Counsel, ContractingRole SummaryThe Counsel - Contracting role reports to the Senior Counsel - R&D, Contracting & Strategy and serves as a legal adviser providing practical, business-oriented contracting support across all U.S. business and corporate functions of Servier Pharmaceuticals LLC and Servier Bio-Innovation LLC, with a focus on R&D-related contracting.
The role will independently draft, review, negotiate, and manage routine to complex agreements, while identifying and escalating higher-risk matters as appropriate. In addition, the role will support efforts to develop, operationalize, and improve contracting workflows, templates, playbooks, and third-party engagement processes that advance business objectives while managing legal, compliance, privacy, regulatory, and operational risk.
Primary Responsibilities- Provide practical, business-oriented contracting legal support across all U.S. functions within Servier, including R&D, Medical Affairs, Commercial, Market Access, Patient Services, Finance, Procurement, IT, and other corporate functions, with particular emphasis on R&D-related contracting needs.
- Draft, review, negotiate, and finalize a broad range of agreements supporting all business functions, including clinical trial agreements, sponsored research agreements, research collaborations, material transfer agreements, CDAs, consulting agreements, MSAs, SOWs, vendor and CRO agreements, work orders, change orders, sponsorships, grants, data use and transfer arrangements, privacy and data processing agreements, SaaS/IT licenses, amendments, and other business-critical contracts.
- Support negotiations by identifying key legal, compliance, privacy, regulatory, intellectual property, operational, and business risks and working with internal stakeholders to reach timely, practical, and risk-appropriate resolutions.
- Advise, counsel, and educate business stakeholders on legal and risk management considerations arising from their activities, including appropriate contracting pathways, approval requirements, confidentiality obligations, indemnification, termination rights, and other material contract terms.
- Monitor, manage, and report on the status of contracting matters to the Senior Counsel, including matter volume, priority matters, turnaround times, recurring issues, and opportunities to improve contracting processes and stakeholder experience.
- Partner with business clients to understand strategic objectives, operational needs, timelines, and risk tolerance, and provide solutions-oriented legal guidance.
- Identify and escalate significant legal, compliance, privacy, intellectual property, regulatory, or business risks to the Senior Counsel and other appropriate stakeholders, with recommended approaches for mitigation.
- Lead and own continuous improvement initiatives for the contracting function, including the development and updating of contract templates, playbooks, guidance materials, intake and triage workflows, CLM processes, knowledge management resources, metrics and reporting, process enhancements, and stakeholder training and education.
- Collaborate closely with other members of the U.S. Legal, Privacy, Ethics and Compliance, Procurement, Finance, as well as Global Legal and other global functions, on issues of shared responsibility.
Education and Required Skills- JD or LLM from an accredited US law school
- Admitted to practice in a recognized US jurisdiction and registered with the MA Board of Bar Overseers as Massachusetts In-House Counsel if not admitted in MA
- 7+ years of relevant legal experience, including experience in the biopharmaceutical, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare, or life sciences industry, with demonstrated experience drafting and negotiating a broad range of agreements across business functions and preferred experience with R&D-related contracting.
- Strong interpersonal & presentation skills, along with the ability to communicate and build relationships with others at all levels of the organization
- Ability to independently manage, prioritize, and follow through on a high volume of contracting matters, set appropriate priorities with internal clients, balance competing deadlines, and deliver results efficiently
- Willingness and proven ability to support a broad range of business functions while developing deeper expertise in R&D, clinical development, privacy, healthcare compliance, and technology contracting topics.
- Direct management experience, a plus
- Experience with Compliance-related topics (e.g., HCP engagement, off-label promotion, Anti-Kickback Statute, transparency reporting, etc.), a plus
- Tenure at a top-tier law firm practicing in the life sciences, pharmaceutical, biotech, digital health, and/or healthcare practice areas, a plus
Travel and Location- Boston-based role
- Hybrid role with expectation to be in the Seaport office 2-3 days per week
- Minimal travel as required
Job DescriptionCandidate ProfileSalary RangeThe salary range for this role is $228,000 - $275,000. An employee's pay position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, performance, and business or organizational needs. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range, and the range may be modified in the future. Employees in this position are also eligible for Short-Term and Long-Term incentive programs. Servier also offers a competitive and comprehensive benefits package that includes benefits such as medical, dental, vision, flexible time off (Servier provides unlimited sick time and flex time, and does not accrue time off), 401(k), life and disability insurance, recognition programs among other great benefits (all benefits are subject to eligibility requirements). For more information on our benefits, please visit this link.
