Director - Technology Transactions (Legal)

Summary:

• Cognizant invites application from qualified law graduates for the position of Director within the Global Alliance, Product Licensing and Tech Procurement team. The candidate will be required to oversee the contract review and negotiation with vendors and clients as required for Cognizant's business operations. Contribute to the success of Cognizant and its subsidiaries through providing a professional in-house service as Senior Director - Legal. Undertake responsibilities relating to Commercial Contracts, General Legal Advisory and Legal Operations.

Responsibilities:

• Partnering with various business units of Cognizant and help them in creating contractual framework to support Cognizant business.
• Be conversant with handling various legal matters and adept in drafting, vetting and negotiating various global Contracts and other documents including Software License and subscription agreements, Alliance/Teaming agreements, client contracts, sub-contracts, vendor service agreements, RFP(s) etc.
• Analysing legal implications of various legal, commercial and operational risks in a contract and advising internal stakeholders of possible mitigations.
• Coordinating with various internal stakeholders and obtaining their input on contractual provision pertaining to their domain and assimilating them in the contract draft and create associations of trust and respect with key stakeholders. Provide effective support and guidance and day to day line management including professional supervision as required, to the business teams.
• Collaborate within the legal team to share knowledge, improve efficiency and continuously increase the added value of the legal function for the business.
• Drive initiatives to align with the learning culture and add value through the processes and practices.
• Actively manage team and direct reports to ensure high quality services and professionally handle any escalations (being a co-chair) or issues. Be responsible for the career progression of direct reports.
• Oversee work allocation across the team and take decisions as to how to resource the work (outsourcing/insourcing) in consultation with global legal leadership team
• Ensure appropriate service levels are maintained for business units and manage relationships effectively. Setting internal governance policies and manage the impact of external factors.
• Operate within given budget and resources and uphold departmental code of conduct and guidelines. Ability to develop legal strategy and objectives for the team.
• Identify innovative ideas for transformation to drive greater efficiency in the delivery of services to internal clients at Cognizant, including improvement of processes, people, and improved data gathering.
• Good knowledge on automation and working experience with various contracting tools, industry best practices on processes around contract lifecycle management, management of operational and productivity metrics on commercial contracting.
• Understand, engage and help manage deal, provide sufficient advance warning to Cognizant senior management of risks.
• Lead the development and implementation of any training program/mentorship/coaching and industry best practices.
• Keep abreast of legislative changes and set internal governance policies and manage the impact of external factors.

Requirements:

• Excellent written and oral communication skills and the ability to communicate and draft fluently
• A minimum of 15-20 years of legal experience, including strong transactional and negotiation experience gained at leading in-house at major multinational technology corporation
• The candidate must be a self-starter, have passion for technology, and enjoy working strategically and being continually challenged
• Well-versed in how IT businesses operate with financial acumen and have high degree of professional ethics, integrity, excellent judgment and analytical skills
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills and ability to anticipate legal issues or risks
• Experience in managing teams across locations and mentor and coach team members.

Certifications Required:

• Law Degree from a leading university and/or law school.