Contracts Counsel Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston - Diversity@Workplace Consulting Group

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston is a leading provider of wholesale funding for housing and community finance in New England serving more than 420 financial institutions across the region. The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston is committed to making New England a better place to live and do business, and our employees are integral to our success. As a cooperative, we are owned by more than 420 banks, credit unions, insurance companies, and community development financial institutions that access tens of billions of dollars of our reliable, wholesale funding each year. Our funds are a vital resource that helps our members succeed, provide families with safe, decent affordable housing, and generate economic development that creates jobs in communities throughout our region.

Our highly skilled team of 200 is diverse, innovative, collaborative, and passionate about the work we do. We seek other professionals excited to share their knowledge, talent, and passion for our mission to join our team. We offer opportunities for career development, robust benefits, and a work-life balance.

Position Summary

This position provides legal counsel and advice on a variety of legal matters and projects throughout the Bank. This position’s primary responsibilities are (i) to review and negotiate vendor contracts in support of all business areas; (ii) to support vendor managers’ compliance with the Bank’s Vendor Policy; (iii) to support the Director of the Office of Minority & Women Inclusion (OMWI) with supplier diversity matters for the Bank’s DE&I Program; and (iv) to provide general legal support on a variety of legal matters, including the Bank’s affordable housing, community development, and fair lending programs.

The estimate of time we anticipate being spent on key responsibilities is as follows: 50% on contract review, 20% contract compliance tasks, 15% OMWI Supplier Diversity tasks and support, and 15% other, which includes Letters of Credit (LOCs) and Fair Lending. The ideal candidate is someone who brings a solid contracts foundation for us to build upon. The Bank is willing to provide training on the LOC and Fair Lending aspects of the role.

This role will have a hybrid work schedule in our Boston office in accordance with the Bank’s Hybrid Work Program. More time will be encouraged in the office to support onboarding initially.

Specific Responsibilities

1. Primary responsibility for reviewing, commenting on and negotiating contracts for goods and services, with oversight and support of other attorneys as needed.
2. Primary responsibility for drafting and updating the Vendor Policy and supporting procedures (vendor contracting and vendor management).
3. Support the Bank’s vendor managers within the business units with vendor selection and pre-contract due diligence obligations, as required by the Vendor Policy and supporting procedures.
4. Serve as the “Legal SME” in the Bank’s vendor due diligence and vendor monitoring processes; provide secondary support to vendor managers and internal subject matter experts in their ongoing vendor monitoring and review obligations (with primary support being provided by the Legal and Vendor Operations Manager).
5. Facilitate the Bank’s diversity and inclusion efforts in the supplier diversity area, particularly with respect to supporting regulatory reporting obligations and participating in the FHLBank System counsel OMWI Procurement subgroup.
6. Attains and maintains a thorough knowledge of the law and current legal developments in areas of responsibility.
7. Attains and maintains an understanding of laws and regulations of specific applicability to the Federal Home Loan Bank System.
8. Other duties, as assigned.

Education & Credentials

1. Graduation from an accredited law school is required.
2. Current license to practice law in any state of the United States is required for consideration.
3. If not already licensed in Massachusetts, the selected candidate must be able to meet the necessary requirements for licensure within Massachusetts within an agreed-upon timeframe (either admitted to practice in Massachusetts or registered in Massachusetts as in-house counsel).

Experience

1. Minimum of 3 years’ relevant combined experience in a law firm and/or corporate law department is ideal for this role.

Knowledge/Skills

1. Contract review, drafting and negotiating skills required, particularly a demonstrated ability to manage and react to third party documentation in a variety of contexts, such as software- and infrastructure-as-a-service, technological professional services, financial auditing services, and temporary staffing services.
2. Strong issue-spotting, problem-solving, negotiating, and analytic ability must be demonstrated.
3. Strong interpersonal skills, particularly active listening, influence and building productive professional relationships, are required for success in this position.
4. Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing.
5. Ability to keep other members of legal department and internal clients informed of status or problems with a customer-focused timely, businesslike manner.
6. Ability to manage and prioritize multiple matters.
7. Facility with Excel, Word and PowerPoint strongly preferred.
8. Demonstrated experience with Legal/Contracts software to manage workflows and ensure procedures are adhered to.
9. Experience with vendor management programs is a plus, but not required.
10. Knowledge of FHLBank System and its regulatory environment a plus.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston is committed to building and sustaining a diverse workforce that reflects the communities that we serve. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we strongly encourage applicants from every ethnicity, color, religion, gender, age, national origin, disability, veteran or parental status and sexual orientation.

Nothing in this job description restricts management’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.

A diverse talent pool is what we need to meet our business needs.