Associate Counsel, Investment Management (Kansas City)

About Bridgewater

Bridgewater Associates is a premier asset management firm, focused on delivering unique insight and partnership for the most sophisticated global institutional investors.

Our investment process is driven by a tireless pursuit to understand how the world’s markets and economies work — using cutting edge technology to validate and execute on timeless and universal investment principles.

Founded in 1975, we are a community of independent thinkers who share a commitment for excellence. By fostering a culture of openness, transparency, and inclusion, we strive to unlock the most complex questions in investment strategy, management, and corporate culture.

Explore more information about Bridgewater on our website.

About Our Culture

Our culture is anchored in excellence—meaning constant improvement—and it is deeply tied to our mission. Because markets are objective, competitive, and getting smarter everyday—we need to keep rapidly improving to have any chance of beating them. Truth is our most essential tool for engaging with the markets and constantly improving. Because once you know what's true about your problems and opportunities, you can determine how to get better. Valuing truth means being transparent about your decision-making and mistakes, giving and receiving feedback with humility, and fighting for the best answers over hierarchy, ego, or self-interest. Operating this way is hard—it's only possible because we build meaning in our work and relationships. The meaning comes from the audacity of the mission, and the joy of working alongside people who make you a better version of yourself. The culture, like Bridgewater itself, is always evolving. In 1997 our founder Ray Dalio wrote down his lessons, starting with a Philosophy Statement which remains our foundation. This later evolved into a set of 300+ Principles, we re‑underwrote several of those principles and evolved others, with a specific focus on Meritocracy. Today the culture sits, alongside our people, as our most important edge. When we get it right, it’s the engine that powers everything else.

About the Legal & Regulatory Group

The Legal & Regulatory Group partners with Bridgewater’s businesses to safeguard the legal and regulatory interests of the firm and its clients, manage legal risk, and ensure employees uphold the highest legal and ethical standards. Our team maintains in-house expertise across a broad range of areas, including corporate, investment management, private funds, intellectual property, employment, commercial law, and compliance. We work closely with departments across the firm and manage active relationships with external counsel. As part of our commitment to excellence and continuous improvement, we integrate advanced technology and broader service initiatives into our legal practice. We leverage cutting‑edge artificial intelligence and advanced technology platforms to strengthen our strategic capabilities and deliver scalable, forward‑looking solutions that support businesses across the firm. The team also maintains a deep and ongoing commitment to pro bono service, reflecting our belief that the full strength of our legal expertise should be deployed not only for our clients but also in service of the broader community.

About the Role

We are seeking a talented, analytical and practical lawyer to join our Investment Management Legal team. A broad background in asset management and investment funds practice is essential, but the right person must also have the interest in and ability to stretch across multiple disciplines, partnering with senior subject‑matter experts and outside counsel across a wide variety of legal and regulatory subjects.

The successful candidate will engage in all aspects of our investment management practice spanning fund formation, preparation of offering materials, and negotiation of the full range of client and dealer‑facing investment agreements. You will work directly with other in‑house attorneys, outside counsel, internal clients across investment, client service, and operations teams, and the banks and dealers with which we trade.

We are looking for someone with a high level of ownership and strong desire to thoughtfully contribute to strategic decisions. The environment is rigorous and dynamic and requires balancing many priorities. The right candidate will possess a high degree of integrity, thrive in a culture of direct, constructive feedback, find ways to improve internal processes and procedures, and commit to the continuous development and improvement of themselves, the team, and Bridgewater.

We are committed to providing meaningful training and mentorship to help the successful candidate build the skills needed to excel in this role and develop as a well‑rounded investment management lawyer. The team member will receive structured guidance, subject to learning milestones and hands‑on experience with senior leadership designed to strengthen their technical expertise, commercial acumen, and professional judgment.

Your responsibilities will include

• Structuring, delivering, negotiating and interpreting private fund documentation, including fund offering documentation, investment management agreements, side letters and ancillary documents, and investment documentation with our counterparties, including ISDAs, futures and swaps clearing agreements, repurchase agreements, prime brokerage agreements, electronic trading agreements, and other ancillary agreements that support those relationships.
• Providing legal support for regulatory compliance activities by advising compliance, enablement and business units regarding requirements applicable to investment management, trading, marketing, conflicts of interest, and regulatory reporting.
• Proactively supporting the research, development, and launch of innovative products and novel strategies.
• Maintaining relationships with and managing outside counsel, vendors, service providers, and other third parties as required.

We are looking for a candidate with the following minimum qualifications

• 3+ years of legal practice at a firm or in‑house with meaningful exposure to asset management, private funds, or trading documentation.
• Experience drafting and negotiating any of the following types of agreements: fund offering documents, investment management agreements, side letters, ISDAs, futures and swaps clearing agreements, repurchase agreements or prime brokerage agreements.
• Familiarity with laws and regulations applicable to alternative investment managers and private funds, including those promulgated by the SEC and CFTC.
• Ability to communicate complex legal issues and deliver clear guidance to senior leadership.
• Commercial orientation and ability to provide practical counsel as a business thought partner, biased towards considered action rather than abstract legal observations.
• Passion, humility and curiosity for financial markets and asset management.
• Enthusiasm to learn and innovate at the cutting edge of the law.

Physical Requirements

The onsite requirement for this role is four days per week at our Westport, CT campus.

Compensation

The wage range for this role is $215,000-310,000 inclusive of base salary and discretionary bonus. The expected base salary for this role is between 75-85% of this wage range.

Why Choose Bridgewater?

It takes all types to make Bridgewater great. We seek a diverse group of innovative thinkers and push them to engage in rigorous and thoughtful inquiry. We develop people through an honest examination of their abilities and performance, enabling personal growth and professional development. We strive to provide you opportunities that will challenge you and unlock your potential.

One of our core priorities at Bridgewater is to enable our employees to build a great life and career, and we believe our benefits are an important extension of that philosophy. As such, currently Bridgewater offers a competitive suite of benefits.

Since benefits are an important part of the package, we encourage you to explore more information about Bridgewater’s benefits on our website.

Bridgewater reserves the right to change its current benefits program at any time, in a manner that is consistent with applicable federal and state regulations.

This job description is not a contract and confers no contractual rights, privileges, or benefits on any applicant or potential applicant. Bridgewater has the right to change any and all terms of this job description, including, but not limited to, job responsibilities, qualifications and benefits. Nothing in this job description constitutes an offer or guarantee of employment. Please note that we do not provide immigration sponsorship for this position.

Bridgewater Associates, LP is an Equal Opportunity Employer