Sr. contract attorney

At Colibri, culture is a critical part of our collective success, and we live our values everyday: Love, Joy, Boldness, Teamwork and Curiosity. These values guide our interactions with each other, our customers, and the community as a whole.

We have a rich and storied history. Colibri is one of the pioneers of online professional education, introducing some of the first web-based professional education courses in 2001. Today, the company’s family of brands are the leading online professional education platforms in their respective end-markets. We proudly serve >1 million customers annually and employ more than 1,500 mission-aligned professionals. To learn more, please visit: www.colibrigroup.com

Position Overview:

Colibri Group is seeking a practical, business-oriented Commercial Contracts Attorney to join its Legal, Regulatory and Compliance team. Reporting to the General Counsel, this attorney will play a lead role in the review, drafting and negotiation of a broad range of commercial agreements supporting Colibri’s businesses and corporate functions.

The role is intentionally broad. Colibri contracts both as a provider of products and services and as a purchaser of technology, services, content and other goods and services. The successful candidate therefore should be an experienced commercial generalist who is comfortable moving between customer-facing and vendor-side agreements rather than specializing in a single contract type or business model.

In addition to handling commercial transactions, this attorney will help improve and bring greater structure to Colibri’s contracting function. This includes developing templates and negotiation playbooks, establishing consistent contracting and escalation practices, improving contract intake and lifecycle-management processes, and helping Colibri more effectively use its AI-enabled contract management technology.

What You'll Do

Commercial Contracting

• Draft, review and negotiate a broad range of commercial agreements on both the customer and vendor sides of transactions, including master services agreements, statements of work, order forms, subscription and technology agreements, software and SaaS agreements, professional and consulting services agreements, licensing agreements, content agreements, marketing agreements, distribution and referral agreements, data processing agreements, confidentiality agreements and other commercial arrangements.
• Independently manage routine and moderately complex commercial negotiations from intake through execution, identifying material legal and business risks and developing practical solutions that enable the business to achieve its objectives.
• Exercise sound judgment in determining when an issue can be resolved within established parameters and when a matter should be escalated to the General Counsel or another subject-matter expert.
• Translate business objectives and operational requirements into clear contractual terms and explain contractual risks and alternatives to business stakeholders in practical, understandable terms.
• Partner closely with business teams to understand the commercial context of transactions and distinguish material legal and business risks from issues that do not warrant delaying or disrupting a transaction.

Contracting Operations and Process Improvement

• Help design and implement a more consistent and scalable contracting function, including contract intake, review, approval, signature, storage, renewal and post-execution processes.
• In partnership with the General Counsel, develop and maintain contract templates, clause libraries, negotiation guidance, contracting playbooks and escalation standards to promote consistency and enable appropriate delegation of contract review.
• Take an active role in the administration, optimization and adoption of Colibri’s AI-enabled contract lifecycle management and contract review technology, including identifying opportunities to automate routine work, improve contract visibility and reduce manual processes.
• Evaluate existing contracting practices and identify practical improvements to workflow, documentation, reporting, approval processes and allocation of work within the Legal team.
• Develop appropriate metrics and reporting to provide visibility into contract volume, cycle times, status, recurring negotiation issues, renewal obligations and other useful contracting information.
• Maintain reliable contract records and promote consistent use of the Company’s contract repository and related systems.
• Identify recurring contractual issues and use those trends to recommend changes to templates, guidance, training or business processes.

Team Leadership and Stakeholder Support

• Provide day-to-day supervision, coaching and development to internal contract specialists.
• Establish clear expectations regarding which matters may be handled by contract specialists, which require attorney review and which require escalation to the General Counsel or other subject-matter experts.
• Review and support the work of contract specialists on contract administration, routine negotiations and related contracting activities.

What You'll Need to Succeed

• Juris Doctor from an accredited law school.
• Active membership in good standing in at least one U.S. state bar.
• Approximately 5–8 years of relevant legal experience, including meaningful responsibility for drafting and negotiating commercial agreements. A combination of law firm and in-house experience is acceptable.
• Demonstrated experience negotiating agreements from both the customer and vendor/procurement perspectives, or sufficiently broad commercial contracting experience to work effectively on both sides of transactions.
• Substantive experience independently negotiating data processing agreements and privacy and data-protection provisions in commercial contracts.
• Working knowledge of major privacy and data protection concepts applicable to commercial transactions, including GDPR and U.S. state privacy requirements.
• Experience using a contract lifecycle management system or comparable contract management technology.
• Experience using AI-enabled contract review, drafting, analysis or contract-management tools, with an interest in using technology to improve the quality and efficiency of legal services.
• Experience supervising, mentoring or directing the work of contract specialists, paralegals or other legal professionals.
• Demonstrated ability to independently manage a meaningful volume of contracts with competing deadlines and varying levels of complexity.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior in-house legal experience.
• Experience implementing, materially improving or administering a contract lifecycle management system.
• Experience helping create or refine contract templates, clause libraries, negotiation playbooks, approval matrices or escalation procedures.
• Experience working in an organization with multiple business units, products or service offerings and a correspondingly diverse portfolio of commercial agreements.
• Experience improving a contracting environment that previously relied heavily on manual processes or decentralized practices.
• Familiarity with commercial technology, intellectual property, information security and AI-related contractual issues.

What Success Looks like

• Prior in-house legal experience.
• Experience implementing, materially improving or administering a contract lifecycle management system.
• Experience helping create or refine contract templates, clause libraries, negotiation playbooks, approval matrices or escalation procedures.
• Experience working in an organization with multiple business units, products or service offerings and a correspondingly diverse portfolio of commercial agreements.
• Experience improving a contracting environment that previously relied heavily on manual processes or decentralized practices.
• Familiarity with commercial technology, intellectual property, information security and AI-related contractual issues.

Colibri Group welcomes applicants from all backgrounds and experiences, and we understand that not every candidate will meet every requirement listed in the job description. Research has shown that women and people of color may be less likely to apply to jobs unless they feel they meet every qualification, and we want to actively combat this bias in our hiring process. If you're excited about the role and believe you have the skills and experience to contribute to our team, we encourage you to apply, even if your background doesn't align perfectly with every qualification listed. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, and we believe that diversity of perspectives and experiences is essential to our success. You may be just the right candidate for this role or another position within our organization. Don't hesitate to take the leap and apply today!