General Information

Country: USA

State: Michigan

City: Grand Rapids

Office Location: 901 44th Street SE - - - Grand Rapids -Michigan -

Date posted: 19-Aug-2026

Business Function: Legal

Position Type: Full-Time/Regular

Description

We are hiring a Deputy General Counsel to serve as a key member of the Legal Leadership Team and a strategic advisor to executive leadership. In this role, you will partner closely with senior business leaders to provide practical, risk-based legal advice that enables growth, operational excellence, and strategic transformation while protecting the company's interests.

This position works closely with the General Counsel of HNI Corporation to establish legal priorities, lead attorneys and legal professionals, manage significant legal and commercial matters, and ensure the Legal function effectively supports business objectives across the enterprise.

You will play a critical role in shaping commercial strategy, supporting business transformation, advancing compliance programs, and managing enterprise risk across a complex and evolving organization.

What You Will Be Doing:

Legal Leadership and Functional Management
• Partner with the General Counsel to establish legal priorities, operating plans, and strategic objectives for the Legal function.
• Lead, develop, and mentor attorneys, legal professionals, compliance personnel, and legal support staff.
• Drive talent development, succession planning, and organizational effectiveness across the Legal and Compliance teams.
• Allocate legal and compliance resources while managing outside counsel and key external service providers.

Strategic Business Partnership
• Serve as a trusted advisor to executive and senior business leaders on strategic, operational, commercial, and organizational matters.
• Provide practical legal guidance that balances business objectives with legal, regulatory, and compliance considerations.
• Participate in leadership discussions involving enterprise strategy, organizational changes, restructuring efforts, and business transformation initiatives.

Commercial and Operational Legal Support
• Lead legal support for significant customer, supplier, distribution, technology, and other complex commercial transactions.
• Advise leaders on high-impact negotiations, contractual risk allocation, dispute resolution, business partnerships, and commercial strategy.
• Support major enterprise initiatives that impact business operations, profitability, and growth.

Enterprise Risk and Compliance
• Identify and assess significant legal, regulatory, operational, and reputational risks facing the organization.
• Partner with Compliance, Human Resources, Finance, Internal Audit, and other functions to strengthen enterprise risk management practices.
• Monitor emerging legal and regulatory developments and advise business leaders regarding potential business implications.
• Lead or support legal aspects of mergers, acquisitions, integrations, restructurings, and other transformational initiatives.
• Develop scalable legal processes, operating practices, governance structures, and organizational frameworks that support long-term business success.
• Continuously identify opportunities to improve legal service delivery, operational effectiveness, and cross-functional collaboration throughout the enterprise.

Who You Are:

You are a strategic, business-minded legal leader who combines exceptional legal expertise with strong business judgment. You excel at translating complex legal and regulatory issues into clear, actionable and practical guidance for senior leaders and are skilled at balancing risk management with business objectives.

You build strong partnerships across functions, influence effectively at the executive level, and thrive in environments characterized by growth, transformation, and organizational complexity. You are passionate about developing talent, strengthening teams, and creating practical solutions that enable business success.

Minimum Qualifications
• Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from an accredited law school.
• Active license to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
• 15+ years of progressively responsible legal experience.
• Significant experience advising executive leadership on complex business and legal matters.
• Demonstrated people leadership experience, including coaching, developing, and managing attorneys or legal professionals.
• Experience leading significant commercial, operational, regulatory, corporate, or strategic legal matters.
• Strong legal analysis, negotiation, communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Proven ability to simplify complex legal issues into practical business guidance.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to balance legal risk and commercial objectives.
• Experience managing outside counsel and large legal portfolios.

Preferred Qualifications
• Experience supporting complex manufacturing, industrial, distribution, or global business organizations.
• Experience advising organizations through business transformations, integrations, mergers, acquisitions, or significant organizational change.
• Demonstrated success leading large-scale cross-functional initiatives.
• Strong executive presence and ability to influence senior leaders and stakeholders.
• Experience leading compliance programs or managing compliance professionals within a legal organization.
• Combination of law firm and in-house corporate legal experience.
• Experience building and improving legal operations, governance structures, and enterprise risk management practices.
• Proven track record of developing high-performing legal and compliance teams.

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