Director, Corporate Counsel

Location: Menlo Park, CA; Miami, FL; Princeton, NJ (onsite) or REMOTE

About Summit:

Summit Therapeutics Inc. is a biopharmaceutical oncology company with a mission focused on improving quality of life, increasing potential duration of life, and resolving serious unmet medical needs. At Summit, we believe in building a team of world class professionals who are passionate about this mission, and it is our people who drive this mission to reality. Summit's core values include integrity, passion for excellence, purposeful urgency, collaboration, and our commitment to people. Our employees are truly the heart and soul of our culture, and they are invaluable in shaping our journey toward excellence.

Summit's team is inspired to touch and help change lives through Summit's clinical studies in the field of oncology. Summit has multiple global Phase 3 clinical studies, including:

Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)

• HARMONi: Phase 3 clinical study which was intended to evaluate ivonescimab combined with chemotherapy compared to placebo plus chemotherapy in patients with EGFR-mutated, locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous NSCLC who were previously treated with a 3rd generation EGFR TKI.

• HARMONi-3: Phase 3 clinical study which is intended to evaluate ivonescimab combined with chemotherapy compared to pembrolizumab combined with chemotherapy in patients with first-line metastatic NSCLC.

• HARMONi-7: Phase 3 clinical study which is intended to evaluate ivonescimab monotherapy compared to pembrolizumab monotherapy in patients with first-line metastatic NSCLC.

Colorectal Cancer (CRC)

• HARMONi-GI3: Phase 3 clinical study intended to evaluate ivonescimab in combination with chemotherapy compared with bevacizumab plus chemotherapy.

Ivonescimab is an investigational therapy not presently approved by any regulatory authority other than China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). Summit is headquartered in Miami, Florida, and has additional offices in California, New Jersey, the UK, and Ireland.

Overview of Role:

The Director, Corporate Counsel, is responsible for the drafting, negotiation, and execution of company contracts across multiple departments. This position is within the Legal Department and partners with clinical operations, medical affairs, finance, research & development, IT, human resources, facilities, and other internal clients from other departments to draft and negotiate contracts that protect the company from risk, support company business objectives, and ensure compliance with company guidelines.

Role and Responsibilities:

• Draft, review, analyze and negotiate a wide range of contracts, with an emphasis on clinical trial agreements and ISTs. In addition to clinical trial agreements and ISTs, draft, review, and negotiate agreements with contract research organizations (CROs), sponsored research agreements, advisory board agreements, collaboration agreements, licensing agreements, consulting and contractor agreements, master services agreements and related statements of work, promotional speaker bureau agreements, vendor and service contracts and related work orders, IT/software agreements, facilities and lease agreements, human resource/employee benefit agreements, and confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements.
• Acts as the primary contact between the internal business units and external parties, ensuring that all legal and contractual matters are addressed efficiently and promptly; escalate matters, as necessary, to reduce company risk and help ensure company business objectives are met.
• Develop strong working relationships with functional groups and project teams.
• Promptly respond to complex inquiries regarding contract obligations and revisions.
• Identify risks and issues, suggest alternatives that meet company business objectives while also reducing company risk.
• Prepares and timely disseminates information regarding contract status, compliance, modifications, etc.
• Reviews, analyzes and tracks in-process and on-going agreements.
• Reports the status of contracts to internal clients using established processes and updated processes as necessary.
• Provide training to company employees regarding contract review and management processes.
• Responsible for effectively interacting with Intellectual Property Counsel to ensure appropriate handling of intellectual property issues in agreements.
• Effectively interacts with Regulatory Counsel and Compliance to ensure appropriate handling of regulatory/compliance issues in contract matters.
• Effectively interacts with Quality Assurance to ensure appropriate handling of quality matters.
• Prepare template agreements, modify existing templates and prepare unique agreements as required.
• Ensure clear and prompt communication with company employees, and outside parties regarding status of, or issues in, contracts.
• Handle miscellaneous legal tasks or special assignments on an as-needed basis.
• All other duties as assigned.

Experience, Education and Specialized Knowledge and Skills:

• Juris Doctorate from an accredited law school, and admitted to a US state bar in good standing.
• Minimum of 7+ years of experience with contracting and negotiation at a law firm and/or in-house with a pharmaceutical, medical device, or healthcare company
• Prior clinical trial agreement negotiation and drafting experience (U.S. and ex-U.S.) with a pharmaceutical company
• Precise drafting and strong legal analysis skills, and knowledge of the regulations and statutes and industry guidelines impacting pharmaceutical research, development and commercial contracts, including GDPR and other data privacy laws.
• Proficient with Word and have a working knowledge of Excel.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills; ability to work effectively and efficiently with all levels of management and personnel.
• Able to handle multiple projects in a timely manner
• Strong interpersonal skills including a strong sense of being a team player
• A keen understanding of business and the ability to diagnose legal problems and present positive, creative solutions and alternatives for management
• Strong organizational and planning skills and meticulous attention to detail
• Able to work independently while exercising initiative, flexibility and good judgment
• Works well under pressure to meet specific deadlines
• Must be flexible due to rapidly changing business environment for a growth company

The pay range for this role is $184,000-$230,000 annually. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, depth of experience, certifications, and specific work location. This may be different in other locations due to differences in the cost of labor. The total compensation package for this position may also include bonus, stock, benefits and/or other applicable variable compensation.

Summit does not accept referrals from employment businesses and/or employment agencies in respect of the vacancies posted on this site. All employment businesses/agencies are required to contact Summit's Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@smmttx.com to obtain prior written authorization before referring any candidates to Summit.