clients and business partners and foster a customer-centric approach that is simultaneously protective of Toptal’s legal and business interests and reputation.

In the first week, expect to:

• Onboard and integrate into Toptal and the team.
• Obtain an understanding of organizational tools and processes.

In the first month, expect to:

• Begin to familiarize yourself with our commercial Enterprise agreements and the organizational best practices relating to negotiation points and all aspects of Toptal’s data privacy, compliance, security, M&A and other relevant programs and policies.

In the first three months, expect to:

• Begin to take on assignments and negotiations with increasing levels of responsibility and complexity, with a focus on familiarity with recognizing and implementing Toptal’s best practices, primarily on negotiations based on Toptal’s contract templates or vendors and all related data privacy matters.
• Develop strong personal relationships with other legal team members and with the sales team to help drive the documentation that supports our sales and talent network efforts.
• Develop strong personal relationships with the risk/compliance and security team members in order to help drive best practices in Toptal’s data privacy program and policies.
• Participate on deal work, including due diligence requests and reviews, purchase agreement negotiations, and similar tasks, as available.

In the first six months, expect to:

• Be prepared to lead increasingly more complex negotiations and finalize agreements with our commercial partners, with a focus on negotiations centered on client contract templates.
• Be prepared to review and respond to large, complex requests for proposals.
• Provide ongoing advice on day to day Enterprise client matters, while exercising discretion and independent judgment.
• Review and provide comments on purchase agreements.

In the first year, expect to:

• Be viewed as a go-to expert in the commercial contract negotiation space,.
• Continue to identify areas to improve efficiency and uplevel the speed and efficiency of the negotiation process.
• Be called upon to assist Sales and Account Management teams with interpretation and implementation of contract terms and resolution of client queries and disputes.
• Help run an acquisition deal from beginning to end, including integration.

Qualifications and Job Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree is required.
• Admission to a U.S. State or the District of Columbia bar.
• A minimum of 7 years of experience across both law firm and corporate settings.
• Experience structuring and advising clients on complex transactions, including master service agreements, statements of work, NDAs, licensing agreements, and partnership agreements.
• Strong experience negotiating and drafting commercial contracts.
• Strong experience in mergers and acquisitions.
• Strong experience advising on data protection and privacy laws globally, negotiating privacy-related agreements, and providing relevant, actionable guidance on the changing data privacy landscape.
• Excellent customer service (internal and external), interpersonal, and organizational skills.
• The ability to quickly master and integrate legal, business, technical, and practical analysis.
• An extremely sharp eye for detail with exceptional business judgment and a knack for coming up with creative solutions.
• The ability to support and scale in a fast-growing company with a focus on execution.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, rapidly growing company and handle a wide variety of challenges, deadlines, and a diverse array of contacts.
• You must be a world-class individual contributor to thrive at Toptal. You will not be here just to tell other people what to do.

Essential Job Functions

• Regularly and reliably attend scheduled virtual team meetings on camera.
• Work independently with minimal supervision.
• Use all required digital collaboration tools.
• Prioritize and self-manage workflows and deadlines.