VP, Litigation

Department: Legal

Location: US-North Carolina-Raleigh

Description

Reporting to the EVP, Chief Legal & Regulatory Officer, we’re seeking a strategic, pragmatic, and resilient Vice President of Litigation to lead Align’s global litigation function. This leader will lead enterprise litigation strategy, manage high-stakes disputes, and proactively mitigate risk across antitrust, intellectual property, product liability, shareholder, class action, privacy/AI, and regulatory matters.

The ideal candidate brings deep global litigation experience—especially in competition and patent law—paired with sound judgment, emotional intelligence, and a collaborative mindset.

This leader will serve as a key advisor to the EVP, Chief Legal & Regulatory Officer and a major contributor on the global legal, quality, and regulatory leadership team. The role will collaborate closely with executive and cross-functional leaders to manage litigation risk and support strategic business decisions. The VP will lead a high-performing global litigation team and oversee litigation operations, including AI-first initiatives and process innovation. The role will partner closely with our VP Deputy General Counsel, Intellectual Property and other legal leaders to align litigation strategy with business goals.

Role expectations

• Lead global litigation strategy and execution across a broad portfolio of matters, with particular emphasis on competition, antitrust, and complex commercial disputes.
• Provide strategic legal counsel and practical guidance to business leaders to proactively address disputes and support business objectives through legally sound, pragmatic solutions.
• Oversee all phases of global litigation and investigations, including outside counsel selection and management, budgeting, discovery strategy, trial preparation, mediation, and settlements.
• Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing litigation team, including talent development and succession planning.
• Oversee litigation operations, including early case assessment, legal holds, AI tools, eDiscovery, and process simplification.
• Drive litigation prevention and risk management strategies through training, policy development, and early dispute resolution.
• Establish scalable systems and processes to manage litigation matters, discovery, and enterprise litigation risk across the company.
• Partner closely with the Deputy General Counsel and Intellectual Property Counsel to align litigation strategy across the legal organization.
• Lead offensive and defensive antitrust and competition matters globally, including regulatory and government investigations.
• Support the company’s antitrust and competition compliance roadmap, including policies, training, and escalation protocols in partnership with the Compliance team.
• Support the development of antitrust and competition strategies to enable compliant business decision‑making in a competitive landscape.
• Develop clear reporting and governance processes for material litigation matters, including executive and board-level updates.
• Support the identification, assessment, and disclosure of legal, regulatory, and compliance risks, including SEC filings and other public disclosures.
• Travel: Approximately 30% domestic and international.
  
  

What We're Looking For

• JD from an accredited US law school and admission in good standing to practice law in Arizona, California or North Carolina.
• Minimum 20 years of litigation experience, including trial experience, within a law firm, an in-house legal department, and/or a government or regulatory agency.
• Deep expertise in global antitrust/competition, and intellectual property litigation.
• Demonstrated success managing complex litigation portfolios, outside counsel, and legal budgets at scale.
• Exceptional judgment, executive presence, and the ability to translate legal risk into business decisions.
• A confident, approachable, collaborative leader who works effectively across legal teams and business partners to navigate complex disputes.
  
  

Preferred:

• Experience in medical device/healthcare or similarly regulated environments.
• Experience leading legal innovation and litigation operations, including the use of AI and legal technology.
• Strong understanding of international regulatory frameworks, business acumen, and competition laws.
• Proven track record in modernizing litigation operations, including eDiscovery, process redesign, and metrics-driven management.
• Strong emotional intelligence and leadership capability.
  
  

Pay Transparency

If provided, base salary or wage rate ranges are the range in which Align reasonably expects to set a candidate’s pay for the posted position. Actual placement depends on the individual skills and experience level of a candidate plus the total compensation and equity across team members. For other locations outside of the primary location, the base salary range will be adjusted geographically.

For Field Sales roles, the salary listed is the base pay only and does not include the applicable incentive compensation plan. A cost of living adjustment may be added to base pay for higher cost areas in the U.S.

Our internship hourly rates are a standard pay determined based on the position and your location, year in school, degree, and experience.

General Description Of All Benefits

We are pleased to provide a general description of the benefits Align offers to full-time employees in this position.

Benefits

Family Benefits. Align offers employees and their eligible dependents medical (with a Health Savings Account option for some plan offerings), dental, and vision in accordance with those plans. Align also offers to employees:

• Discounts on Invisalign and Vivera to employees and their eligible dependents after 90 days of employment
• Back-up Child/Elder Care and access to a caregiving concierge
• Family Forming Benefits – Available to Employees, and their spouse or domestic partner, covered under one of Align’s health plans
• Breast Milk Delivery and Lactation Support Services
• Employee Assistance Program
• Hinge Health Virtual Physical Therapy – Available to all employees and eligible dependents (age 18 ) enrolled in an Align medical Plan
  
  

Employee benefits. Align offers its employees:

• Short-term and long-term disability insurance in accordance with those plans.
• Basic Life Insurance and Accidental Death and Dismemberment. Voluntary Supplemental Life Insurance for Employee, Spouse/Domestic Partner, and Child(ren) are available for purchase in accordance with those plans.
• Flexible Spending Accounts – Employees may be eligible to participate in a health care account (including a limited health FSA if enrolled in a HDHP), dependent care account, and a pre-tax commuter benefit plan.
• 401k plan (with a discretionary Company match of 50% up to 6% of eligible earnings up to a maximum match of 3%.). Employer match vests after two years – 25% year one and 100% at year two. Align offers traditional, Roth, and after-tax options.
• Employee Stock Purchase Program (Employees must work 20 hours or more and be employed on purchase date to be eligible).
• Paid vacation of up to 17 days during the first full year of employment (currently accrued at the rate of 5.24 hours each pay-period), which carries over to a maximum cap of 30 days. Annual paid vacation time accrual increases based on tenure. Both exempt and non-exempt employees who work 32 hours or more per week receive prorated vacation accrual based on their regularly scheduled work hours and tenure.
• Sick time is accrued throughout the year at the rate of one hour for every thirty worked. Employees can carry over unused sick leave each year, up to a maximum balance of 80 hours.
• 11 Company-designated paid holidays throughout the year.
• If employed for at least 12 consecutive months, Align will grant up to 6 weeks of paid Parental Leave. If employed for less than 12 consecutive months, Align will grant up to 4 weeks of paid Parental Leave. All parental leave must be completed within one year of the birth or placement of the child. Parental leave is in addition to any state and/or local parental leave benefits. Three days of paid bereavement leave. In some cases, due to travel the amount of paid leave may be extended to 5 paid days off. To the extent applicable state or local law offers more generous benefits, Align complies with any such law.
• Non-exempt employees will receive full pay for up to 10 days of jury duty. Exempt employees will receive their full salary during any week they serve and perform any work. Other insurance such as legal, critical illness, voluntary accident, long-term care, auto, home and pet insurance are available for purchase.
  
  

To the extent applicable state or local law offers more generous benefits, Align complies with any such law.

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Equal Opportunity Statement

Align Technology is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities in all our practices, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, marital status, protected veteran status, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other legally protected category. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the country for which they are applying, and employment eligibility will be verified as a condition of hire.