Job Title: Corporate Counsel

Department: Legal

Location: Menlo Park, US

Overview of Role:

The Corporate Counsel, Contracts is responsible for the development, negotiation, and execution of company contracts across multiple departments. This position is within the Legal Department and partners with clinical, finance, research & development, market access, marketing, manufacturing and other internal clients from other departments to draft and negotiate contracts that protect the company from risk, support company business objectives, and ensure compliance with company guidelines.

Role and Responsibilities:

• Draft, review, analyze and negotiate a wide range of contracts, with an emphasis on clinical trial agreements. In addition to clinical trial agreements, draft, review, and negotiate agreements with contract research organizations (CROs), sponsored research agreements, advisory board agreements, licensing agreements, materials transfer agreements, consulting and contractor agreements, master services agreements and related statements of work, promotional speaker bureau agreements, sales operations agreements, vendor and service contracts and related work orders, IT/software agreements, manufacturing/CMC agreements, facilities and lease agreements, human resource/employee benefit agreements, and confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements.
• Acts as the primary contact between the internal business units and external parties, ensuring that all legal and contractual matters are addressed efficiently and promptly; escalate matters, as necessary, to reduce company risk and help ensure company business objectives are met.
• Develop strong working relationships with functional groups and project teams.
• Promptly respond to complex inquiries regarding contract obligations and revisions.
• Identify risks and issues, suggests alternatives that meet company business objectives while also reducing company risk.
• Prepares and timely disseminates information regarding contract status, compliance, modifications, etc.
• Reviews, analyzes and tracks in-process and on-going agreements.
• Reports the status of contracts to internal clients using established processes and updated processes as necessary.
• Provide training to company employees regarding the Contract Management process.
• Responsible for effectively interacting with Intellectual Property Counsel to ensure appropriate handling of intellectual property issues in agreements.
• Effectively interacts with Regulatory Counsel and Compliance to ensure appropriate handling of regulatory/compliance issues in contract matters.
• Effectively interacts with Quality Assurance to ensure appropriate handling of quality matters.
• Prepare template agreements, modify existing templates and prepare unique agreements as required.
• Ensure clear and prompt communication with company employees, and outside parties regarding status of, or issues in, contracts.
• Handle miscellaneous legal tasks or special assignments on an as-needed basis.
• All other duties as assigned.

Experience, Education and Specialized Knowledge and Skills:

• Juris Doctor (JD) degree and a minimum of 5 years of experience with pharmaceutical or healthcare legal matters in-house and/or law firm is required. Must have clinical trial agreement experience.
• Precise drafting and strong legal analysis skills, and knowledge of the regulations and statutes and industry guidelines impacting pharmaceutical research, development and commercial contracts including data privacy.
• Proficient with Word and have a working knowledge of Excel.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills; professional manner. Able to work effectively and efficiently with all levels of management and personnel.
• Open to feedback, leads by example, and maintains a positive attitude.
• Able to handle competing priorities in a timely manner.
• Strong interpersonal skills including a strong sense of being a team player.
• A keen understanding of business and the ability to diagnose legal problems and present positive, creative solutions and alternatives for management.
• Strong organizational and planning skills and meticulous attention to detail.
• Able to work independently while exercising initiative, flexibility and good judgment.
• Works well under pressure to meet specific deadlines.
• Self-starter with the ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in a team environment.
• Must be flexible due to rapidly changing business environment for a growth company.

The pay range for this role is $170,000 to $200,000 annually. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, depth of experience, certifications, and specific work location. This may be different in other locations due to differences in the cost of labor. The total compensation package for this position may also include bonus, stock, benefits and/or other applicable variable compensation. The successful candidate will also be eligible for health benefits, 401(k) with 6% employer match from day one, ESPP with up to a 15% discount discount up to the federal limit, flexible spending account among other benefits.

Summit does not accept referrals from employment businesses and/or employment agencies in respect of the vacancies posted on this site. All employment businesses/agencies are required to contact Summit’s human resources department to obtain prior written authorization before referring any candidates to Summit.