Vice President & Assistant General Counsel

Job description APPLY HERE:

At the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), we convene decision-makers, advocate for the retail industry, and promote operational excellence and innovation. Our aim is bold but simple: to elevate a dynamic industry by transforming the environment in which retailers operate. We are a dynamic, collaborative, team-oriented trade association in Washington, DC. Our employees are passionate about customer service and supporting our members and each other, and we are adding to the team!

The Vice President & Assistant General Counsel reports directly to the RILA’s General Counsel and is key to RILA’s success, supporting our members’ in-house legal teams. The role’s primary focus is to partner with senior in-house legal leaders at retail companies on SEC compliance, corporate finance, internal audit, enterprise risk, and CSR/ESG, drawing on deep knowledge of federal regulatory frameworks and public company governance.

The ideal candidate brings experience advising sophisticated, multi-state or global consumer-facing businesses and is eager to apply that background in a trade association setting supporting the retail industry. In exchange, we will show you how rewarding trade association life can be when you work with smart corporate and outside counsel and with a collegial staff representing the retail industry while solving some of its most complex legal problems.

The ideal candidate will have experience in two or more of the following areas:

• SEC - including corporate disclosures/filings, investor protection areas, insider trading policies, acting as corporate secretary or assistant corporate secretary
• Corporate Finance and Payments – including retail financing structures, payments, related privacy and data security requirements
• Internal Audit and Enterprise Risk—including controls used to support board and management oversight of enterprise-wide risk.
• ESG/CSR – including California Climate Disclosure obligations and corporate rating systems, including MSCI, Sustainalytics, ISS ESG, CDP, and S&P Global.

Experience in-house on a national retail or retail-adjacent (CPG manufacturer, national restaurant chain, customer-facing businesses) legal team is required. We are looking for lawyers with experience leading teams within a legal department at the deputy general counsel, assistant general counsel, or equivalent level. This role requires working cross-functionally across RILA committees on topics that reach beyond the legal team, so a genuine interest in collaboration and an ability to bring people together in productive discussions are essential.

• Integrity – Operate with the highest integrity and respect for each other and the brands we represent
• Service – Delight members with service beyond their expectations
• Change – Learn from experiences, adapt, and constantly improve
• Team – Collaborate with one another to achieve more and celebrate wins together

• Convene and work directly with in-house counsel at the country’s leading retailers to address newly emerging and intractable issues targeting the retail and other consumer-facing industries regarding the SEC, Corporate Finance & Payments, Internal Audit & Enterprise Risk, and ESG/CSR.
• Lead the Legal Direct Reports (L2) Committee and engage with deputy GCs and senior legal in-house counsel.
• Lead the Internal Audit Committee and engage with internal audit teams from retail members.
• Develop materials and programming for the benefit of in-house retail members, including working with RILA colleagues to plan and execute the annual best-in-class Retail Law Conference.
• Collaborate with RILA’s Federal and State Government Affairs teams to develop and execute persuasive written and oral advocacy on key cross-functional issues (e.g., SEC regulations impacting public company retailers, proposed SEC climate disclosures, CA climate disclosures, regulations addressing retail financing or payments, etc.).
• Build strategic partnerships and relationships, including with other trade associations, legal networks, and retail stakeholders, to build industry coalitions.
• Work with internal partners…