Vice President of Legal Services

Vice President of Legal Services

Houston, TX

Our client, a large managed care organization in Houston, has a new opportunity available for a VP of Legal Services. This role will serve as the organization's senior legal executive under the Chief Legal and Assurance Officer and is responsible for the strategic leadership, direction, and day-to-day oversight of the Legal Affairs function. This includes providing enterprise legal counsel and executive consultation to leadership on healthcare, insurance, corporate, transactional, governance, labor and employment, and regulatory matters affecting the organization's Medicaid, CHIP, Marketplace, Medicare, DSNP, and related lines of business. This VP will also lead the legal review, negotiation, and execution of provider, vendor, governmental, benefit, and other enterprise agreements; oversees litigation and external counsel coordination; supports Board and governance matters; and ensures legal risk is identified, assessed, and addressed in alignment with organizational strategy. This position partners closely with executive leadership and business owners to translate complex legal requirements into practical business guidance, strengthen decision-making, and support compliant, sustainable operations across the organization.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Provides strategic leadership for the Legal Affairs function:

• Leads Legal Affairs team structure, priorities, talent development, performance management, and succession planning across counsel and legal operations functions

• Establishes annual legal services priorities, service standards, and department performance metrics aligned with enterprise goals

• Directs legal workload allocation, outside counsel coordination, and escalation protocols for significant legal matters

• Builds a scalable operating model for legal intake, matter management, document retention, and contract lifecycle oversight

Leads enterprise contracting and transaction support:

• Oversees legal review, negotiation, approval, and execution support for provider, vendor, governmental, employer group, real estate, and other enterprise contracts

• Advises on legal terms, risk allocation, dispute provisions, regulatory commitments, and business protections in complex agreements

• Strengthens contract governance, template management, approval routing, and stakeholder communication to improve cycle time and legal sufficiency

• Partners with procurement, operations, finance, and business owners to align contract strategy with organizational objectives

Serves as senior legal advisor on enterprise risk, governance, and regulatory legal matters:

• Provides legal counsel to executive leaders on healthcare, insurance, administrative, labor, corporate, and operational matters impacting the organization

• Monitors changes in applicable law and advises leaders on implications for policy, operations, filings, and strategic initiatives

• Supports governance matters including Board and committee materials, resolutions, bylaws, and corporate records as assigned by the Chief Legal and Assurance Officer

• Coordinates with county attorneys, regulators, and outside counsel when matters require external legal engagement

Directs litigation, disputes, and legal issue resolution:

• Oversees the intake, assessment, strategy, and management of claims, subpoenas, threatened disputes, and litigation involving the organization

• Supervises outside counsel performance, budgets, case strategy, and reporting for significant legal matters

• Ensures timely legal guidance for investigations, responses, and preservation requirements in partnership with compliance, audit, HR, and operations leaders

Advances enterprise collaboration and legal enablement:

• Partners with Compliance, Audit, Finance, Human Resources, Operations, and business leaders to deliver practical legal solutions that support compliant growth

• Improves legal awareness through guidance, training, and communication on contracting, governance, privileged communications, and risk mitigation

Promotes continuous improvement and external representation:

• Uses dashboards and defined metrics to measure service quality, turnaround times, legal risk trends, and department effectiveness

• Represents the organization with external stakeholders, industry groups, governmental bodies, or professional organizations when legal leadership participation advances enterprise interests

REQUIREMENTS:

• Doctor of Jurisprudence (JD) required; licensed and in good standing to practice law in the State of Texas
• Minimum 9 years progressively responsible legal experience, including significant experience in healthcare, managed care, insurance, administrative, corporate, labor, or regulatory law. Experience with Medicaid, CHIP, Medicare, Marketplace, or health plan operations strongly preferred.
• Minimum 5 years of leadership experience directing legal professionals and/or cross-functional legal operations