Sr. Counsel, Legal, SSG

This role will serve as a key legal partner to the Solutions and Services Group (SSG) in NA, advising on complex services and solutions transactions including DaaS, IaaS, Managed Services and Industry Solutions.

• Manage the legal workstream for SSG services and solutions transactions, supporting negotiations, helping to drive resolution of contractual issues, and coordinating with relevant in/external stakeholders through contract execution.
• Engage constructively with customers and counterparties during negotiations, fostering professional and solutions-oriented relationships that support successful deal outcomes.
• Develop understanding of existing contractual commitments for SSG Customers
• Working with the SSG Services Team
• Advising the SSG Team on a wide range of regulatory and commercial legal issues
• Provide legal support for the Lenovo Teams developing new services, software and solutions
• Collaborate with internal and outside counsel, specific subject matter experts, and stakeholders
• Work closely with Lenovo's lawyers, as well as services teams in the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific.
• Work closely with the Sales Team and Commercial Contract Management Team to negotiate and close large complex SSG Deals
• Work closely with the Global Contracts Team and other Contract Management Teams to ensure that where they are supporting SSG Managed Services, they have the necessary training, playbooks and templates
• Advise SSG Team on a wide range of regulatory and commercial legal issues
• Effectively engage in issue-spotting and involving legal subject matter experts within the broader corporate-level Lenovo Legal Department
• Work efficiently to supplement internal resources across Lenovo's geographies with advice from outside counsel as needed
• Draft standard templates for new solutions and services
• Work with the COE to establish a template library for all Services so they can be easily found and maintained
• Provide clear, pragmatic legal guidance that enables business teams to support efficient deal execution while appropriately managing risk.
• Develop commercially practical solutions to resolve contractual issues in collaboration with sales, delivery, finance and legal stakeholders.
• Ensure transactions comply with company contracting policies, risk frameworks, AI and other governance programs.
• Maintain transparency with legal leadership and business stakeholders regarding deal status, risks and escalation points.

Required Qualifications:

• J.D. Degree
• 12+ years of experience in negotiating complex multi-country services contracts in an IT or Telecommunications environment.
• Commercial management experience with solid understanding of the key drivers of profitability, and strong judgement in prioritizing legal risk and resolving issues pragmatically in complex negotiations
• Strong contract drafting and negotiation skills , including the ability to draft and revise complex enterprise technology services or managed services agreements, and to provide clear, practical guidance in a fast-moving commercial environment.
• Experience partnering closely with sales and commercial teams in a deal-driven environment.
• Demonstrated ability to operate effectively within a global organization involving multiple stakeholders and decision-makers.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Demonstrated ability to represent organizations effectively and professionally in customer facing negotiations, to minimize unnecessary friction, and build trusted relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience with technology financing models, including IT asset leasing, device lifecycle management, or equipment financing structures. would be considered an advantage
• Ability to work in a fast paced, ambiguous, and ever-changing environment, within evolving legal frameworks, policies and governance programs while maintaining effective deal execution.
• Experience of subscription based "as a service" commercial models
• Comfortable negotiating directly with clients and/or third parties
• Strong team player who builds strong working relationships with clients and internal stakeholders
• Solid project management experience
• Commercial awareness with ability to understand the sales team's perspective and balance contractual and legal risk
• High degree of professional ethics, integrity, and gravitas
• First class interpersonal and communication skills
• Excellent judgement and analytical skills
• Ability to anticipate, mitigate, minimize, and proactively manage risk
• Ability and willingness to travel to client site