Senior Legal Counsel - Americas

USTBC ABB Installation Products Inc.; Cary (NC); Remote; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

ABB is seeking a Senior Legal Counsel, Americas for ABB Electrification Service (ELSE). The role involves advising on complex commercial contracts, compliance, disputes, and strategic transactions across the Americas, with coordination across jurisdictions.

The position operates in a highly collaborative Legal & Integrity environment and may support other ABB divisions as needed. The work model is remote (#Li-Remote) with operating hours aligned to Eastern Time.

Qualifications

• JD with active bar admission in at least one relevant jurisdiction.
• Minimum 10 years of in-house or law firm experience supporting industrial, engineering, technology, construction, or services businesses across multiple legal disciplines and jurisdictions in a multinational company.
• Ability to succeed in a highly collaborative environment while operating with autonomy; partner effectively with various counsel; manage competing priorities.
• Strong commercial judgment and substantial experience in commercial contracts, disputes, strategic transactions, and cross-border matters.

Responsibilities

• Advise on complex commercial contracts, compliance and integrity, disputes, employment matters, and strategic transactions across the Americas.
• Lead or coordinate drafting, review, and negotiation of customer, supplier, service, and other commercial agreements; design scalable contract management processes.
• Oversee litigation, arbitration, and external counsel; manage budgets, strategy, and outcomes.
• Provide strategic legal counsel on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, and restructuring activities globally.

Skills

Commercial judgment

Collaboration

Autonomy

Cross-border matters

Education

Juris Doctor (JD) and bar admission

Tools

AI tools (Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT)

Job description

At ABB , we help industries run leaner and cleaner-and every person here makes that happen. You'll be empowered to lead, supported to grow, and proud of the impact we create together. Join us and help run what runs the world.

This position reports to:
Division General Counsel ELSE

In this role, you'll help run what runs the world, by taking on meaningful work that drives real impact.

As Senior Legal Counsel, Americas for ABB Electrification Service (ELSE), you will do more than manage legal risk. You will anticipate business needs, identify emerging issues, and serve as a trusted business partner to senior leaders and cross-functional teams. Working in ABB's highly collaborative regional and global Legal & Integrity environment, you will advise on complex commercial contracts, compliance and integrity, disputes, employment matters, and strategic transactions, translating legal risk into clear options and practical solutions that support sustainable growth across jurisdictions. ELSE will be the role's primary divisional responsibility, but the role may also support other ABB divisions as business needs require. The role is not the sole legal resource for ELSE or other supported divisions; effective coordination, allocation of work, and shared matter ownership with other ABB lawyers are essential.

The work model for the role is: remote (#Li-Remote), however the operating time zone will align closest with Eastern Time zone.

Your role and responsibilities:

• Advise business leaders across the Americas on legal risk, decision-making, and execution of strategic priorities, in coordination with relevant country, business area, and specialist counsel.
• Lead or support, as agreed within the regional legal team, the drafting, review, and negotiation of complex customer, supplier, service, subcontractor, channel partner, technology, and other commercial agreements across the Americas. Design scalable contract management processes, including playbooks, templates, and workflows, to improve efficiency and manage legal risk across high-volume transactions.
• Advise on tenders, contract risk reviews, claims, change orders, project execution, and dispute avoidance across service-intensive markets, including industrial services, utilities, data centers, infrastructure, and renewables.
• Manage litigation, arbitration, pre-litigation claims, settlements, and external counsel, including matter strategy, budgets, reporting, and quality assurance.
• Advise on employment and human resources matters, including performance management, investigations, terminations, reorganizations, immigration, and cross-border workforce issues, coordinating with specialists where appropriate.
• Provide strategic legal counsel on mergers and acquisitions, minority investments, divestitures, joint ventures, and restructuring activities globally, including deal structuring, due diligence, and post-closing integration support.
• Support other ABB divisions, business areas, and corporate functions as business needs require, with priorities and matter ownership coordinated through the relevant Legal & Integrity leadership and existing coverage teams.
• Collaborate actively with ABB lawyers across divisions, countries, specialist teams, and regions under agreed coverage models, matter-allocation principles, and escalation paths. Existing counsel remain accountable for matters within their assigned businesses, countries, or specialist areas unless responsibility is expressly reassigned; this role strengthens shared legal capacity and is not the default recipient for all ELSE or other divisional legal work.

Our Team Dynamics

Our teams support each other, collaborate, and never stop learning. Everyone brings something unique, and together we push ideas forward to solve real problems. Being part of our team means your work matters - because the progress we make here creates real impact out there.

Qualifications for the role:

Required Experience

• Juris Doctor (JD) with active bar admission in at least one relevant jurisdiction
• Minimum 10 years of in-house or law firm experience supporting industrial, engineering, technology, construction, or services businesses across multiple legal disciplines and jurisdictions in a multinational company.
• Ability to succeed in a highly collaborative environment while operating with appropriate autonomy; partner effectively with divisional, business area, regional, country, and specialist counsel; manage competing priorities across ABB; clarify ownership and scope; and advise senior stakeholders under time pressure.
• Strong commercial judgment and substantial experience in commercial contracts, disputes, strategic transactions, and cross-border matters, with the ability to identify material risks, develop practical options, support timely business decisions, and engage specialists when needed.

Preferred Experience

• Experience with artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT, or Harvey, preferred; if not exper