Legal Associate

Job Summary

As a senior attorney within the HCLSoftware Procurement team, you will be responsible for the timely execution of global purchasing initiatives. You will serve as a key partner to the Finance, IT, and Product teams and business as a whole to ensure that the third-party products, services and technologies we procure are commercially sound, compliant, and scalable. You will help to shape this new offering within HCLSoftware and manage often complex negotiations with vendors while mentoring junior counsel to maintain an effective and efficient procurement engine.

Key Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

• Contract review and Negotiations:

Autonomously conduct review and negotiation of upstream agreements, including SaaS, cloud infrastructure, and IP licensing.

• Process Optimization:

Assist in designing and implementing scalable procurement workflows and "playbooks" to reduce contract cycle times and ensure consistency across global jurisdictions.

• Risk & Compliance Oversight:

Evaluate third-party risks related to data privacy (GDPR/CCPA), security, and AI governance with internal stakeholders ensuring all vendor products meet stringent corporate standards.

• Cross-Functional Partnership:

Act as legal advisor to Executive leadership in Procurement and Finance to align vendor spend with broader business objectives.

• Team Leadership:

Collaborate and support on development of a new team for procurement, fostering a culture of commercial pragmatism and continuous professional development.

Skill Requirements

• Precision Drafting:

Moving beyond standard templates to draft bespoke, "future-proof" clauses for complex tech engagements (e.g., hybrid cloud, AI integration, or multi-year enterprise commitments).

• Issue Spotting & Hierarchy:

Able to review complex agreements and identify key issues quickly and effectively.

• Precedent Analysis:

Tracking how previous deals were negotiated to ensure the company maintains a consistent legal posture across its entire vendor ecosystem.

• Regulatory Translation:

Analyzing how new laws (e.g., AI regulations, data transfer rules) impact existing vendor contracts.

• Conflict Resolution in Terms:

Identifying where a vendor’s "Terms of Service" might conflict with your company’s internal risk appetite, standard customer facing contract terms and internal policies.

• Commercial Translation:

Ability to communicate complex legal issues in accessible term to multiple stakeholders.

• Partnership:

Partner with internal stakeholder to understand business as well as commercial requirements and advise pragmatically, providing alternative solutions where needed.

• Expectation Management:

Communicating clear timelines and adhering to SLAs where relevant to help internal departments understand the status of their procurement requests.

Other Requirements

Nice-to-Haves

• In-House Software Experience:

Prior experience specifically within a fast-scaling B2B software environment, providing a deep understanding of how "buy-side" contracts impact "sell-side" product delivery.

• Legal Ops Tech Savvy:

Hands-on experience using CLM tools to automate procurement intake.

• AI Knowledge:

Familiarity with the legal nuances of procuring LLMs or AI-driven tools, including specific indemnity and data-scraping risk profiles.

• Qualifications:

Admission to practice in multiple jurisdictions or significant experience managing cross-border procurement.