Overview
Senior Legal Counsel, Americas (ELSE)
This role advises business leaders and supports complex legal matters to help drive strategic priorities across the Americas. The position primarily supports the Electrification Service (ELSE) division, with possible support for other divisions as business needs require. The work model is remote, with operating time aligned closest with Eastern Time.
This position reports to Division General Counsel ELSE.
Responsibilities
- Advise business leaders across the Americas on legal risk, decision-making, and execution of strategic priorities, in coordination with relevant country, business area, and specialist counsel.
- Lead or support, as agreed within the regional legal team, drafting, reviewing, and negotiating complex customer, supplier, service, subcontractor, channel partner, technology, and other commercial agreements across the Americas.
- Design scalable contract management processes, including playbooks, templates, and workflows, to improve efficiency and manage legal risk across high-volume transactions.
- Advise on tenders, contract risk reviews, claims, change orders, project execution, and dispute avoidance across service-intensive markets, including industrial services, utilities, data centers, infrastructure, and renewables.
- Manage litigation, arbitration, pre-litigation claims, and settlements, including matter strategy, budgets, reporting, and external counsel quality assurance.
- Advise on employment and human resources matters, including performance management, investigations, terminations, reorganizations, immigration, and cross-border workforce issues, coordinating with specialists as appropriate.
- Provide strategic legal counsel on mergers and acquisitions, minority investments, divestitures, joint ventures, and restructuring activities globally, including deal structuring, due diligence, and post-closing integration support.
- Support other divisions, business areas, and corporate functions as business needs require, with priorities and matter ownership coordinated through relevant Legal & Integrity leadership and existing coverage teams.
- Collaborate with lawyers across divisions, countries, specialist teams, and regions under agreed coverage models, matter-allocation principles, and escalation paths. Existing counsel remain accountable for matters within assigned businesses, countries, or specialist areas unless responsibility is expressly reassigned.
Requirements
- Juris Doctor (JD) with active bar admission in at least one relevant jurisdiction.
- Minimum 10 years of in-house or law firm experience supporting industrial, engineering, technology, construction, or services businesses across multiple legal disciplines and jurisdictions in a multinational company.
- Ability to succeed in a highly collaborative environment while operating with appropriate autonomy; effectively partner with divisional, business area, regional, country, and specialist counsel; manage competing priorities; clarify ownership and scope; and advise senior stakeholders under time pressure.
- Strong commercial judgment and substantial experience in commercial contracts, disputes, strategic transactions, and cross-border matters, including the ability to identify material risks, develop practical options, support timely business decisions, and engage specialists when needed.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT, or Harvey; or demonstrated willingness to learn and quickly build AI fluency.
- Strong knowledge of anti-bribery and anti-corruption requirements relevant across the Americas, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and experience supporting internal investigations.
- Knowledge of professional, contractor, electrical licensing, and related regulatory requirements in one or more Americas jurisdictions, with ability to coordinate local advice as needed.
- Working knowledge of employment and human resources law in one or more Americas jurisdictions, with ability to identify when local specialist advice is required.
Compensation & Benefits
- Expected base salary: $163,500 to $261,600 annually.
- Eligible for a short-term incentive plan/annual bonus.
- Benefits for eligible US employees (high-level summary):
- Medical: Choice between two medical plan options (PPO Copay Plan and High Deductible Plan with Health Savings Account).
- Dental: Core and Core Plus options.
- Vision benefit.
- Company-paid life insurance (2X base pay) and company-paid AD&D (1X base pay).
- Voluntary life and AD&D (100% employee paid, up to maximums).
- Short Term Disability (up to 26 weeks; company paid).
- Long Term Disability (60% of pay; company paid; ability to “buy-up” to 66 2/3% of pay).
- Supplemental benefits (100% employee paid): Accident insurance, hospital indemnity, critical illness, pet insurance.
- Paid Parental Leave.
- Employee Assistance Program.
- Health Advocate support resources for mental/behavioral health, general health navigation and virtual health, and infertility/adoption.
- Employee discount program.
- Retirement: 401k Savings Plan with company contributions and Employee Stock Acquisition Plan (ESAP).
- Time off: 11 paid holidays; vacation under a permissive time away policy for salaried exempt positions.
Location
Remote. Operating time zone will align closest with Eastern Time.
Work Authorization
Candidates must already have work authorization that would permit them to work for ABB in the US.
Equal Employment Opportunity
The employer is an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer for protected Veterans and Individuals with Disabilities. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to protected characteristics as required by applicable law.