Associate General Counsel – Contracts & Legal Operations IL-Naperville; MN-Lakeville; WI-Su

Associate General Counsel – Contracts & Legal Operations

IL-Naperville; MN-Lakeville; WI-Sun Prairie; IL-Bloomington;
Open to any Compeer location

Compeer Financial is a member‑owned cooperative located in Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin. We bring together team members with a variety of backgrounds and experiences to help provide financial services to support agriculture and rural communities. Join us in a culture that not only promotes meaningful work and professional development, but provides a flexible, hybrid work environment and excellent benefits, which empower you to thrive both personally and professionally.

• Hybrid model – up to 50% work from home
• Flexible schedules including ample flexibility in the summer months
• Up to 9% towards 401k (3% fixed Compeer contribution plus up to 6% match)
• Benefits: medical, dental, vision, HSA/FSA, life & AD&D insurance, short‑term and long‑term disability, wellness program & EAP
• Vacation, sick leave, holidays/floating holidays, parental leave, and volunteer paid time off
• Learning and development programs
• Cross‑functional committee opportunities (i.e. Inclusion Council, emerging professional groups, etc.)
• Professional membership/certification reimbursement and more!

Casual/seasonal & intern team members are not eligible for benefits except for state‑mandated programs.

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. Reviews and advises on specific commercial and agricultural credit agreements as needed.

• Substantive legal judgment that enables our compliance and operational team members to execute at scale by developing and maintaining contract standards (including checklists, templates, clause libraries, and negotiation playbooks), reviewing third‑party contracts, negotiating and drafting agreements, making risk‑based legal decisions, and leading the harmonization and periodic review of the organization’s library of commercial and agricultural lending contract templates.

Commercial Contract Review and Negotiation

• 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/SOW’s, 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.

Contract Forms Management

• Responsible for the organization’s inventory of commercial and agricultural lending contract templates, including loan agreements, security instruments, guarantees, and related documents.
• Responsible for the effort to harmonize the organization’s 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…