Deputy General Counsel

Location: 3-days Hybrid (Local to NYC, Denver, or Charlotte)

Position Description:

The Deputy General Counsel is a senior legal leader and trusted partner to the General Counsel, responsible for helping lead the legal function and providing candid, practical, and strategic counsel on the company’s most consequential legal, regulatory, operational, and business matters. Working closely with the General Counsel and executive leadership, this individual will serve as a principal thought partner and delegate, lead legal team members, allocate resources, establish operating standards, and implement technology-enabled processes that enable the legal department to deliver timely, high-quality, commercially focused, and scalable legal services across a growing healthcare organization.

The successful candidate will combine sophisticated legal judgment and healthcare industry expertise with demonstrated capability in legal department management, team development, operational execution, and organizational leadership. This includes developing and executing legal department strategies, managing outside counsel and legal expenditures, implementing matter management and contract lifecycle processes, establishing performance metrics, and ensuring appropriate oversight of legal matters across multiple business functions.

The Deputy General Counsel will help to manage, and continue to build, a high-performing, scalable legal organization that anticipates business needs, manages risk proactively, develops talent, and operates as an integrated strategic partner to the business.

Position Responsibilities:

Legal Department Operations and Administration

• • Oversee the day-to-day operations and effectiveness of the legal function, ensuring appropriate coverage, resource allocation, matter prioritization, and delivery of legal services across the organization.
  • Develop and implement legal department operating plans, workflows, service standards, escalation protocols, and decision-making frameworks aligned with corporate priorities.
  • Establish consistent processes for legal intake, matter assignment, workload management, contract review, legal research, document management, and executive reporting.
  • Lead the responsible adoption and optimization of artificial intelligence, legal technology, matter management systems, contract lifecycle management platforms, knowledge management resources, and workflow automation. Identify high-value use cases; establish implementation roadmaps, governance standards, security and confidentiality controls, validation protocols, and human-review requirements; measure results; and drive adoption to improve productivity, visibility, consistency, and client service without compromising legal judgment, privilege, regulatory obligations, or professional responsibility.
  • Develop and monitor key performance indicators and service metrics, including matter volume, turnaround times, contract cycle times, outside counsel expenditures, workload distribution, and internal client satisfaction.
  • Establish protocols for identifying, assessing, escalating, and resolving significant legal issues, ensuring that material risks receive appropriate attention and executive visibility.
  • Develop standardized legal templates, playbooks, guidance materials, and self-service resources that improve efficiency while maintaining appropriate legal oversight and risk controls.
  • Continuously evaluate the legal department’s structure, processes, and service delivery model to support organizational growth, operational complexity, and changing business requirements.

   Legal Team Leadership and Talent Development

  • Lead, supervise, mentor, and develop attorneys and legal professionals, establishing clear responsibilities, performance expectations, and accountability for results.
  • Align legal team structure, individual responsibilities, and subject-matter expertise with business needs, legal risk exposure, and strategic priorities.
  • Recruit, develop, and retain high-performing legal talent, building a collaborative team with the technical expertise, commercial judgment, and leadership capabilities necessary to support the organization.
  • Establish performance management practices, regular coaching, professional development plans, and succession planning for key legal roles.
  • Promote consistent legal analysis, sound judgment, practical problem-solving, and high standards of written and oral communication across the legal team.
  • Foster a culture of responsiveness, teamwork, continuous improvement, and proactive engagement with business stakeholders.
  • Balance workloads and deploy internal and external resources effectively, ensuring that complex or high-risk matters receive appropriate senior-level attention.
  • Develop organizational depth by promoting knowledge sharing, cross-training, succession readiness, and continuity of legal support.
  • Provide direction and oversight to outside counsel and other legal service providers, ensuring alignment with internal legal strategy, appropriate work allocation, and accountability for performance.

   Resource Allocation, and Outside Counsel Management

  • Evaluate the appropriate balance between internal legal resources, outside counsel, specialized consultants, and technology-enabled solutions.
  • Monitor legal expenditures against budget, identify cost drivers, and implement strategies to improve financial predictability and resource utilization.
  • Establish preferred counsel relationships and evaluate external providers based on expertise, responsiveness, quality, efficiency, and business value.
  • Provide regular reporting to the General Counsel regarding department performance, budget variances, resource requirements, and opportunities for operational improvement.

