Director, Legal Affairs & Operations
Posted 12 days ago
Banyan Software is the best permanent home for software businesses that serve specialized industries, their employees, and their customers. We are on a mission to acquire, build, and grow great companies worldwide, helping them modernize through shared AI expertise and operational discipline. The Banyan Software Foundation, endowed with $100 million in Banyan stock, leverages technology to build a greener and more equitable world. Banyan is Great Place to Work Certified, a five-time Inc. 5000 honoree, and a top 10 company on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Atlanta, Banyan operates more than 100 portfolio companies across North America, the UK, EU, and APAC.
Director, Legal Affairs & Operations
Banyan Software | Toronto, ON (Hybrid - 3 days onsite) | Head Office Legal Team
This is not a typical in-house legal role. It is one of the most unique opportunities in the market for a commercially minded lawyer, and one of the most demanding.
You will serve as the primary legal resource for Banyan's growing portfolio of independent software businesses, acting as shared in-house counsel for a diverse group of operators who are running their businesses, not their legal function. At the same time, you will work directly alongside the General Counsel on Banyan HQ matters, including procurement, corporate governance, HQ employment, and commercial disputes (including purchase agreement claims with sellers post-close).
The role is primarily focused on North America, with connectivity to Banyan's UK/European and Australian teams as needed.
You will have direct reports: who support the broader legal function across the portfolio.
What makes this role unique is that it operates at two speeds simultaneously: reactive enough to be a trusted advisor when portfolio companies face a real legal problem, and strategic enough to build the infrastructure (templates, playbooks, training, and systems) that lets those same companies help themselves. You are not the bottleneck. You are the person who makes sure there does not need to be one.
This role is best suited to someone who has thrived in a lean, high-growth environment and finds energy in breadth rather than depth. The ability to context-switch quickly, operate with a light touch, and build things that scale is what makes someone successful here.
What You'll Do
Portfolio Company Shared Services
- Lead post-close legal onboarding for newly acquired portfolio companies: review their existing contract stack, identify gaps and risks, align templates and processes with Banyan standards, and build the foundation for the OpCo to manage its own commercial matters going forward. The goal is independence, not dependence. Once set up correctly, OpCos run their own commercial negotiations
- Maintain and develop a roster of overflow counsel across North America who service OpCo day-to-day legal needs, billing the OpCo directly. You train this network on Banyan standards and best practices and serve as the quality control layer across the relationship.
- Manage IP matters for the global portfolio through a dedicated external law firm relationship, coordinating filings, renewals, enforcement questions, and strategic IP matters on behalf of portfolio companies
- Advise portfolio companies on commercial disputes and litigation, engaging and managing external counsel where the matter warrants it. You are the strategic lead; you bring in the right resources at the right time
- Advise portfolio companies on high-risk employment matters, including executive employment contracts, complex or sensitive terminations, and escalated HR-adjacent legal questions that require counsel involvement
- Manage privacy and data incidents across the portfolio, working with Banyan's cyber insurance carriers and information security team to coordinate incident response, breach notifications, and remediation efforts
- Serve as a resource for the full range of strategic legal questions that arise across a diverse portfolio: real estate matters, product and technology questions, regulatory and compliance issues, and anything else that genuinely warrants legal input. If it is material to the business, it finds its way here
Portfolio Enablement - Your Biggest Impact
- Build and maintain a self-serve legal resource library: template contracts, negotiation playbooks, approval checklists, and plain-language guidance that empowers operators to move independently
- Design and run lunch and learn sessions and legal education programming for portfolio company teams across North America and beyond, no law degree required to understand
- Create the kind of materials that answer questions before they are asked, reducing legal friction and building operator confidence at scale
- Champion the principle that accessible legal infrastructure is a competitive advantage for the businesses we support, and prove it
HQ Legal Matters
- Serve as the General Counsel's right hand on all strategic legal matters at the Banyan level. This is a broad mandate: the GC's priorities are your priorities, and the scope of what lands here can be wide, varied, and fast-moving.
