Vice President, Legal Counsel

Job Description:

Vice President, Legal Counsel

Who We Are

At Upbound Group, we are committed to elevating financial opportunity for all through innovative, inclusive, and technology-driven financial solutions that address the evolving needs and aspirations of consumers. The Company's customer-facing operating units include industry-leading brands such as Rent-A-Center, Acima and Brigit that facilitate consumer transactions across a wide range of store-based and digital retail channels, including over 2,400 company-branded retail units across the United States, Mexico, New York and Puerto Rico. Upbound Group, Inc. is headquartered in Plano, Texas.

Role Summary

Provide proactive, hands-on and effective leadership for all consumer regulatory legal advice and support to the company, in addition to other areas including litigation, contract management/procurement, real estate, corporate/subsidiary, and intellectual property. Responsible for proactively delivering solutions and business oriented legal advice, support, counsel, representation and services to one or more key functional areas of the business. Also responsible for cost-effective management of outside counsel.


Key Responsibilities

• Responsible for the company's consumer regulatory enterprise-wide legal advisory support, including proactively facilitating internal process changes to address consumer regulatory trends and risks.
• Responsible for legal advice and support related to procurement and contracts for the enterprise.
• State and LTO audits and legal support for any potential violations/responses from state audits.
• Consumer governmental investigations, supporting responses to inquiries and consent decree compliance programs.
• Legal advisory support for the company's consumer regulatory compliance management system, in coordination with the consumer regulatory CMS department
• Legal advisory support for the company's data privacy compliance program, in coordination with the company's CISO and director of data privacy.
• Legal advisory support and oversight of team members managing litigation dockets for consumer, employment, tort/risk, and commercial matters.
• Legal matters pertaining to store leases, landlord dispute resolution, M&A, franchise regulatory compliance, risk mitigation and other matters assigned by the General Counsel from time to time.
• Support consumer regulatory related government affairs matters, such as state LTO advocacy.
• Build and maintain positive relationships and collaborate effectively with the legal team as well as internal business partners.
• Learn the business, industry, competitive environment and future growth objectives.
• Provide strong management for a team of coworkers, including providing learning and development opportunities
• Ensure appropriate reporting to senior leadership regarding consumer regulatory and other areas of responsibility, to ensure awareness and timely response to risks and opportunities
• Build and maintain strong working relationships across key departments, including marketing, product, IT, operations, risk, cybersecurity and other departments
• Remain abreast of company developments including current and planned business activities and overall knowledge of the company's business and industry.
• Handles assigned subject areas within areas of legal expertise with a high degree of independence, quality, competence, responsiveness, planning, sound judgment, and minimal need for supervision. Interacts with Senior Executive Management team.

Qualifications

• J.D. from an accredited U.S. law school.
• Licensed to practice law as needed to represent the Company.
• 10+ years consumer retail/consumer finance regulatory experience and leadership.
• Significant in-house and/or law firm experience aligned with the key responsibilities of the position.
• Strong work ethic and professional commitment.
• Ability to work independently under general direction, with latitude for initiative and independent judgment.
• Effectively and professionally work with and help manage outside counsel.
• Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) and knowledgeable, or willing to learn, about legal technology to generate efficiencies.
• Excellent time management and follow-through skills with ability to prioritize work.
• Must be meticulous, collaborative, ethical and resourceful with high desire to learn.
• Attention to detail with strong organization and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Work Location

Ability to work in the Plano, Texas or Draper, Utah office, Monday through Friday, with travel between locations as necessary based on transformation and governance activities.

Sponsorship


Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time.


Equal Opportunity Employer

Upbound Group is an equal opportunity employer committed to ensuring all employment decisions are made on a non-discriminatory basis in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.

Upbound Group is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.