General Counsel

IFF; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 210,000 - 274,000; Full time

Job summary

IFF seeks a General Counsel & Enterprise Compliance Lead to guide legal strategy and enterprise compliance across the Risk, Compliance & Legal function. You will serve as chief legal officer and advisor to the executive team on legal, governance, regulatory, and reputational matters, embedding compliance in planning and initiatives.

The role blends legal leadership with enterprise coordination, demanding sound judgment, collaboration with senior leaders, and a commitment to equity and community

Qualifications

• Executive leader with ability to guide enterprise risk, governance, and regulatory strategy.
• Ability to partner with C-suite on complex legal and reputational matters.

Responsibilities

• Advising the CEO, President & COO, the ELT, and Board on material risks.
• Anticipating regulatory, political, market, and reputational developments affecting objectives.
• Identifying long-term risks associated with strategic initiatives.
• Contributing to enterprise strategic planning and governance enhancements.

Skills

Executive leadership

Risk management

Governance

Regulatory awareness

Strategic thinking

Job description

Title: General Counsel & Enterprise Compliance Lead

Employee Status: Full-Time Exempt

Salary: Grade 11

Starting range of $210,000– $274,000 | Chicago | Detroit | Milwaukee

Starting range of $195,000– $255,000 | Grand Rapids | IN | OH | MO

Reports to: President and Chief Operating Officer

Department: Enterprise Operations – Risk, Compliance & Legal

Location: Any IFF Office

Hybrid: In office: T/W | WFH: M/Th/F

Department Function: Risk, Compliance & Legal helps the organization understand and manage risk in a way that supports strategy and execution. It brings visibility to potential risks, helps teams navigate compliance requirements, and ensures legal and governance considerations are addressed early in planning rather than after problems arise.

The Organization

IFF is a mission-driven lender, real estate consultant, and developer that helps communities thrive. Key to our success has been a deep sense of purpose, a broad perspective, and a relentless focus on achieving positive results. Across the Midwest we help clients from every sector, including human service agencies, health centers, schools, affordable housing developers, and healthy food grocery operators. Staff contribute extensive business experience and an unrivaled connection to the mission of IFF to the clients we serve.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Partnering to create thriving communities is at the heart of everything we do. We leverage knowledge, capital, and resources to advance equitable and transformational outcomes in under-resourced communities, guided by our commitment to be an inclusive, anti-racist and anti-oppressive institution that honors communities as asset-rich and as experts in their own stories.

Basic Job Function

The General Counsel & Enterprise Compliance Lead (General Counsel) provides practical, strategic legal guidance while ensuring the organization matures our enterprise compliance and governance capabilities. The General Counsel serves as the organization’s chief legal officer and principal advisor to executive leadership on legal, governance, enterprise risk, regulatory, reputational, and strategic matters; owns the development and execution of IFF’s legal, governance, and enterprise compliance strategy and ensures these functions support long-term organizational objectives; participates directly in enterprise strategic planning and major organizational initiatives, ensuring leadership evaluates legal, regulatory, governance, and reputational implications before significant decisions are made; and ensures legal and compliance considerations are incorporated early into planning, decision-making, and enterprise initiatives rather than addressed reactively after issues arise.

The General Counsel is a leader who can balance legal rigor and risk management with operational partnership and practicality. This role is intentionally designed to operate as a strategic legal partner rather than a purely transactional legal function and is structured as both a legal leadership role and an enterprise coordination role within Enterprise Operations. The role requires strong legal expertise alongside emotional intelligence, operational awareness, and enterprise-level thinking.

IFF is looking for candidates with a commitment to the work we do who can demonstrate their creativity, diligence, enthusiasm, growth-mindset, thoughtfulness, and passion to make meaningful change in the areas of economic and racial justice.

Requirements

Core Responsibilities:

1. Executive Leadership, Strategy & Enterprise Risk – Serves as a key member of the Executive Leadership Team and provides forward-looking strategic counsel concerning organizational risk, governance, growth initiatives, external partnerships, and enterprise decision-making, including:

• Advising the CEO, President & COO, Executive Leadership Team, and Board of Directors regarding material strategic, regulatory, governance, legal, and reputational risks.
• Anticipating emerging legal, regulatory, political, market, and reputational developments that may affect organizational objectives.
• Identifying second-order and long-term risks associated with strategic initiatives and major organizational decisions.
• Contributing to enterprise strategic planning and