- Support day-to-day HQ legal needs, including procurement reviews (contracts for goods and services Banyan is purchasing), entity governance and maintenance, and escalation matters across the portfolio
- Advise on HQ employment matters including complex terminations, policy questions, workplace investigations, and HR-adjacent legal issues
- Manage disputes and post-close claims arising from Banyan's acquisitions, including purchase agreement disputes with sellers, working with external counsel where needed
- Engage cross-functionally with Banyan's M&A, Finance, HR, and Operations teams on legal matters that touch the holding company
AI & Legal Technology
- Actively lead and model AI adoption across legal workflows, not as a talking point, but as a practitioner who has done it and can demonstrate real impact
- Build AI-enabled processes that reduce turnaround time, improve consistency, and scale legal support across the portfolio
- Help portfolio companies understand how to use AI tools responsibly and effectively in their own operations
- Continuously evaluate and implement legal technology tools that make the function faster, more accessible, and more scalable
What We're Looking For
- Called to a Canadian Law Society or U.S. state bar, in good standing
- 6-9+ years of experience, with meaningful in-house time at a technology or software company. You have operated in a lean environment, owned a broad scope, and are comfortable being the primary legal voice in the room. Experience at large, highly structured organizations with narrow mandates is less likely to be the right preparation for this role.
- Demonstrated, hands-on use of AI tools in your legal practice: not theoretical familiarity, but actual workflow integration with results you can speak to
- Strong commercial judgment: the ability to identify what is actually material, give a plain-language answer, and help a business move forward
- Experience managing external counsel relationships, including coordinating instructions across matters, reviewing invoices, and ensuring the advice fits the business context
- An instinct for enablement: you would rather build something reusable than answer the same question fifty times
- Excellent drafting and communication skills: you write for operators, not judges
- Comfortable operating autonomously, advising senior leadership, and making good calls under ambiguity
Nice to Have
- Experience with M&A transactions: reviewing purchase agreements, conducting due diligence, or supporting post-close integration
- Familiarity with multi-jurisdiction corporate governance and entity management across Canada, the U.S., UK, or Australia
- Prior experience in a shared services, portfolio, or multi-company legal model
What We Offer
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada (hybrid - 3 days / week in-office)
Travel: Periodic (~10%)
Compensation: CAD $175,000-$200,000 base salary, excluding annual bonus and equity (when applicable). Salary is based on a number of factors including market conditions, location and may vary depending on job-related skills and experience.
This position is for an existing vacancy.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Equal Employment Opportunity at Banyan: Banyan affirms that inequality is detrimental to our Global Teams, associates, our Operating Companies, and the communities we serve. As a collective, our goal is to impact lasting change through our actions. Together, we unite for equality and equity. Banyan is committed to equal employment opportunities regardless of any protected characteristic, including race, color, genetic information, creed, national origin, religion, sex, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, lawful alien status, ancestry, age, marital status, or protected veteran status and will not discriminate against anyone on the basis of a disability. We support an inclusive workplace where associates excel based on personal merit, qualifications, experience, ability, and job performance.
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Protect yourself by following these steps:
- Verify that all communications from our recruiting team come from an @banyansoftware.com email address.
- Remember, employers will never request payment or banking information during the hiring process.
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Your safety and security are important to us. Thank you for staying vigilant.
Other open roles at Banyan Software(6)
Banyan Software is a buy and hold for life acquirer of vertical market software businesses. Founded in 2016 by David Berkal, Banyan was created to offer software owners a third option beyond selling to a competitor focused on cutting costs or a traditional investment firm that would resell the business a few years later. As a private company with no fund timeline and no exit pressure, Banyan holds and grows its businesses for life. Unlike private equity firms, Banyan preserves the culture, brand, and autonomy of each business rather than consolidating or cutting costs to maximize short-term returns. Every acquired company keeps its management team, brand identity, and customer relationships intact. Banyan works closely with each owner to find the right path forward, whether they want to stay at the helm, transition to an advisory role, or make a graceful exit. Many owners choose to retire or move on, either at closing or within a year or two. In those cases, Banyan partners with the outgoing owner to recruit a new CEO who is the right fit for the team and culture. Every Banyan company is paired with a dedicated Operating Leader who provides strategic guidance and support. Companies also gain access to the Banyan Business Community, which includes CEO Summits, functional Guilds, an online portal, and peer networks. Growth Enablement resources are available across finance, technology, sales and marketing, HR, legal, and talent. Banyan also invests in AI capabilities across its portfolio to help modernize products and accelerate growth. Banyan acquires profitable, market-leading enterprise software businesses with annual revenues generally greater than $2M, a high proportion of recurring revenue, strong customer retention, and engaged employees. The portfolio spans vertical markets including education, government, financial services, healthcare, media and entertainment, and transportation, with businesses across North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia and New Zealand
Key team members
Adam Cole
Michael Giske
Lisa Cowan
Alex Jarzebowicz
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