Associate General Counsel – Contracts & Legal Operations

Associate General Counsel – Contracts & Legal Operations

Join to apply for the Associate General Counsel – Contracts & Legal Operations role at Compeer Financial

This position offers a hybrid work option up to 50% and is based out of any Compeer Financial office, such as the Naperville, IL, Lakeville, MN, Sun Prairie, WI, or Bloomington, IL office locations.

This position provides legal counsel and strategic contracting support for third‑party and vendor engagements and our library of commercial loan document templates. It reviews and advises on specific commercial and agricultural credit agreements as needed. The role develops and maintains a contracting standards framework, reviews third‑party contracts, drafts agreements, and leads the harmonization of the organization’s commercial and agricultural lending contract templates.

• Reviews and negotiates technology, vendor, and service provider contracts, applying consistent standards and appropriate legal risk judgment, with an emphasis on technology and outsourced services (e.g., SaaS, cloud/hosting, managed services, professional services/SOWs, data processing, and strategic vendor arrangements).
• Develops, maintains, and continuously improves a contracting standards framework (e.g., checklists, contract playbooks, and escalation thresholds) that enable efficient, consistent contract review.
• Provides timely, practical legal advice to internal business partners to enable business objectives while managing legal and regulatory risk.
• Makes risk‑based decisions on contract terms, including liability allocation, indemnification, intellectual property, confidentiality, data security, audit rights, and dispute resolution.
• Approves legal risk exceptions where contracts deviate from organizational standards, documenting rationale and any compensating considerations.
• Partners with members of the Legal team to ensure efficient intake, triage, and turnaround of contract review and negotiation requests. Handles escalated negotiations with third parties when standard terms are rejected or when business needs require non‑standard agreements.

• Responsible for the organization’s inventory of commercial and agricultural lending contract templates, including loan agreements, security instruments, guarantees, and related documents.
• Harmonizes legacy forms to standardize provisions, align risk management approaches, and ensure template documents work together coherently.
• Manages the periodic review cycle for legal forms, coordinating and contributing to in‑house and outside counsel review according to established schedules and risk tiers.
• Works with the Legal team on version control, metadata management, and template distribution processes.

• Serves as backup legal counsel to the organization’s commercial finance and capital markets teams, providing contract review and legal advice on a portfolio of complex commercial syndicated and participated middle market, large corporate, and institutional loans.
• Supports the review of loan pool purchases when the organization purchases pools of commercial or agricultural loans.
• Works closely with the Legal and Compliance department during periods of absence or high volume.

• Champions the brand; serves as a role‑model for the vision, mission and values of the organization. Supports Compeer’s strategic initiatives.
• Assists leadership in defining the legal team’s strategic direction and goals.
• Keeps abreast of industry best practices. Identifies and executes efficient and effective practices that enhance the team’s value.

• Juris Doctor from an American Bar Association accredited law school.
• Admission to practice law in at least one U.S. State (and the ability to obtain admission in Minnesota, Wisconsin or Illinois within the first year).
• Intermediate‑level experience (4+ years) in commercial transactions, contracts, or lending, whether in a law firm or corporate law department.
• Experience developing or improving contract processes, templates, playbooks, or…