Corporate Counsel

Corporate Counsel Position

Bunzl North America is seeking a highly motivated individual to join our Corporate Counsel team in a growth-oriented role. Bunzl North America is a leading distribution and wholesale company. With headquarters in St. Louis, Bunzl North America is the largest business unit of the Bunzl plc group, a FTSE 100 company based in London. This position would join an existing in-house legal team of five tenured attorneys supporting Bunzl's operations in North America.

As Corporate Counsel, you will be responsible for providing legal guidance and support to the company in all areas of business law, with a primary focus on commercial transactions with both customers and vendors across Bunzl's many businesses. The right candidate will be a self-starter with strong interpersonal skills, the ability to build relationships, a proactive approach to problem-solving, and the ability to work both independently and collaboratively in a dynamic, fast-paced environment. This candidate must also possess sound business acumen and be comfortable with pragmatic solutions that achieve business or strategic objectives with an acceptable level of risk and uncertainty.

The position will report to the Assistant General Counsel in St. Louis. This is a hybrid schedule in the St. Louis office two to three days per week in the office.

Responsibilities:

• Assist business teams with drafting, reviewing and negotiating a wide variety of commercial contracts, including supply and distribution agreements, nondisclosure agreements, product vendor, contract manufacturing, and IT vendor agreements.
• Partner with and provide counsel on legal issues related to business strategy, operations and commercial transactions to business colleagues at multiple levels of the organization, including corporate and division management.
• Advise business clients on legal issues with a sense of practical business application.
• Influence and take ownership of the legal department's evaluation and implementation of AI-enabled legal technologies.
• Lead development and continuous improvement of contract processes, playbooks, and self-service tools.
• Identify opportunities to simplify workflows and implement technology-enabled improvements across the legal function.
• Help build the legal department's use of data, KPIs, and reporting to improve efficiency and decision-making.
• Manage outside counsel strategically where needed.
• Develop and deliver practical training to business teams on contracting, risk, and compliance.
• Stay current on relevant laws and regulations affecting the company and provide legal opinions and guidance to the business.

Requirements:

• Juris Doctor (J.D.) from an accredited law school.
• Active membership in at least one U.S. state bar.
• Two to five years of experience as a corporate or transactional attorney, either in-house (preferably in the wholesale, distribution, or manufacturing industry) or private practice with focus on those areas.
• Strong drafting, negotiating, and communication skills.
• Demonstrated experience in transactions and contract negotiations with sophisticated counterparties or in complex transactions.
• Strong analytical and critical-thinking skills with the ability to not only identify and mitigate legal risks but also to appropriately assess and balance those risks in the context of business or strategic objectives.
• Experience managing a variety of legal matters simultaneously and independently.
• Experience working directly with business clients and with AI contract review tools is a plus.

Bunzl is a global leader in the Cleaning & Hygiene, Food Processing, Grocery, Health Care, Non-Food Retail, and Safety industries. We have grown both organically and through acquisitions to exceed $10 billion in sales. Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, Bunzl North America operates more than 100 warehouses and serves all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, and parts of the Caribbean and Mexico. With more than 10,000 team members and over 400,000 supplies, Bunzl is recognized as a leading supplier across North America—and proudly certified as a Great Place to Work®. At Bunzl, you'll find Unlimited Potential… your career, our future.

Bunzl Distribution offers competitive salaries, a comfortable work environment, and a full range of benefits including a 401k with a company match.

Bunzl Distribution has a tradition of commitment to equal employment opportunity. It is the established policy to attract and retain the best qualified people without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex/gender (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, age, disability or veteran status as provided by law.

Equal Opportunity Employer This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.