Who we are: Headquartered in Toronto, Open Farm is one of the fastest growing CPG companies in North America. We are transforming the way people feed their pets, with a focus on producing premium, healthy food, and treats, all ethically sourced from farm-to-bowl.
Reasons to join Open Farm!
The opportunity to grow, develop and make an impact with a mission driven, dynamic and fast-growing company!
Pet friendly office with many pet perks, including pet food subsidy, pet care subsidy, pet insurance discounts, and more!
Our full time employees receive a full suite of benefits with an emphasis on Wellness, including company wide Wellness Days throughout the year, annual Wellness Stiped, subscriptions to Better Help, generous vacation time and personal days, volunteer days, and more!
The Role:
We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced business-minded lawyer to join our team. This will be the first hire in our legal department, so the successful candidate will have the opportunity to build and shape the legal and risk management functions of our organization.
As General Counsel, you will be responsible for overseeing all legal and risk management matters for the company, including but not limited to: corporate governance, negotiation and management of commercial agreements, management of Open Farm’s intellectual property portfolio (proactive and defense), employment law, litigation management, equity and debt financing, regulatory compliance, product liability and other risk management, as well as insurance.
As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, you will provide strategic advice to support our growth and success as we scale.
- Provide legal guidance and support to the Senior Leadership Team on a wide range of key strategic matters.
-
Develop and implement policies and procedures to ensure legal compliance and mitigate risk.
-
Draft and negotiate through to completion a broad range of contracts including those related to procurement, distribution, intellectual property, information technology, employment and finance.
-
Manage and protect the company's intellectual property.
-
Advise on legal aspects of debt and equity financing, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and other strategic transactions.
-
Manage relationships with external legal counsel and oversee corporate and litigation matters as needed.
-
Develop and implement risk management strategies to identify, assess, and mitigate potential risks to the company.
-
Oversee the company's insurance program and ensure adequate coverage for all business operations.
-
Ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and industry standards, including preserving all corporate records.
-
Build legal processes and structure to help manage the scalability of the business as we continue to grow.
-
Recognized Canadian law degree (Juris Doctorate) and university education with high standing
-
Lawyer in good standing with a provincial law society, Ontario preferred.
-
8+ years post call, with experience in general counsel or senior legal leadership role, with experience in corporate law, contract negotiation and management, intellectual property, employment law, risk management and insurance. U.S law experience also considered an asset
-
Significant corporate and commercial legal experience ideally with experience in a CPG environment.
-
Overall broad legal knowledge (corporate law, litigations, labor law, etc.)
-
In-depth understanding of how legal issues affect organizations
-
Ability to develop legal strategy and objectives
-
Providing business-oriented and practical legal advice
-
Communicating with others, with a knack for translating legal advice into actionable guidance to business teams in plain English
-
Being a team player with a strong orientation toward a collaborative, results-oriented environmentHigh degree of professional ethics, integrity and gravitas
-
Excellent judgement and analytical skills
-
First class interpersonal and communication skills
-
Self-motivation and the ability to take initiative and follow through reliably, while challenging the status quo, taking smart risks and being open to possible failure.
-
A drive to proactively seek out opportunities to help move projects and the business forward and contribute to improvement.
Our Values
We Raise the Bar \u007C We Keep the Barn Doors Open \u007C We Graze Lightly \u007C We Lead the Pack \u007C We are Inspired by Our Customers \u007C We Have Fun Doing It
Open Farm values diversity in its workforce and encourages applications from all qualified individuals. Applicants requiring a disability-related accommodation at any stage of Open Farm's recruitment process should contact
[email protected]. As required by legislation, Open Farm will consult with applications requesting such an accommodation to ensure that Open Farm's recruitment process takes into account their accessibility needs.
