Legal Counsel, Global Legal Services

Legal Counsel Opportunity

Your work days are brighter here. We're obsessed with making hard work pay off, for our people, our customers, and the world around us. As a Fortune 500 company and a leading AI platform for managing people, money, and agents, we're shaping the future of work so teams can reach their potential and focus on what matters most. The minute you join, you'll feel it. Not just in the products we build, but in how we show up for each other. Our culture is rooted in integrity, empathy, and shared enthusiasm. We're in this together, tackling big challenges with bold ideas and genuine care. We look for curious minds and courageous collaborators who bring sun-drenched optimism and drive. Whether you're building smarter solutions, supporting customers, or creating a space where everyone belongs, you'll do meaningful work with Workmates who've got your back. In return, we'll give you the trust to take risks, the tools to grow, the skills to develop and the support of a company invested in you for the long haul. So, if you want to inspire a brighter work day for everyone, including yourself, you've found a match in Workday, and we hope to be a match for you too.

About the Team

The mission of the Global Legal Services (GLS) team is to enhance the Legal organization's support for Workday by focusing on simplicity, speed, scale, and skills, thereby accelerating strategic growth and improving the customer experience. The team's focus areas include developing business strategy for the Legal organization and operational alignment with larger Workday initiatives. Additionally, the team leads ground-breaking efforts in process optimization, resourcing, and risk management, while enabling operational efficiencies in technology management and data harmonization. The GLS team also focuses on developing skills-based training for the organization and providing solutions through effective project management, strategic analytics, vendor management, and budget coordination.

About the Role

The Legal Compliance and Corporate Affairs organization seeks a highly motivated Legal Counsel to join our Global Legal Services Center of Excellence. This role will play a key part in driving transformation in the legal department through establishing contracting standards, streamlining complex processes, leveraging AI to improve department efficiency, driving change management communication, and enhancing, streamlining, and curating resources used by the department to operate at scale. We are looking for an innovative change agent—someone who can drive cultural shifts in how we operate while leveraging expertise to build modern, scalable contracting infrastructure. As Legal Counsel, you will navigate the intersection of legal drafting, system architecture (Salesforce/CLM), technology, and executive communication to simplify the business as we scale to a $20 billion enterprise. This role demands a unique blend of high-energy project management, critical thinking, and the integrity to lead high-stakes initiatives independently.

Responsibilities

• Supporting the development and maintenance of transactional infrastructure governance policies and processes.
• Collaborating with cross-functional teams in Legal, Sales, and Business Technology to implement process and technology solutions.
• Engage with cross-functional teams continuously to gather feedback for improvement to processes, templates, and tools and align contracting processes with broader business objectives.
• Mapping workstreams and department processes, identifying complexity, effort and risk.
• Leveraging business expertise to implement process improvements and serve as a trusted advisor for business users.
• Proactively participate in organizational change and launch support processes, aiding change management and support enablement.
• Lead negotiations for enterprise-level agreements (SaaS, procurement, non-disclosure, etc.).
• Draft and review redlines to Workday commercial contracts, coordinate with cross-functional teams during contract review cycles, provide guidance on commonly requested edits, non-standard terms, policies, copies, questions, etc.
• Contribute to model development and deployment of AI solutions for the legal department.

About You

Basic Qualifications:

• J.D. Degree and membership in at least 1 state bar
• 5+ years of experience as a practicing attorney in a law firm or in-house/public sector legal department
• 3+ years of experience in modern contract drafting
• 3+ years of experience with contract lifecycle management (CLM) concepts and technology

Other Qualifications:

• Legal Technology & Innovation Systems Architecture: Strong understanding of CLM platforms and integrations with enterprise ecosystems; hands-on experience with Salesforce and Conga CLM is highly desirable.
• AI & Data Literacy: A proactive interest in AI solutions. You should be able to demonstrate how AI can be applied to data analysis and be willing to contribute to model development and deployment.
• Process Optimization: Ability to identify, test, and leverage digital tools to streamline legal operations and drive business efficiency.
• Legal Contracts or Operations: Experience working in a legal department, particularly with customer contracts or process and operations (strongly preferred).
• Strategic Problem Solving Pragmatic Risk Management: A creative approach to legal hurdles—balancing "thinking outside the box" with a practical, business-first approach to risk.
• Agile Methodology: Experience working in agile environments, specifically collaborating with cross-functional teams to meet iterative goals.
• Communication & Stakeholder Management Executive Presence: Exceptional ability to distill complex legal information into clear, tech-enabled presentations for large audiences.
• Requirement Gathering: Strong active listening skills to translate ambiguous business needs into concrete legal and technical requirements.
• Operational Execution Self-Direction: Ability to manage high-output workloads and multiple competing priorities independently.
• Adaptability: Thrives in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment where workflows evolve quickly.