Senior Legal Advisor - Product and Innovation Generalist

Job content

The International Office of the General Counsel (IOGC) is a growing and high-performing in-house legal team with personnel based in five countries. The team provides legal advice on a wide variety of key strategic matters and legal, regulatory and reputational issues and risks, and also supports the execution of critical business decisions made by KPMGI.

Role Summary

This role will play an important part of the technology, intellectual property and data licensing practice in IOGC, which plays a pivotal role in providing legal support for – and advising on legal risks, protections and opportunities related to – KPMG’s IP, technology and data strategy, value chain and revenue-growing initiatives.

The role will provide opportunities to advise KPMGI leaders and their teams on the following three key areas:

• product and innovation strategies for KPMG technology solutions;
• procurement and supplier transactions with technology and services providers; and
• alliances and partnering with leading technology providers.

The role will focus on mitigating against legal risks while supporting the organization’s growth through use of technology.

We expect the role will make an impact on the organization’s goals of embedding technology in everything KPMG does, developing technology solutions that suit member firm clients’ needs and leveraging data.

This role will report into the head of the IOGC’s technology, intellectual property and data licensing practice. We expect that the successful candidate will primarily focus on:

1. Legal and Regulatory Advice : Providing advice on legal and regulatory risks and requirements arising from the design, development and licensing of KPMGI technology solutions and the processing of data by such solutions. For each KPMGI-developed or KPMGI-owned technology solution, this work will require understanding the technical aspects of, and business plan for, such solutions (including all features of the technology) and developing an end-to-end understanding of the technology management process and the entire technology development lifecycle. This work will also include advising on issues related to cross-border intellectual property and data rights and technology exports, drafting terms of use and product policies, and supporting the implementation of related processes. This work will involve substantial influencing of, and collaborating regularly with, KPMGI professionals in audit, tax, advisory, risk management, information protection, privacy, technology development, cloud infrastructure, and procurement, as well as other IOGC colleagues.

2. Intellectual Property and Data Rights Analysis : Assessing whether KPMGI has proper intellectual property and data rights to license and/or provide member firms and their clients with use and/or access rights to the KPMGI technology solutions. This work will also include determining whether any specific terms are required through the license chain and ensuring compliance with the legal aspects of KPMGI’s global quality and risk management policies.

3. Procurement : Providing legal support for the procurement of technology integrated with, or which forms the basis of, KPMGI technology solutions. This work will include advising on, drafting, and negotiating various strategic intellectual property and technology agreements, with a focus on complex cross-border licenses and services agreements (including software license agreements, cloud services agreements (i.e., SaaS, PaaS, IaaS), software/technology development agreements, and software/technology acquisitions).

4. Alliances and Partnering with Technology Providers : Supporting alliance initiatives and partnering with leading technology providers, including exchanges of confidential information and know-how, the development of technology and managed services offerings on or in connection with leading technology providers’ platforms (which may include the digitization of KPMGI know-how and expertise), and the use of low-code, no-code development platforms offered by such technology.

5. Training and Education : Train and educate KPMGI professionals on legal and regulatory risks related to technology design and development and use of data in technology solutions.

Technical Skills Required

• Advanced technical legal skills in the areas of intellectual property and technology law, with a focus on providing legal and regulatory advice on designing, developing and licensing technology and the processing of data by technology solutions.
• Strong negotiation and drafting skills across a wide variety of technology and intellectual property license agreements, alliances and similar agreements for partnering with leading technology providers, and transaction structures across various jurisdictions, as well as addressing complex legal, business and technical issues.
• Advanced communication skills to enable the translation of complex legal and regulatory issues, within the context of complex technical and business issues, into easily understandable advice, including the ability to digest large amounts of information orally and provide legal advice on such information in real-time.

Qualifications & Licenses

• A candidate must be qualified and licensed to practice law and have a degree from an accredited college or university.

Experience & Knowledge

• Minimum 6 years PQE of experience in the areas of intellectual property and technology law, with significant experience advising on laws and regulations affecting the design, development and licensing of technology solutions and the processing of data by such solutions;
• Significant experience negotiating a variety of technology agreements and transaction structures, including technology and intellectual property-focused alliances and similar agreements for partnering with leading technology providers;
• Must possess an excellent working knowledge of cloud-based information technology businesses, services and products;
• Experience drafting and reviewing online terms and conditions, including End User License Agreements;
• Ability to advise on, and drive forward the implementation of, solutions to complex issues and matters with an international/cross-border dimension;
• Understands how to balance the needs, demands and requirements of a global business with legal risks and protections;
• Must be self-motivated and able to thrive in a fast-paced, high-volume legal department with many different stakeholders worldwide;
• Understands how to foster a collaborative and inclusive environment amongst other KPMG professionals;
• Cultural sensitivity required to engage with people at all levels and with diverse backgrounds;
• Deep knowledge and awareness of global business, legal and technology trends which may impact the KPMG brand; and
• Experience in instructing and managing external counsel on matters, as appropriate (other than the most significant matters, on which the individual in this role will work alongside a Partner or Director level lawyer within IOGC).

Some domestic and international travel will be required (once countries open up their borders and it is safer to do so).