VP, Litigation

VP, Litigation

Department: Legal

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: US-California-San Jose

Compensation: $305,400 - $420,000 / year

Reporting to the EVP, Chief Legal & Regulatory Officer, we’re seeking a strategic, pragmatic, and resilient Vice President of Litigation to lead Align’s global litigation function. This leader will lead enterprise litigation strategy, manage high-stakes disputes, and proactively mitigate risk across antitrust, intellectual property, product liability, shareholder, class action, privacy/AI, and regulatory matters.

The ideal candidate brings deep global litigation experience—especially in competition and patent law—paired with sound judgment, emotional intelligence, and a collaborative mindset.

This leader will serve as a key advisor to the EVP, Chief Legal & Regulatory Officer and a major contributor on the global legal, quality, and regulatory leadership team. The role will collaborate closely with executive and cross-functional leaders to manage litigation risk and support strategic business decisions. The VP will lead a high-performing global litigation team and oversee litigation operations, including AI-first initiatives and process innovation.

The role will partner closely with our VP Deputy General Counsel, Intellectual Property and other legal leaders to align litigation strategy with business goals.

• Lead global litigation strategy and execution across a broad portfolio of matters, with particular emphasis on competition, antitrust, and complex commercial disputes.
• Provide strategic legal counsel and practical guidance to business leaders to proactively address disputes and support business objectives through legally sound, pragmatic solutions.
• Oversee all phases of global litigation and investigations, including outside counsel selection and management, budgeting, discovery strategy, trial preparation, mediation, and settlements.
• Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing litigation team, including talent development and succession planning.
• Oversee litigation operations, including early case assessment, legal holds, AI tools, eDiscovery, and process simplification.
• Drive litigation prevention and risk management strategies through training, policy development, and early dispute resolution.
• Establish scalable systems and processes to manage litigation matters, discovery, and enterprise litigation risk across the company.
• Partner closely with the Deputy General Counsel and Intellectual Property Counsel to align litigation strategy across the legal organization.
• Lead offensive and defensive antitrust and competition matters globally, including regulatory and government investigations.
• Support the company’s antitrust and competition compliance roadmap, including policies, training, and escalation protocols in partnership with the Compliance team.
• Support the development of antitrust and competition strategies to enable compliant business decision‑making in a competitive landscape.
• Develop clear reporting and governance processes for material litigation matters, including executive and board-level updates.
• Support the identification, assessment, and disclosure of legal, regulatory, and compliance risks, including SEC filings and other public disclosures.
• Travel:
  Approximately 30% domestic and international.

• JD from an accredited US law school and admission in good standing to practice law in Arizona, California or North Carolina.
• Minimum 20 years of litigation experience, including trial experience, within a law firm, an in-house legal department, and/or a government or regulatory agency.
• Deep expertise in global antitrust/competition, and intellectual property litigation.
• Demonstrated success managing complex litigation portfolios, outside counsel, and legal budgets at scale.
• Exceptional judgment, executive presence, and the ability to translate legal risk into business decisions.
• A confident, approachable, collaborative leader who works effectively across legal teams and business partners to navigate complex disputes.

• Experience in medical device/healthcare or similarly regulated environments.
• Experience leading legal…