Assoc. Corporate Counsel

COMPANY:

At BioCryst, we share a deep commitment to improving the lives of people living with complement-mediated and other rare diseases. For over three decades we've been guided by our passion for not settling for "ordinary" in our quest to develop novel medicines. We leverage our expertise in structure-guided drug design to develop first-in-class or best-in-class oral small-molecule and protein therapeutics, led by the efforts of our team of expert scientists in our Discovery Center of Excellence in Birmingham, Alabama. Our global headquarters is in Durham, North Carolina, our European headquarters is in Dublin, Ireland and our employees span the globe across sites in multiple countries. We are proud of our culture of engagement and accountability that rewards people for innovative thinking and achievement of key objectives. For more information, please visit our website at www.biocryst.com or follow uson LinkedIn and Instagram.

JOB SUMMARY:

The Associate Corporate Counsel will be the primary contact responsible for drafting and negotiating of a wide range of company contracts. In addition, the attorney will provide additional corporate, transactional and other legal support to the SVP & Chief Legal Officer (CLO) as part of the legal team for the company. As a part of a small but efficient and productive legal team, the incoming attorney will have the opportunity to explore, tackle and solve a wide variety of legal issues and act as a business partner to the business team. With an excellent work-ethic, the person in this role must be intellectually curious and ready to enthusiastically tackle novel legal and industry issues while providing overall legal support to a growing company.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Draft, review and negotiate contracts across all areas of the company, including but not limited to, non-disclosure, consulting, service, commercial contracts, and clinical trial agreements.
• Manage contract processing, such as routing for approvals, tracking, and storage, for assigned portfolio.
• Manage complex transactions, including drafting, reviewing and negotiating a wide range of company contracts to support both clinical development and commercial initiatives.
• Facilitate internal contract approval and stakeholder negotiation to resolve complex issues and assist in disputes (escalating complex legal and factual issues to the appropriate internal parties). Communicates with business units ensuring all obligations are being met (e.g., milestones, deliverables, invoicing etc.).
• Draft and update appropriate templates, develop contract management process, investigate streamline efficiencies to enhance contract management process, and work with business units to develop contract negotiation strategies, resolve contract issues, and best practices to support the organization.
• Provide direction and guidance related to the contracting process. Provide input to the development, maintenance, and management of contracting policies and procedures.
• Ensure consistency of contract terms with company policies, goals, and best practices to enhance the contracts review processes.
• Research issues and support the company in providing a wide range of strategic legal advice to the CLO and internal clients.
• Interpret contract requirements, obligations and risk exposure and advise on same.
• Educate business partners on key commercial, legal, corporate policy and other considerations to ensure timely performance and adherence to terms of contracts. Prepare contract summaries to assure proper interpretation of contracts to cross functional teams within the organization.
• Assists CLO and law department with internal law department business operations, including budget management, internal knowledge management and liaising with outside counsel as authorized by CLO.
• Assisting in the development, implementation, design, and launch of all law department systems and processes.
• Provide support to law department on intellectual property, compliance and regulatory matters as directed by CLO.
• Other duties as assigned.

EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS:

• Position requires a Juris Doctorate and membership in good standing with the State Bar with 1+ years of corporate (or an equivalent combination of education and experience, such as related experience at a law firm), including developing negotiating and managing a wide variety of commercial contracts and development agreements, ideally within the pharmaceutical industry or similar contract manufacturing/supply chain solution provider.
• Proven negotiation abilities and business acumen evidenced by experience in a related professional role.
• Customer-centric and solutions-oriented approach in supporting both external and internal clients while protecting the best interest of the company.
• Experience in a global business environment.
• Experience developing, driving and implementing legal solutions.
• Ability to deliver strong results with limited resources, under tight deadlines and with a high degree of accuracy.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to handle multiple projects at once.
• Ability to maintain strict confidentiality of sensitive information.
• Team player capable of leading and participating within cross-functional project teams to meet key milestones under tight timelines and stressful conditions.

The statements in this position description are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified. The manager may assign additional responsibilities and assignments from time to time.

BioCryst is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing equal employment opportunities without regard to age, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, Veterans status, disability and/or other protected class characteristics. Additionally, BioCryst is committed to achieving its business objectives in compliance with all federal, state and local law.