Director, Legal Affairs & Operations

Banyan Software | Toronto, ON (Hybrid - 3 days onsite) | Head Office Legal Team

This is not a typical in-house legal role. It is one of the most unique opportunities in the market for a commercially minded lawyer, and one of the most demanding.

You will serve as the primary legal resource for Banyan's growing portfolio of independent software businesses, acting as shared in-house counsel for a diverse group of operators who are running their businesses, not their legal function. At the same time, you will work directly alongside the General Counsel on Banyan HQ matters, including procurement, corporate governance, HQ employment, and commercial disputes (including purchase agreement claims with sellers post-close).

The role is primarily focused on North America, with connectivity to Banyan's UK/European and Australian teams as needed.

You will have direct reports: who support the broader legal function across the portfolio.

What makes this role unique is that it operates at two speeds simultaneously: reactive enough to be a trusted advisor when portfolio companies face a real legal problem, and strategic enough to build the infrastructure (templates, playbooks, training, and systems) that lets those same companies help themselves. You are not the bottleneck. You are the person who makes sure there does not need to be one.

This role is best suited to someone who has thrived in a lean, high-growth environment and finds energy in breadth rather than depth. The ability to context-switch quickly, operate with a light touch, and build things that scale is what makes someone successful here.

What You'll Do

Portfolio Company Shared Services

• Lead post-close legal onboarding for newly acquired portfolio companies: review their existing contract stack, identify gaps and risks, align templates and processes with Banyan standards, and build the foundation for the OpCo to manage its own commercial matters going forward. The goal is independence, not dependence. Once set up correctly, OpCos run their own commercial negotiations
• Maintain and develop a roster of overflow counsel across North America who service OpCo day-to-day legal needs, billing the OpCo directly. You train this network on Banyan standards and best practices and serve as the quality control layer across the relationship.
• Manage IP matters for the global portfolio through a dedicated external law firm relationship, coordinating filings, renewals, enforcement questions, and strategic IP matters on behalf of portfolio companies
• Advise portfolio companies on commercial disputes and litigation, engaging and managing external counsel where the matter warrants it. You are the strategic lead; you bring in the right resources at the right time
• Advise portfolio companies on high-risk employment matters, including executive employment contracts, complex or sensitive terminations, and escalated HR-adjacent legal questions that require counsel involvement
• Manage privacy and data incidents across the portfolio, working with Banyan's cyber insurance carriers and information security team to coordinate incident response, breach notifications, and remediation efforts
• Serve as a resource for the full range of strategic legal questions that arise across a diverse portfolio: real estate matters, product and technology questions, regulatory and compliance issues, and anything else that genuinely warrants legal input. If it is material to the business, it finds its way here

Portfolio Enablement - Your Biggest Impact

• Build and maintain a self-serve legal resource library: template contracts, negotiation playbooks, approval checklists, and plain-language guidance that empowers operators to move independently
• Design and run lunch and learn sessions and legal education programming for portfolio company teams across North America and beyond, no law degree required to understand
• Create the kind of materials that answer questions before they are asked, reducing legal friction and building operator confidence at scale
• Champion the principle that accessible legal infrastructure is a competitive advantage for the businesses we support, and prove it

HQ Legal Matters

• Serve as the General Counsel's right hand on all strategic legal matters at the Banyan level. This is a broad mandate: the GC's priorities are your priorities, and the scope of what lands here can be wide, varied, and fast-moving.
• Support day-to-day HQ legal needs, including procurement reviews (contracts for goods and services Banyan is purchasing), entity governance and maintenance, and escalation matters across the portfolio
• Advise on HQ employment matters including complex terminations, policy questions, workplace investigations, and HR-adjacent legal issues
• Manage disputes and post-close claims arising from Banyan's acquisitions, including purchase agreement disputes with sellers, working with external counsel where needed
• Engage cross-functionally with Banyan's M&A, Finance, HR, and Operations teams on legal matters that touch the holding company

AI & Legal Technology

• Actively lead and model AI adoption across legal workflows, not as a talking point, but as a practitioner who has done it and can demonstrate real impact
• Build AI-enabled processes that reduce turnaround time, improve consistency, and scale legal support across the portfolio
• Help portfolio companies understand how to use AI tools responsibly and effectively in their own operations
• Continuously evaluate and implement legal technology tools that make the function faster, more accessible, and more scalable

What We're Looking For

• Called to a Canadian Law Society or U.S. state bar, in good standing
• 6-9+ years of experience, with meaningful in-house time at a technology or software company. You have operated in a lean environment, owned a broad scope, and are comfortable being the primary legal voice in the room. Experience at large, highly structured organizations with narrow mandates is less likely to be the right preparation for this role.
• Demonstrated, hands-on use of AI tools in your legal practice: not theoretical familiarity, but actual workflow integration with results you can speak to
• Strong commercial judgment: the ability to identify what is actually material, give a plain-language answer, and help a business move forward
• Experience managing external counsel relationships, including coordinating instructions across matters, reviewing invoices, and ensuring the advice fits the business context
• An instinct for enablement: you would rather build something reusable than answer the same question fifty times
• Excellent drafting and communication skills: you write for operators, not judges
• Comfortable operating autonomously, advising senior leadership, and making good calls under ambiguity

Nice to Have

• Experience with M&A transactions: reviewing purchase agreements, conducting due diligence, or supporting post-close integration
• Familiarity with multi-jurisdiction corporate governance and entity management across Canada, the U.S., UK, or Australia
• Prior experience in a shared services, portfolio, or multi-company legal model

What We Offer

Location: Toronto, ON, Canada (hybrid - 3 days / week in-office)

Travel: Periodic (~10%)

Compensation: CAD $175,000-$200,000 base salary, excluding annual bonus and equity (when applicable). Salary is based on a number of factors including market conditions, location and may vary depending on job-related skills and experience.

This position is for an existing vacancy.