Senior Corporate Counsel

About This Role

Reporting to the Assistant General Counsel, the Senior Corporate Counsel provides practical, timely, quality legal services to help Ace Hardware Corporation meet its business objectives, and remain in compliance with laws, rules and regulations applicable to the company's businesses. This position requires a strong legal generalist with the ability to handle a wide variety of commercial agreements and legal issues, with a focus on ecommerce, digital marketplace agreements, technology including SaaS agreements, franchise matters, credit and financial matters, and corporate governance. 

What You’ll Do

• Draft, review and negotiate a wide variety of commercial contracts including ecommerce, technology and marketing agreements. This includes SaaS, licensing and brand partnership agreements, professional services agreements, consulting agreements, agency agreements, supply agreements, and advertising and marketing agreements, in support of all commercial functions of Ace and its affiliates.

• Focus on the digital and modern market business areas, with expertise in navigating and providing legal advice on complex issues that arise in online commerce and emerging technology environments and understanding best practices and emerging trends. Responsibilities may include advising on new digital products, platforms, online services and marketplaces; advising on marketing and intellectual property issues; understanding of data security and privacy laws and related contractual issues and collaborating with privacy and marketing teams to ensure legal compliance;

• Provide legal advice and counsel on regulatory and compliance issues.

• Provide legal advice and counsel on issues involving relationships with retailers and franchisees; negotiate commercial agreements that may impact retailer and franchisee relationships; and may assist with the preparation of Ace’s Franchise Disclosure Documents.

• Collaborate and work as part of a team with legal colleagues, business leaders and other partners to provide creative solutions to business issues while eliminating or minimizing legal risks.

• Provide legal advice and counsel to business clients with contract and other commercial disputes that may arise.

• Manage outside counsel and develop strategy for litigation and regulatory proceedings.

• Handle day to day legal issues that arise and develop, review and revise various policies, processes, templates and forms.

Required Skills

• Law Degree (Juris Doctor)

• Licensed to practice law in Illinois

• A minimum of ten years of legal experience, including in a corporate law department.

• Competencies include:

  • Ability to partner effectively with business clients in a collaborative environment to understand and achieve stated business objectives within tight deadlines and with minimal supervision;

  • Influential, with the ability to become a trusted, visible resource for business clients;

  • An effective communicator with business partners, members of the legal department, and opposing counsel who can contribute to business decisions with convincing advice and who can express information clearly and in a manner appropriate for the audience;

  • Ability to assess the impact of advice on the business and foresee consequences;

  • Willing and able to take on new challenges;

  • A team player who is able to work with colleagues to improve team effectiveness while contributing his/her own ideas;

  • Cost-conscious and aware of budget implications of decisions;

  • Committed to personal development and continuous learning;

  • Able to handle Company confidential information and data requiring the highest degree of attention to preserve confidentiality; and

  • Exhibits a high degree of professional ethics and integrity.

#LI-MS1

Compensation Details:

$155400 - $202000 per year

Why should you join our team?

We live our values - W.E.L.I.G.H.T (Winning, Excellence, Love, Integrity, Gratitude, Humility, and Teamwork). Gratitude. Humility. Love. You don’t often see values like these in most corporate statements, but Ace is different. These things are important to us. They represent our commitment to the company, our employees, to Ace retailers and to the Ace brand.

In addition to providing our employees a great culture, Ace also offers competitive benefits* that address life’s necessities and perks, many of which expand and improve year after year, including:

• Incentive opportunities, based on role/grade level (rapid company growth over the past 5 years result