Associate Director - GCO Enablement Team

Job Title  -   Associate Director – Commercial Contracting

Qualification 

• Bachelor of Laws (LL. B)

The Opportunity

This is an exciting leadership opportunity to join EY’s rapidly expanding GDS GCO Enablement team and work closely with EY’s General Counsel’s Office (GCO) globally. The role requires demonstrated experience leading and developing high‑performing teams, including setting clear performance expectations, providing ongoing feedback and coaching, and managing formal performance processes. Further, the role requires proven capability across the full people lifecycle, including hiring, onboarding, compensation and reward decisions, and talent development. In addition, the role requires deep industry knowledge in commercial contracting, risk assessment, data privacy, technology contracting, and complex negotiation, with experience supervising the providing oversight of team members from a technical legal perspective.

As a senior lawyer, the Associate Director will oversee a team of lawyers in India (Gurgaon, Bangalore, Noida) and Argentina (Buenos Aires), drive operational excellence, and ensure delivery of consistent, high‑quality legal support.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & Talent Development

• Lead multiple legal teams supporting various service lines and geographies on both client and vendor commercial contracts.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of lawyers in India and Argentina, fostering a high-performance, inclusive culture.
• Oversee hiring, onboarding, capability building, and career development initiatives within the team.
• Build capability and drive continuous learning, specialization, and role enrichment in alignment with global priorities.
• Oversee the execution of legal workstreams by direct reports, providing strategic guidance and removing obstacles.
• Allocate work, manage utilization, and ensure delivery aligned with SLAs, quality measures, and stakeholder expectations.
• Serve as escalation point for complex, high‑risk, or non‑standard matters.
• Provide coaching, performance feedback, and development support to team members.
• Drive people engagement and implement retention strategies.
• Foster a culture of innovation, inclusivity, accountability, and excellence.

Commercial Contracting

• Oversee drafting, reviewing, and negotiating complex commercial contracts, including technology, licensing, SaaS, procurement, and professional services agreements.
• Assess contractual risks, regulatory exposure, and data protection implications (GDPR/CCPA).
• Provide strategic, business‑aligned legal advice to internal stakeholders across global markets.
• Maintain high standards in legal accuracy, risk management, and commercial pragmatism.
• Maintaining an understanding of the impact of changes in EY policies, organizational structure, and procedures.

 Governance, Processes & Transformation

• Develop and refine policies, processes, SOPs, templates, and contracting playbooks to improve efficiency and consistency.
• Accelerate adoption of digital, analytics and AI capabilities across functional processes and creating the culture of innovation, transformation, and adaptation of technology to enhance the service delivery.
• Define end‑to‑end delivery models to optimize work allocation, minimize hand‑offs, and enhance time‑zone coverage.
• Establish and define end-to-end delivery enablers that prioritize optimized delivery from the right team/location that minimizes hand-offs and allows maximum time zone coverage.
• Adoption of methodologies for achieving delivery excellence with structured KPIs and governance.    

Stakeholder Management & Collaboration

• Build strong, trust‑based relationships with global stakeholders, internal clients, and senior leadership.
• Communicate progress, risks, challenges, and benefits to relevant leadership groups.
• Proactively address stakeholder feedback to enhance service delivery and client satisfaction.
• Represent the GCO Enablement function in cross‑functional forums, problem‑solving discussions, and governance reviews.

Skills & Attributes for Success

• Unquestionable integrity, ethics, and professional values.
• Experience managing and developing high‑performing teams, including hiring, performance management, compensation decisions, and talent development.
• Proven leadership skills with the ability to inspire, motivate, and drive performance.
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving abilities with an innovative mindset.
• Excellent communication (written and oral) and stakeholder‑engagement skills.
• Ability to simplify complex legal concepts for diverse audiences.
• High cultural intelligence and ability to thrive in a global, virtual environment.
• Advanced negotiation skills, including experience with major technology vendors (IBM, Microsoft, SAP, etc.).
• Strong organizational capability, attention to detail, and execution discipline.
• Service‑oriented mindset with the ability to deliver high‑quality outputs under tight deadlines.

Experience & Qualifications

• LL. B/Law graduate with 15+ years of post‑qualification experience, including 5+ years in leadership or people‑management roles.
• Hands‑on experience negotiating complex technology and commercial contracts.
• Strong knowledge of privacy and data protection laws (GDPR, CCPA).
• Demonstrated ability to manage global stakeholders and cross‑border teams.
• Excellent interpersonal, analytical, and communication skills.

What you can look for

• A Team of highly qualified legal professionals with energy and enthusiasm to learn new things in this fast-moving environment.
• An opportunity to be a part of a global organization and interact with attorneys and business team across the globe.

What working at EY offers

EY Global Delivery Services (GDS) is a dynamic and truly global delivery network. We work across eight countries – Argentina, China, India, the Philippines, Poland, Spain, Hungary and Mexico – and with teams from all EY service lines, geographies and sectors, playing a vital role in the delivery of the EY growth strategy. From accountants to coders, we offer a wide variety of fulfilling career opportunities that span all business disciplines. In GDS, you will collaborate with EY teams on exciting projects and work with well-known brands from across the globe. We’ll introduce you to an ever-expanding ecosystem of people, learning, skills and insights that will stay with you throughout your career.