Staff Counsel / Corporate Counsel (Negotiation Lead)

Overview

A national Energy Service Company (ESCO) specializing in sustainability and infrastructure projects is seeking an in-house attorney to provide practical legal support across the business. The organization delivers turnkey, design-build energy and water efficiency solutions primarily to government, healthcare, and education sectors.

Responsibilities

• Lead contract intake, legal review, redlining, internal alignment, approvals, and execution.
• Negotiate and manage a portfolio of contracts including prime contracts, subcontracts, vendor agreements, and proposal/RFP terms.
• Provide general business legal support, including day-to-day guidance, issue spotting, and coordination with outside counsel.
• Review third-party contracts and identify legal, financial, schedule, and operational risks; propose actionable redlines aligned with the organization's risk framework.
• Lead counterparties through contract language and risk allocation discussions.
• Enforce critical contract terms and escalate exceptions with clear recommendations.
• Ensure final execution copies accurately reflect approved redlines.
• Review prime contract requirements and ensure appropriate flow-down obligations in subcontracts and vendor agreements.
• Manage contract compliance by translating prime contract obligations into clear requirements for project teams.
• Support proposal/RFP responses by reviewing terms and conditions and aligning commercial positions.
• Partner with project leadership to ensure contract commitments are operationally executable.
• Own the contract execution pipeline, removing blockers and maintaining momentum to signature.
• Maintain a real-time contract log capturing status, parties, project details, key clauses, and critical dates.
• Publish and enforce a repeatable contracting workflow including intake, review, approvals, signature, and storage.
• Coordinate internal reviews and approvals across departments and outside counsel.
• Ensure executed agreements are stored in a centralized, searchable repository with proper access and version control.
• Develop and maintain negotiation playbooks, clause libraries, and internal guidance documents.
• Validate and negotiate key contract terms such as indemnity, insurance, limitation of liability, warranties, dispute resolution, termination, liquidated damages, payment terms, performance guarantees, bonding, confidentiality, and IP/data/security provisions.
• Negotiate intellectual property and data rights provisions, especially related to Monitoring Based Commissioning deliverables.
• Identify recurring problematic clauses and drive template and process improvements.
• Ensure compliance with applicable local, state, and federal laws and industry standards.
• Provide day-to-day legal support on broader business matters including corporate governance, employment issues, vendor disputes, and compliance.
• Maintain a legal request intake and triage process, prioritizing and communicating guidance to stakeholders.
• Manage contract disputes, claims, and formal notice strategies in coordination with project leadership.
• Train stakeholders on contracting policies, standard positions, escalation triggers, and contracting hygiene.
• Protect intellectual property and confidentiality, including attorney-client privileged communications.
• Utilize AI tools to accelerate contract review processes while independently validating outputs.
• Establish internal guidelines for safe AI use in contract review.
• Build lightweight automations to improve contracting speed and consistency without compromising accuracy.

Requirements

• Juris Doctor (JD) from an ABA-accredited law school.
• Active license to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction, in good standing.
• 5–10+ years of relevant legal experience, including commercial and government contracting and negotiation in construction, energy services, or energy consulting.
• Proven experience leading negotiations and driving contracts to signature.
• Strong knowledge of core contract clauses such as indemnity, insurance, limitation of liability, warranties, dispute resolution, termination, payment, schedule/liquidated damages, flow-downs, and change management.
• Excellent judgment with the ability to set negotiation strategy, hold firm on critical terms, and align stakeholders on compromises.
• Exceptional written communication skills and ability to synthesize complex risks into clear recommendations.
• Highly organized with experience building and maintaining contract trackers, dashboards, and workflows.
• Demonstrated ability to balance AI tool use with independent judgment and accuracy validation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in construction environments, government contracting, and contract flow-downs.
• Experience with ESCOs and finance is desirable.
• Familiarity with bonding/surety concepts and risk/insurance coordination.
• Knowledge of intellectual property and data rights in analytics engagements.
• Experience partnering with outside counsel and managing approvals in fast-paced environments.

Location & Travel

This role is primarily remote with periodic travel to headquarters located in Denver, CO or Arlington, VA as needed to support critical negotiations.