Senior Corporate Counsel, Transactions-NorthStar Clean Energy

NorthStar Clean Energy decarbonizes the economy by providing clean energy and carbon management solutions to utility, municipal, commercial, and industrial customers enabling them to meet their sustainability and business goals. Additionally, we own and operate natural gas assets throughout the United States. To learn more about NorthStar Clean Energy, please visit www.northstarcleanenergy.com.

This position is with NorthStar Clean Energy, a CMS Energy company, and is not a position of employment with Consumers Energy.   

The Senior Corporate Counsel at NorthStar Clean Energy Company plays a pivotal role in collaborating with internal and external stakeholders to draft, negotiate, finalize, and execute a wide range of complex commercial agreements. This position involves providing strategic advice and counsel to colleagues, skillfully balancing business profitability with the need to ensure contract structures and terms protect the company and minimize risk, thereby facilitating the company's realization of its commercial objectives. Additionally, the role includes building best-in-class contract lifecycle management processes, preparing training programs and toolkits for internal teams, and maintaining a comprehensive library of contract templates.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Providing a broad range of legal analysis and problem-solving in the context of complex commercial contracts, including identifying legal issues and structuring a wide variety of customary and innovative transactions.
• Providing advice and counsel to colleagues that balances the needs of the business for profitability with ensuring the contractual terms and conditions protect the Company and minimize risk.
• Analyzing complex legal and regulatory materials and communicating relevant implications on contractual terms in clear and simple language, both written and oral, appropriate to the audience.
• Collaborating with internal teams and, as applicable, external financial, legal, and technical advisors to keep them advised of potential issues or risks throughout the contract development, negotiation, and conclusion.
• Remaining current on legal decisions, statutory changes, and energy/renewables industry developments, and advising clients accordingly.
• Negotiating a wide range of commercial agreements and other documents with a wide variety of counterparties within and beyond the energy industry.
• Ability to manage competing priorities, simultaneously drive numerous projects, identify, and resolve business and legal issues, and earn the confidence of internal business and operations professionals.
• Building out “best in class” contract life cycle management processes and practices
• Preparing training programs and tool kits for the internal teams.
• Other non-essential duties as assigned or may be necessary

PositionRequirements:

• Have experience with a broad array of complex commercial contracts, preferably relating to construction, consulting, engineering, equipment procurement, asset management, interconnection, and/or real estate.
• Ability to assess business challenges, make pragmatic recommendations under pressure and identify, prioritize, and resolve issues quickly and independently while balancing legal risks and business interests.
• Collaborate and build strong relationships with cross-functional teams, including finance, tax, regulatory, accounting, and asset management.
• Have the ability to deliver a high level of client service and perform excellent work under time pressure.
• Have the willingness to develop skills in new areas, and flexibility to assist the legal team in its activities and its mission as needs arise.
• Have excellent work ethic, communication skills, drafting skills, and judgment.
• Proficiency in DocuSign, Adobe Acrobat Pro and Teams; Microsoft Office Suite skills: Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook, SharePoint, Excel, and PowerPoint; and Comparison software platforms such as Litera Compare.
• The ideal candidate will have 4+ years of experience, providing in-house counsel, for large companies in the area of legal contracts.
• Juris Doctor from accredited law school required
• Active Bar License with any US jurisdiction required
   

Why should you join our team?

At NorthStar Clean Energy, we offer more than just a place to work. We foster a culture that supports career development, growth, and stability, and we take pride in offering our co-workers excellent benefits and compensation packages. We are deliberately creating an inclusive culture that makes our diverse team of co-workers feel valued, supported, and empowered every day. We're a company made up of thousands of people, all with different stories to share and work to do, but we stand united in our company purpose: world class performance delivering hometown service.

What we offer:

• Competitive compensation packages
• Medical, Dental and Vision
• 401k with company match
• Paid parental leave
• Up to 13 paid Holidays
• Paid time off
• Educational Assistance Program

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: 

We, at NorthStar Clean Energy, value Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. It is part of our DNA. We treat our employees with respect, we treat each other fairly and we value the opinions of others. We are passionate about building and nurturing an environment where everyone feels included. We don’t discriminate. We seek to learn about each other and better understand our unique differences. Our uniqueness makes us authentic. We create safe spaces where everyone can be who they truly are. We invite difficult conversations and uncomfortable topics. We value diverse perspectives; this is what makes us great together. We harbor an inclusive environment where employees feel empowered to share their backgrounds, experiences, and ideas. Our Employee Resource Groups, Women’s Advisory Panel (WAP), Women’s in Energy (WE), Minority Advisory Panel (MAP), Pride Alliance of Consumers Energy (PACE), GENERGY, capable, Interfaith and Veterans Advisory Panel (VAP) are key enablers to living the values of our company culture: Caring, Empowered, Deliberate, Agility, and Ownership.

All qualified applicants will not be discriminated against and will receive consideration for employment without regard to protected veteran status, disability, race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin.