Commercial Counsel

Job Title:

Commercial Counsel

Location:

Hybrid, Ann Arbor, MI

Job Type: Contract

Expected hours per week

40 hours per week

Schedule

Monday – Friday, Hybrid

Pay Range

$125 an hour

Serve as NSCE's primary legal partner for commercial activity across the renewable's lifecycle, with a focus on procurement and project delivery contracting (development, EPC/construction, long-lead equipment, supply, services, O&M, and strategic vendor relationships). Lead negotiation strategy and drafting to achieve disciplined risk allocation, enforceable performance protections, and repeatable contracting outcomes. Partner closely with Procurement, Project Delivery, Engineering, and Finance to enable execution, reduce friction, and prevent disputes through clear positions, playbooks, and scalable contracting processes.



Key Responsibilities

Lead drafting, review, and negotiation of complex commercial agreements (EPC/construction, supply, services, MSAs/SOWs, NDAs, O&M, technology/software) across NSCE's portfolio.

Provide practical legal advice on risk allocation (remedies, schedule/performance protections, payment structures, warranties/defects, limitation of liability, indemnities, insurance, dispute resolution).

Serve as primary counsel to Procurement for sourcing execution, including RFP/bid terms, supplier onboarding requirements, contracting pathways, and procurement governance.

Partner with Project Delivery and Engineering to align scopes, specifications, deliverables, acceptance criteria, and change management with contractual protections and enforce ability.

Identify and escalate material commercial/legal risks early; recommend mitigation options, tradeoffs, and credible escalation paths for executive decision-makers.

Support templates, clause libraries, playbooks, preferred/fallback positions, and approval authorities in partnership with Associate General Counsel and Legal Operations to accelerate repeatable contracting.

Support dispute prevention and pre-dispute positioning through clear drafting, correspondence strategy, and contract administration guidance; coordinate escalations as needed.

Partner with Finance, Tax, Insurance & Risk, and Asset Management to align commercial terms with project economics, risk transfer strategy, and operational realities.

Support adoption of contracting workflows/technology (e.g., CLM), maintain clean contracting records, and contribute to dashboards/metrics as requested.

Coordinate outside counsel for specialized commercial matters or disputes (as needed), including scope control, deliverable quality, and cost management.

Other Non-essential Duties As Assigned Or May Be Necessary.

Skills:
Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

Deep commercial contracting and negotiation skills in contract-intensive industries (renewables/energy/construction/infrastructure preferred).

Strong understanding of procurement and vendor management levers (performance standards, warranties, remedies, limitations of liability, indemnities, insurance).

Experience drafting and negotiating complex commercial and construction agreements that are clear, enforceable, and operationally usable.

Strong understanding of risk allocation in major capital projects and escalation judgment, including dispute avoidance and pre-dispute positioning.

Negotiation strength with calm execution and credible guidance on tradeoffs and fallback positions.

Continuous improvement mindset: building templates/playbooks and capturing lessons learned to increase repeatability and reduce friction.

Strong communication and stakeholder management, enabling business teams while protecting NSCE's risk posture.

Commitment to integrity, confidentiality, and legally sound decision-making.

Keywords

Education:

Position Requirements :

Juris Doctor (JD) from an accredited law school is required Active license to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction, in good standing is required

7+ years of relevant commercial contracting experience drafting and

7+ negotiating complex agreements with sophisticated counter parties,

7+ ideally in renewables, energy, construction, infrastructure,

7+ manufacturing, or similarly contract-intensive industries; experience

7+ partnering closely with procurement/supply chain and supporting

7+ time-sensitive deal cycles, is required

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