Commercial Counsel

Ann Arbor, Michigan – Commercial Counsel #1050996

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• Serve as NSCE's primary legal partner for commercial activity across the renewables 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.

• 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 elevate 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.

• 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.

• 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…