Senior Counsel

What if your job had a real impact? 

By joining Bonduelle, the world leader in ready-to-use plant-based food, you are deciding to make a positive and sustainable impact on yourself, others, and the planet. You will play an active part in our mission: "inspire the transition toward a plant-based diet to contribute to people's well-being and planet health". Bonduelle is a family-run company of 14,600 people which provides over 100 countries with vegetables. 

Well established in the United States, our business unit includes 4 production facilities with more than 3,200 associates. We process fresh vegetables, salads and meal solutions with our own brands: Ready Pac Foods®, Bistro®, Ready Snax®, Cool Cuts® and Bonduelle Fresh Picked™. Join us at Bonduelle to start an adventure where people come first and contribute to a better future through plant-based food!

Position Summary:
The Senior Counsel will report to the General Counsel and contribute to the continued development of the legal function. The Senior Counsel will be engaged in day-to-day counseling of stakeholders across the business on various matters, seeking to understand needs, helping to inform and educate, and evangelizing best practices. Counseling work will vary depending on business needs, with particular focus on matters relating to employment compliance and best practices, and the creation and propagation of policies. The Senior Counsel will also have primary responsibility for the review and management of the company’s heavy volume of commercial contracts. The ideal candidate will be eager to learn all areas of the business and will desire to develop the skill set of an in-house generalist. They will have the ability to work under pressure in a fast-paced, innovative, rapidly changing environment, getting up to speed on new areas of law quickly and effectively, and will be comfortable with competing and shifting priorities. This attorney will have excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to distill complex legal jargon to easy-to-understand issues and solutions. By your key position in our company you will support our environmental and social initiatives to drive progress against our 2025 corporate social responsibility and B Corp certification ambitions.

What you’ll be doing:

• Working closely with Human Resources and managing a broad array of employment and
• wage-and-hour issues arising in various U.S. jurisdictions.
• Performing early assessment of employment-related litigation matters, managing related
• discovery, and working with outside counsel to develop related case strategy.
• Managing customer audits relating to ESG and CSR issues.
• Working with and advising in-house clients directly regarding commercial transactions.
• Providing risk mitigation advice and counsel as needed on a broad range of regulatory and
• legal matters.
• Providing guidance and counsel on IP matters, including guidance on marketing, advertising, claim substantiation, and IP protection, and participating in the development of IP policies.
• Developing internal policies and procedures to ensure compliance with applicable
• international, federal, state, and local laws and regulations.
• Perform other related duties as assigned by General Counsel.
   

Desired Qualifications:

• J.D. and active member of the California state bar.
• Minimum of 6 years of experience with significant responsibility for handling workload with minimum supervision.
• Combined experience in a law firm and in-house legal experience preferred.
• Significant experience, preferably in an in-house environment, with employment and wage-and-hour matters, including counseling regarding related policies and procedures.
• Significant experience, preferably in an in-house environment, negotiating a wide variety of commercial contracts, including but not limited to procurement, customer/sales agreements, NDAs, and MSAs.
• Experience creating contract templates.
• Experience managing contract databases is a plus.
• Experience advising clients with respect to corporate governance, data privacy and security, and IP issues is a plus.

Required Qualifications:

• Strong relationship building and leadership skills.
• Ability to provide entrepreneurial, pragmatic, business-oriented advice.
• Ability to analyze legal issues through risk assessment, risk management, and pragmatic decision-making lenses, rather than simply identifying areas of potential legal risk.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment with a high level of professionalism and outstanding business judgment.
• Ability to work collaboratively with multiple constituents and a willingness to complete work tasks outside of immediate job responsibilities, as needed.
• Excellent analytical, verbal, and written communications skills, including the ability to advise and influence a broad spectrum of constituents at all levels.
• Ability to prioritize and work on multiple projects in different areas, independently and simultaneously.
• Willingness and desire to learn new skills and areas of the law.

Pay Range: $180,000 - $220,000

Bonduelle Fresh Americas does not require employees to be COVID-19 vaccinated and/or boostered at this time, but does require disclosure of vaccination status and supporting documents. Bonduelle Fresh Americas reserves the right to modify any internal policies, including safety policies, as needed and in compliance with all applicable laws.

Bonduelle Fresh Americas is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe in hiring individuals from diverse backgrounds and experiences to create a workforce that truly reflects our communities. All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), age, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, parental status, ancestry, disability, gender identity, veteran status, genetic information, other distinguishing characteristics of diversity and inclusion, or any other legally protected status. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodation to veterans and individuals with disabilities or special needs during the application process and employment. If you need assistance, please contact us at (626) 856-8686 or bfa-info@bonduelle.com.