Senior Counsel and COE Lead, Transactional
We use technology to solve problems in spaces, light, and more things to come… for our customers, our communities, and our planet.
Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE: AYI) is a market-leading industrial technology company. We use technology to solve problems in spaces, light, and more things to come. Through our two business segments, Acuity Brands Lighting and Lighting Controls (ABL) and the Intelligent Spaces Group (ISG), we design, manufacture, and bring to market products and services that make a valuable difference in people’s lives.
We are positioned at the intersection of sustainability and technology. Our businesses develop technology that helps save our customers energy and reduce their carbon emissions. We achieve growth through the development of innovative new products and services, including lighting, lighting controls, building management solutions, and location-aware applications.
Job Summary
Reporting to the Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Legal Centers Of Expertise (COE), the Transactional COE Lead will be a key member of the Law and Business Environment (LBE) team tasked with providing best-in-class support and advice to the business on transactional matters. The Transactional COE Lead will have primary responsibility for the delivery of transactional legal services through the newly-created Transactional COE, which includes drafting agreements, providing strategic legal advice on a broad range of transactional issues, managing and supervising the attorneys within the Transactional COE, and engaging with other legal COEs to drive operational excellence, innovation, and efficiency in the delivery of legal services.
Key Tasks & Responsibilities (Essential Functions)
60%: Reviewing, drafting, negotiating and providing strategic legal advice on a broad range of transactional issues, including:
- General commercial agreements (e.g., sales, sourcing, joint development)
- Technology and IP agreements
- Professional services agreements
- International agreements
20%: Managing, mentoring, and guiding transactional attorneys within the COE, with a focus on developing talent
20%: Working with the Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Legal COEs and Vice President, Legal Operations to drive comprehensive strategy and process improvements for the Transactional COE, with a focus on:
- Assessing existing transactional processes and identifying areas of improvement, focusing on productivity and value
- Driving technology adoption, automation, best practices, and knowledge sharing
- Defining data-driven key performance indicators to measure the COE’s impact and inform business strategy and decision-making
Skills and Minimum Experience Required
- Demonstrates ability and desire to lead and grow high-performing team and build organizational talent, while energizing the organization and motivating increased employee effort
- Possesses strong analytical, drafting, problem-solving, and negotiation skills, as well as excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Exhibits emotional intelligence
- Demonstrates ability to create and execute influence strategies that gain commitment to one's ideas and persuade key stakeholders to take action that will advance shared interests and business goals.
- Drives execution by translating priorities into operational plans
- Demonstrates initiative and ability to act decisively, exercising excellent judgment, while securing and comparing information from multiple sources and committing to an action after weighing alternative solutions against important decision criteria
- Demonstrates ability to maintain effective and strategic relationships with key internal stakeholders and business leaders
- Drives innovation by creating an environment and culture that inspires people to generate solutions with measurable value, and by encouraging experimentation with new ways to solve work problems and improve processes
- Shares authority and responsibilities with others to move decision-making and accountability downward through the organization to stretch individual capabilities while accomplishing the organization's strategic priorities
- Demonstrates ability to establish and commit to a long-term business direction
- Ensures that the customer's/end user's perspective is a driving force behind priorities, decisions, processes, and activities
- Exhibits courage by taking a stand, initiating bold action, and taking personal accountability
- Possesses ability to manage and prioritize projects and meet deadlines while handling multiple tasks
- Proficient in the use of legal technology and tools
Education (minimum education required): Juris Doctor Graduate Degree from an accredited law school
Experience (minimum experience required): 12 or more years practicing law, including in-house counsel experience drafting and negotiating transactions and providing strategic legal advice on transactional issues
Preferred Experience (i.e., industry experience): Experience working in-house at a manufacturing or technology company
Physical Requirements: Sedentary Work – Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally, and/or a negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time. Jobs are sedentary if walking or standing is required only occasionally, and all other sedentary criteria are met.
Travel Requirements: Domestic and/or International; 0%-25%
We value diversity and are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regards to race, color, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, ethnicity or national origin, disability, pregnancy, religion, covered veteran status, protected genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.
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Accommodation for Applicants with Disabilities: As an equal opportunity employer, Acuity Brands is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in its application process for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans. If you have difficulty using our online system due to a disability and need an accommodation, you may contact us at (770) 922-9000. Please clearly indicate what type of accommodation you are requesting and for what requisition.
Any unsolicited resumes sent to Acuity Brands from a third party, such as an Agency recruiter, including unsolicited resumes sent to an Acuity Brands mailing address, fax machine or email address, directly to Acuity Brands employees, or to Acuity Brands resume database will be considered Acuity Brands property. Acuity Brands will NOT pay a fee for any placement resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited resume.
Acuity Brands will consider any candidate for whom an Agency has submitted an unsolicited resume to have been referred by the Agency free of any charges or fees. This includes any Agency that is an approved/engaged vendor, but does not have the appropriate approvals to be engaged on a search.
The range for this position is $154,700.00 to $278,400.00. Placement within this range may vary, depending on the applicant’s experience and geographic location.
Nearest Major Market: Atlanta
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