US Legal Operations Associate Director

As a privately-owned, biopharmaceutical company, Ferring pioneers and delivers life-changing therapies that help people build families and live better lives. Our independence helps us cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit and long-term perspective that enables us to achieve growth and scale, while remaining agile and true to our ‘people first’ philosophy. Built on a 70-year plus commitment to science and research, Ferring is relentless in its pursuit of science that drives powerful discoveries and therapies to help people build families, stay healthy, and stand up to the world’s oldest enemy: disease.  

As the US Legal Operations Associate Director, you will be responsible in helping drive and implement operational success of Ferring’s US Chief Legal Office (CLO) team, creating strategy, processes, and practices to transform and improve day-to-day efficiency and effectiveness, working in coordination with Global Legal Operations and the global CLO organization. The US CLO team (Legal, IP, Compliance, Privacy, and IP – 17 people with over EUR 8m in total budget) is a part of Ferring’s US business (with over 900 employees and over USD 1 billion in sales), which is critical to Ferring’s current and future success and the efficient, effective provision of CLO services is essential to achieve this.

With Ferring, you will be joining a recognized leader, identified as one of “The World’s Most Innovative Companies” by Fast Company, and honored by Fortune with inclusion on its “Change the World List,” for addressing society’s unmet needs. Ferring US is also Great Places to Work® Certified, distinguishing it as one of the best companies to work for in the country. 

Responsibilities:  

• Collaborate with members of the CLO team and business partners to continuously seek out and lead process improvement initiatives that further the implementation of the CLO Services Model. 

• Identify data within CLO, Ferring, and third party systems and processes that can be used to drive continuous improvement of CLO services.

• Implement continuous improvement in CLO services through a strong business partner focus, active listening skills, a goal of team success, and involving business partners in every step of the change process.

• Support the continuous improvement of Ferring’s contract management process within the US organization in coordination with the global lead, with a focus on stakeholders’ needs, continuous process improvements, and continued improvement in technology solutions.

• Facilitate and manage the process for sourcing, negotiation, selection, and performance of law firms and external service providers (ALSPs) consistent with global guidelines, leading to a quick and simple onboarding of law firms and vendors and a close management of budget.

• Liaise with ALSPs in relationship to the contract management process, with a focus on continuous improvement of the process and improvement of services to business partners.

• Assist in and contribute to the preparation of timely and accurate CLO budgets and forecasts to actively contribute to the accuracy and usefulness of the CLO team’s forecasts.

• Work effectively with our IT partners to enhance existing (e.g. icertis, Brightflag, Anaqua, OneTrust, Polaris, Dow Jones) to enable streamlined team collaboration and workflow automation within the CLO team and among business partners.

• Partner with the Global Legal Operations team on additional project / initiatives as applicable and collaborate, learn, participate in industry conferences, benchmarking, networking, to provide recommendations on best practice and latest advancements.

Requirements: 

• Minimum of a combined 7 years’ experience in legal operations with an in-house legal department or a law firm, and other relevant areas, such as IT, Finance, Project Management

• University degree in business, finance, technology, or other relevant areas

• Significant experience working in a multi-national corporate environment

• Demonstrated experience in process efficiency, including identifying opportunities for improvement, building an implementation plan, and implementation

• Demonstrated ability to lead successful change management in a corporate setting

• Strong active listening and empathy skills    

• Experience in workflow automation tools, eBilling, contract management systems, including process redesign, and technology and project management

• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills.

• Detailed planning and organizational skills to manage multiple projects concurrently.

• Demonstrated financial knowledge / experience

Ferring + you    

At Ferring, we offer competitive total compensation along with an exceptional range of flexible benefits, personal support and tailored learning and development opportunities all designed to help you realize your full potential both in life and at work. From working hours that respect your lifestyle, a culture that is welcoming and equitable, and the chance to work with the industry’s most impressive people, these are just some of the ways we live our "People First" philosophy.    

Our Compensation and Benefits   

At Ferring, base salary is one part of our competitive total compensation and benefits package and is determined using a salary range. The base salary range for this role is $136,850 to $195,500, which is the reasonable estimate of the base compensation for this role. The actual amount paid may differ based on non-discriminatory factors such as experience, knowledge, skills, abilities, education and primary work location. Additional compensation for this role will be provided based on competitive annual incentive compensation targets in the form of an annual bonus - payouts are based on individual and company performance.

Benefits for this role include comprehensive healthcare (medical, dental, and vision) with a premium differential, inverse to base salary, to be paid by employees, a 401k plan and company match, short and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance, wellness benefits, reimbursement for certain tuition expenses, sick time of 1 hour per 30 hours worked, vacation time for full time employees to accrue up to 120 hours in the first four (4) years of employment, and 160 hours in the fifth (5th) year of employment as well as 12 to 13 paid holidays per year. We are proud to offer 26 weeks of paid parental leave, learn more about the parental leave offering in our benefits package here.   

Ferring is an equal opportunity employer. All aspects of employment will be based on merit, competence, performance, and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local laws.   

Join our team and your voice will be heard, and your contributions will be valued. If you love to come up with new ways to make a positive difference and see them through, you will fit right in.    

We are proud to be an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer (including Disability/Protected Veterans). We maintain a drug-free workplace.