Associate General Counsel, Global Legal Services

Workday, Inc.; Ireland; Hybrid; EUR 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Workday, Inc. seeks a Director, Associate General Counsel to lead its international contract negotiating team from Europe.

In this role you will drive scale and efficiency across EMEA/APAC, shape contracting models, and partner with Sales and Legal to align on strategy, risk and business needs. You’ll lead change initiatives, leverage automation and AI to streamline processes, and influence senior leadership with practical, business-focused counsel.

Qualifications

• European law degree or equivalent professional qualification.
• 10+ years’ experience negotiating contracts in law firms or in-house.
• Proven track record building and leading a people-first legal team.
• Experience transforming contracting models, processes and workflows.
• Ability to partner with senior leaders, Sales and Legal.

Responsibilities

• Lead international team of contract negotiators across EMEA/APAC.
• Negotiate subscriptions, data processing and professional services agreements.
• Design scalable contracting models and end-to-end processes with AI/automation.
• Advise internal teams on business risks and legal issues.
• Drive change leadership, adoption of new tools and processes.
• Represent Legal in senior-level conversations with stakeholders.

Skills

Negotiation

Leadership

Change management

Contract drafting

Education

European law degree or equivalent qualification

Job description

Your work days are brighter here. We’re obsessed with making hard work pay off, for our people, our customers, and the world around us. As a Fortune 500 company and a leading AI platform for managing people, money, and agents, we’re shaping the future of work so teams can reach their potential and focus on what matters most. The minute you join, you’ll feel it. Not just in the products we build, but in how we show up for each other. Our culture is rooted in integrity, empathy, and shared enthusiasm. We’re in this together, tackling big challenges with bold ideas and genuine care. We look for curious minds and courageous collaborators who bring sun-drenched optimism and drive. Whether you're building smarter solutions, supporting customers, or creating a space where everyone belongs, you’ll do meaningful work with Workmates who’ve got your back. In return, we’ll give you the trust to take risks, the tools to grow, the skills to develop and the support of a company invested in you for the long haul. So, if you want to inspire a brighter work day for everyone, including yourself, you’ve found a match in Workday, and we hope to be a match for you too.

About the Team

The Global Legal Services team delivers world class legal shared services to Workday’s Legal and business teams in a wide variety of legal work.

This global team consists of legal professionals who handle work across Workday’s customers, vendors and internal partners. The team is asked to manage a large volume of transactions and workstreams, as well as interact with several cross functional teams, and it operates at scale through efficiency, speed and skills.

About the Role

The Global Legal Services team seeks a highly motivated Director, Associate General Counsel, to join our team, based out of Europe.

This role will lead our international team of contract negotiators, and will be critical in driving transformation to streamline legal deal support in our EMEA and APAC/Japan regions with a focus on scale and efficiency.

The successful candidate will be a strategic change leader with a proven track record of building coalitions and driving sustainable, organization-wide change, and will be highly comfortable representing Legal in senior-level conversations with leaders across Sales and Legal, as well as having a deep understanding of the commercial contracting needs of a Fortune 500 cloud software provider.

The Director will need to possess exceptional negotiation and drafting skills as well as outstanding business acumen that enables them to be an effective and persuasive influencer at the leadership level, both cross-functionally and within the broader legal team.

They will be a change leadership expert with a consistent track record of taking ownership of change, communicating the "why," and building coalitions of advocates rather than waiting to be told what to change, using their legal expertise and finely honed judgment to take smart risks in developing innovative, modern contracting models, streamlined end to end processes leveraging AI, CLM and other automation tools to simplify and scale contracting.

Responsibilities

• Drive valuable technology transactions, which will include negotiation with prospects and customers and drafting of subscription, data processing and professional services agreements, assignments, amendments, and add on transactions
• Provide proactive strategic advice and guidance to internal teams regarding business and legal issues and risks
• Transform, design and refine contracting models, workflows, and department processes to achieve optimal efficiency and scale, analyzing complexity, effort and risk
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams in Legal and Business Technology to implement process and technology solutions
• Leverage business expertise to implement process improvements and serve as a trusted advisor for business process owners
• Own change leadership for the organization — communicating the "why," building coalitions of advocates, and designing for adoption (not just announcement) of new support processes, tools and ways of working with our legal team’s clients and business partners
• Serve as a trusted, senior-level partner to leadership in Sales and Legal, comfortably leading high-stakes conversations that build alignment and drive cross-functional adoption of new processes and models

About You: Basic Qualifications

• A European law degree or relevant professional legal qualification
• 10+ years of experience of negotiating contracts in a law firm or in-house/public sector legal department
• Proven experience leading and developing a team with a people-first leadership style
• Prior experience from transforming, designing and refining contracting models, workflows, and department processes to achieve optimal efficiency and scale
• Proven experience leading organizational change and partnering with senior leaders, including stakeholders in Sales and Legal

Other Qualifications

Negotiation & Communication – Excellent contract negotiation and drafting skills with the ability to partner confidently with senior leadership in fast-paced, customer-facing transactions (enterprise software/SaaS experience preferred); exceptional written and verbal communication skills that resonate with both legal and non-legal audiences.

Business Partnership & Judgment – Exercises superior judgment to influence, advise, and advocate for the business's interests; understands the complex needs of the business to counsel clients effectively and creatively, including enabling and training sales teams.

Relationship Building & Project Management – Cultivates strong internal and external relationships, leads collaboration across cross-functional networks, and manages legal projects using solid organizational and project management skills, applying best practices and lean principles to drive process improvements.

Strategic Problem-Solving – Applies strategic focus, critical thinking, and a problem-solving approach to proactively identify and analyze legal risks, reaching sound solutions independently with minimal guidance.

Change Leadership – Demonstrates a change leadership mindset by proactively driving change, building coalitions of advocates, and designing for true adoption (not just announcement) of new processes with senior Sales and Legal stakeholders; willing to roll up sleeves to build efficient processes and deliver creative, sound solutions.

Our Approach to Flexible Work

With Flex Work, we’re combining the best of both worlds: in-person time and remote. Our approach enables our teams to deepen connections, maintain a strong community, and do their best work. We know that flexibility can take shape in many ways, so rather than a number of required days in-office each week, we simply spend at least half (50%) of our time each quarter in the office or in the field with our customers, prospects, and partners (depending on role). This means you'll have the freedom to create a flexible schedule that caters to your business, team, and personal needs, while being intentional to make the most of time spent together. Those in our remote "home office" roles also have the opportunity to come together in our offices for important moments that matter.

Accommodation Policy

Workday is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals during our application process, in order to perform one or more essential functions of their job, as well as regarding the use of AI tools for employment decision-making to any degree. Please see below for more details including how to request an accommodation as a qualified veteran, due to a disability or for religious reasons, or as otherwise provided under applicable law. Workday prohibits taking adverse action against any candidate or employee for reporting a possible violation of this policy, requesting one or more work accommodations, exercising a privacy right, or cooperating in an investigation in accordance with applicable law. Any employee who retaliates against a candidate or employee for doing so may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment, to the fullest extent allowable under applicable law. If you require a reasonable accommodation, you may email [e-mail], as far in advance as possible.

Equal Opportunity Employment

Workday is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. Individuals seeking employment at Workday are considered without regards to age, ancestry, color, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, mental or physical disability, national origin, protected family care or medical leave status, race, religion (including beliefs and practices or the absence thereof), sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. Further, pursuant to applicable local ordinances, Workday will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.