What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Legal Counsel – Americas position at Kelvion?
Senior Legal Counsel – Americas
Function: Legal & Project Governance
Location: Catoosa, OK
Reports to: EVP Legal & Project Governance
Position Overview
Kelvion is a global industrial manufacturer headquartered in Germany. The Senior Legal Counsel – Americas serves as the primary legal partner for the Americas region, providing pragmatic, business-oriented counsel that enables growth while protecting the company’s legal, regulatory, and commercial interests.
This is a stand-alone, high-autonomy role with significant visibility and direct engagement with regional leadership and core functions (Sales, Purchasing, Operations, Finance, HR, EHS). The role owns the regional legal agenda across commercial contracting, compliance, corporate governance, and disputes/litigation, while partnering closely with the Global Legal & Compliance teams to ensure consistency with enterprise standards.
This role is expected to operate as both a hands-on legal advisor and a builder of scalable legal infrastructure for a growing Americas region. The role requires strong commercial judgment, the ability to assess and communicate risk clearly, and a mindset focused on simplifying, standardizing, and scaling legal support through practical tools, playbooks, and business partnership.
Key Responsibilities
Business Partnership & Leadership
Function: Legal & Project Governance
Location: Catoosa, OK
Reports to: EVP Legal & Project Governance
Position Overview
Kelvion is a global industrial manufacturer headquartered in Germany. The Senior Legal Counsel – Americas serves as the primary legal partner for the Americas region, providing pragmatic, business-oriented counsel that enables growth while protecting the company’s legal, regulatory, and commercial interests.
This is a stand-alone, high-autonomy role with significant visibility and direct engagement with regional leadership and core functions (Sales, Purchasing, Operations, Finance, HR, EHS). The role owns the regional legal agenda across commercial contracting, compliance, corporate governance, and disputes/litigation, while partnering closely with the Global Legal & Compliance teams to ensure consistency with enterprise standards.
This role is expected to operate as both a hands-on legal advisor and a builder of scalable legal infrastructure for a growing Americas region. The role requires strong commercial judgment, the ability to assess and communicate risk clearly, and a mindset focused on simplifying, standardizing, and scaling legal support through practical tools, playbooks, and business partnership.
Key Responsibilities
Business Partnership & Leadership
- Serve as a strategic legal advisor to Americas leadership, providing clear, actionable guidance aligned to business objectives
- Build trusted relationships across functions; translate complex legal issues into practical business decisions
- Drive consistency and effectiveness of legal support in alignment with global legal standards
- Own drafting, review, and negotiation of customer and supplier agreements across the Americas
- Partner with Sales and Purchasing to manage risk related to liability, warranty, claims, and commercial terms
- Support a wide range of agreements including sales, supply, services, logistics, consulting, and confidentiality agreements
- Improve contracting efficiency through templates, playbooks, and streamlined processes
- Manage disputes and claims strategy, coordinating with internal stakeholders and outside counsel
- Oversee litigation matters as needed, including performance, cost, and outcomes
- Provide practical guidance to resolve issues early and mitigate escalation risk
- Coordinate and support product liability, regulatory, and EHS-related legal matters in partnership with internal stakeholders
- Lead regional compliance and risk management, including Code of Conduct, FCPA, antitrust, trade compliance, and EHS-related legal matters
- Support investigations, audits, and training to reinforce a strong compliance culture
- Identify and mitigate legal and regulatory risks; provide clear, practical guidance to the business
- Oversee corporate governance for U.S. entities, including entity management and intercompany agreements
- Support litigation, regulatory matters, and M&A activity in coordination with global teams and outside counsel
- Provide direction and development support for a Paralegal
- Manage outside counsel relationships to ensure quality, responsiveness, and cost effectiveness
- Continuously improve legal processes and service delivery across the region
- Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school
- Active bar admission in at least one state
- 7 years of relevant legal experience (law firm and/or in-house)
- Strong experience in commercial contracting and business-facing legal support
- Demonstrated ability to provide practical, business-oriented legal advice in a fast-paced environment
- Proven ability to manage multiple priorities and stakeholders effectively
- Strong communication, negotiation, and problem-solving skills
- High integrity, sound judgment, and discretion
- Willingness to travel occasionally in the US and internationally periodically
- Experience in manufacturing, industrial, or B2B environments
- Experience working in a global, matrixed organization with cross-border stakeholders
- Demonstrated success building contracting tools, templates, and scalable processes
- Familiarity with trade compliance, export controls, or regulated environments
- Experience supporting M&A transactions and integration activities
- Experience managing outside counsel and legal spend
- Prior people leadership or informal leadership across cross-functional teams
- Strong commercial mindset with ability to balance risk, speed, and business outcomes