   Legal Risk Governance and Matter Management

  • Establish consistent frameworks for assessing legal risk, prioritizing matters, determining escalation requirements, and documenting significant legal decisions.
  • Maintain visibility into material litigation, regulatory inquiries, investigations, contractual disputes, transactions, and other significant legal matters.
  • Coordinate cross-functional legal support for complex matters, ensuring clear ownership, appropriate collaboration, and timely resolution.
  • Develop reporting mechanisms that communicate significant legal exposures, emerging trends, mitigation strategies, and resource implications to the General Counsel and executive leadership.
  • Partner with compliance, risk management, finance, human resources, privacy, information security, and operational teams to clarify responsibilities and avoid gaps or duplication in oversight.
  • Maintain appropriate standards for legal work product, confidentiality, privilege, records retention, and compliance with professional obligations.
  • Support the development and implementation of policies, controls, and governance practices that promote consistent legal risk management across the enterprise.

   Commercial Legal and Healthcare Regulatory Leadership

  • Provide legal oversight and strategic guidance on commercial contracting, pharmacy benefit management, pharmacy services, pharmaceutical manufacturer relationships, pharmacy network arrangements, and strategic partnerships.
  • Advise on applicable federal and state healthcare laws and regulations, including Medicare Part D, Medicaid, pharmacy reimbursement, drug pricing, healthcare fraud and abuse, and other requirements relevant to Judi Health’s business.
  • Lead or coordinate legal support for material commercial negotiations, new business initiatives, strategic transactions, and complex regulatory matters.
  • Establish contracting standards, risk-allocation principles, approval authorities, and escalation procedures that enable efficient execution while protecting the company’s interests.
  • Translate evolving legal and regulatory requirements into practical guidance, operating procedures, and training for attorneys and business stakeholders.
  • Ensure that legal department processes appropriately address the company’s contractual obligations, regulatory exposure, and strategic objectives.

   Executive Partnership and Organizational Effectiveness

  • Serve as a trusted advisor to the General Counsel and executive leadership on legal department strategy, operational priorities, resource needs, and significant enterprise risks.
  • Partner with business leaders to anticipate legal needs, establish service expectations, and integrate legal considerations into business planning and execution.
  • Lead cross-functional initiatives to improve decision-making, streamline processes, clarify accountability, and strengthen organizational effectiveness.
  • Develop clear communication and reporting practices that enable leadership to understand legal department performance, material risks, emerging issues, and required decisions.
  • Represent the legal function in strategic planning and operational discussions, ensuring that legal resources are aligned with the company’s most important business priorities.
  • Promote a culture in which the legal department is viewed as a responsive, accountable, commercially minded, and operationally disciplined business partner.

Qualifications:

• Education and Experience

  • Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school and an active license to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
  • 12 or more years of progressive legal experience, including significant in-house legal experience and demonstrated responsibility for leading attorneys, legal professionals, or major legal functions.
  • Demonstrated experience managing legal department operations, resource allocation, budgets, outside counsel, matter management, and legal service delivery.
  • Experience establishing legal processes, operational standards, performance metrics, and technology-enabled workflows.
  • Substantial experience in healthcare, pharmacy benefit management, pharmaceutical services, health plans, or another highly regulated industry.
  • Demonstrated ability to advise executive leadership while managing competing priorities, complex legal matters, and demanding business requirements.

  Leadership and Technical Competencies

  • Legal operations management: Ability to design, implement, and continuously improve the systems, workflows, governance structures, and operating procedures of an in-house legal department.
  • People leadership: Proven ability to lead, motivate, develop, and retain a high-performing legal team while establishing clear accountability and professional standards.
  • Financial and resource management: Experience with legal budgeting, forecasting, outside counsel economics, staffing models, and resource optimization.
  • Performance management: Ability to establish meaningful operational metrics, analyze performance trends, and translate results into measurable improvements.
  • Legal technology and process improvement: Familiarity with matter management, contract lifecycle management, knowledge management, workflow automation, and emerging legal technology solutions.
  • Risk and governance discipline: Ability to implement consistent risk assessment, escalation, documentation, and reporting practices.
  • Executive communication: Ability to present complex legal, financial, operational, and regulatory issues clearly to senior leaders.
  • Commercial judgment: Ability to deliver practical, timely legal guidance that advances business objectives while appropriately managing risk.
  • Organizational leadership: Ability to build scalable legal capabilities, lead change, and improve collaboration across a growing enterprise.

New York, NY Salary Range 266400 - 333000 USD