Back to jobs
New

Senior Counsel Legal, R&D and Supply Chain

Waltham, Massachusetts, United States
Nearly 37 million Americans are currently affected by Chronic Kidney Disease. 37 million. At Akebia we take that number very seriously and every day we come to work, with the purpose of bettering the lives of each person impacted by kidney disease and the renal community that serves them.
Our tenacious, passionate employees’ challenge the status quo and work to develop unique therapeutics that have the potential to set new standards of care for people living with kidney disease.
 
This is life-changing work, and we are all in, are you?
This position is currently based in our Cambridge, MA office. Please note that our offices will be relocating to Waltham, MA later this year, and this role will transition accordingly. We follow a flexible, “magnet not mandate” approach to in-office work, encouraging collaboration and onsite engagement while supporting hybrid flexibility based on role and business needs.
 

Job Description

Akebia is looking for a Senior Counsel (Sr. Director) Legal, R&D and Supply Chain to join its fast-paced and collaborative legal and compliance team. The individual in this role will report to the SVP, Legal & Chief Compliance Officer and serve as the business partner and contracting lead for the following functions at Akebia: research and development, manufacturing and supply chain. As a member of the Legal and Compliance team, this role will put you in a position to work closely with leaders across the company in executing the company's R&D strategy, providing strategic insights and negotiation support on contracting, and leading discussions with senior stakeholders to drive towards risk-appropriate agreements and strategies. The Senior Counsel Legal, R&D and Supply Chain will be responsible for identifying and resolving complex legal issues, clearly communicating legal and business risk, negotiating important contracts with research and development and supply chain partners, and advising on appropriate, practical strategies to manage risk and maximize business benefit to achieve business objectives.  This is an exciting opportunity to work with other members of the legal and compliance team and across the organization and gain exposure to a wide variety of business and legal issues at a commercial stage biopharmaceutical company with a robust development pipeline.

Essential Functions & Duties

  • Serve as the strategic business partner for and provide solution-oriented legal advice to designated business areas, such as Research & Development, Manufacturing and Supply Chain, including the senior leaders of those teams.
  • Responsible for drafting, negotiating, reviewing and interpreting a broad range of agreements, including supply agreements, quality agreements, clinical trial agreements, and license agreements.
  • Liaise with internal team and collaboration partners to ensure alignment around shared business initiatives and resolve any disputes.
  • Manage and mentor direct report(s) and other members of the legal team.
  • Serve on program teams for clinical stage assets and participate in research and development and supply strategic planning.
  • Review research and development related decks and disclosures for investors, including securities filings.
  • Adopts a business oriented and creative approach to problem solving.
  • Coordinate with procurement team and other cross-functional partners on updates to contracting process and policies as needed.
  • Stay abreast of industry law changes and inform business of the
  • Build strong relationships across functions and work collaboratively to tackle complex issues.
  • Work with and manage successful delivery of services by outside counsel as needed.

Skills & Experience

Basic Qualifications

  • D. from an accredited law school and admitted to practice in good standing in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
  • At least 10 years’ experience working with life science companies with a mix of large law firm and in-house life science company experience.
  • Experience working with research and development teams and executing collaborations and other strategic transactions.
  • Experience in drafting and negotiating a range of agreements, such as license agreements, clinical trial agreements, supply agreements, master service agreements and consulting agreements.
  • Experience and comfort with making pragmatic risk-based recommendations to research and development, and manufacturing teams regarding contract terms and conditions, and strategies, and leading discussions with senior stakeholders to drive towards risk-appropriate agreements and strategies.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Business focused and solution oriented.
  • Excellent problem solving and analytical skills.
  • Ability to cultivate strong stakeholder relationships and communicate complex concepts in ways that are understood and actionable by cross-functional teams (e.g., translate complex requirements into practical suggestions and real-world solutions).
  • Self-motivated and able to perform role independently, with a minimum level of supervision.
  • Excellent document drafting and proofreading skills, with high attention to detail and ability to identify business, legal and compliance issues.
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills.
  • Strong organizational and project management skills with an ability to work in a fast-paced, innovative and collaborative environment.
  • Management skills and working within a team

Base Compensation for this role will depend on a number of factors including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience, and may fall outside of the range shown. Base pay is only one component of the company’s total rewards package, all regular employees are also eligible for the corporate bonus program or the incentive compensation program (if applicable), as well as equity. Additional benefits include health care, vision, dental, retirement, PTO, etc.

Targeted Base Salary

$248,305 - $306,730 USD

Are you an Akebian?
 
An Akebian is curious, empathetic, and values making connections to people and ideas. Akebian’s aren’t afraid of diving in and owning a process or a problem, because we all want to deliver a great solution. Akebian’s believe that we are better together because we are all working toward a common purpose – to better the life of each person impacted by kidney disease. Want to learn more about what it means to be an Akebian? Visit our website: www.akebia.com
 
Akebia is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes all job applicants.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other factors prohibited by law.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Education

Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...

By submitting my application, I acknowledge that I have read and understand the Akebia's Privacy Policy. If I am a California resident, I also acknowledge that I have read and understand the California Privacy Notice for Job Applicants and Employees.

Select...

Note: Selecting “no” will not eliminate you from consideration for this role.

Message and data rates may apply, depending on your mobile phone service plan. At any time you can get more help by replying HELP to these texts, or you can opt out completely by replying STOP.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Akebia Therapeutics’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 07/31/2029

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.

We use Greenhouse’s AI-powered Talent Matching tool to compare your application against our job requirements.


Click 'Learn More' to learn about our AI tool and/or to opt out the use of the AI- talent matching tool with your application.

Learn more