Senior Vice President of Legal Affairs

Children's Home Society of Florida

Since opening our doors in 1902, CHS has become a part of Florida's history. The Law Can Protect More Than Organizations.

It Can Protect Childhood.  

Most legal careers ask you to protect a business. This one asks you to protect the future.  

At Children's Home Society of Florida, every contract negotiated, every risk anticipated, every policy strengthened, and every strategic decision supported creates more opportunities for children and families to thrive. For more than 120 years, we've been changing the trajectory of children's lives across Florida. Today, we're building something even bigger—a future where every child, regardless of their ZIP code, has the opportunity to dream, grow, and succeed.

We're looking for an exceptional legal executive who wants to use their expertise where it matters most.

 This Isn't Just Legal Counsel. You'll Lead Work That Matters

As our Senior Vice President of Legal Affairs, you'll serve as a trusted advisor to executive leadership while helping oversee the legal strategy for one of Florida's largest nonprofit organizations. You'll help negotiate complex, high-value agreements.  You’ll guide enterprise risk.  You’ll protect organizational integrity. You’ll influence strategic decisions.  You’ll support innovation. And most importantly, you’ll help ensure that every legal decision advances our mission of creating brighter futures for children and families.

This position is in Charge of the following areas: 

• Reviewing and negotiating government, nonprofit and vendor contracts and agreements
• Overseeing and administering our contract lifecycle management system and contracting process
• Partnering on strategic business initiatives, with significant emphasis on policy and practice development and enterprise risk management.

You'll also serve as the Chief Legal Officer's trusted partner, stepping into executive leadership responsibilities whenever needed.

If you enjoy solving complex business challenges, partnering with executive leaders, and building legal strategies that enable organizations—not just protect them—you'll thrive here.

We're Looking for Someone Who... 

• Thinks like a business executive—not just an attorney.
• Sees contracts as strategic partnerships with business lines.
• Can simplify complex legal issues for operational leaders.
• Is energized by negotiation.
• Knows how to balance innovation with sound risk management.
• Builds trust quickly with executives, board members, government partners, and outside counsel.
• Wants to leave an organization stronger than they found it.

What You'll Bring:

• Juris Doctor from an accredited law school
• Active member in good standing with The Florida Bar
• 5+ years of progressive in-house or corporate legal leadership
• Extensive experience drafting and negotiating sophisticated contracts and agreements
• Experience advising executive leadership
• Experience managing outside counsel and/or legal operations

Bonus points for experience in:   

• Nonprofit organizations
• Healthcare or human services
• Government contracting
• Technology agreements
• Enterprise contract management systems
• Leasing and real estate transactions

Competencies

• Accountability – Take action to achieve desired outcomes and deliver results against stated goals; ensuring CHS strategy is responsive to client and community needs, , stewards CHS resources appropriately and adds value by creating competitive advantage for the organization.
• Business Acumen - Possess a high-level of broad business skills, including those related to compliance, finance, human resource, and public relations.
• Change Leadership. Have courage to take risks on people and ideas, driving new approaches to improve results by transforming culture, systems or services and helping others overcome resistance to change so that CHS objectives are achieved.
• Coalition Building – Catalyze commitment across all CHS partners (including funders, providers, local, state and federal entities, etc.) to transform life trajectories and community outcomes.
• Communication. Presents ideas effectively and persuasively (orally and in writing) to individuals and groups in formal and informal settings.
• Compliance & Risk Management. Understands the applicable regulations and laws that impact the business, developing and implementing effective policies and procedures for identifying, auditing and managing compliance and minimizing risk.
• Curiosity – Exhibit a willingness to explore/reframe problems as opportunities, using good judgement to solve practical problems, while engaging in proactive and reflective decision-making.
• Legal Acumen. Possesses deep understanding of legal precedents, principles, practices and issues relative to civil litigation, corporate law, nonprofit law, contract and business law, comprehending complex legal issues and developing legal strategies to drive appropriate outcomes.
• Personal Leadership - Exhibit a professional presence, demonstrating self awareness, caring, compassion and empathy, as well as strong interpersonal and communication skills, demonstrating unwavering Respect, Integrity and Dedication to the CHS Mission.
• Relationship Building & Inclusion – Engage actively with others to forge positive, advantageous, transformational partnerships with people of different backgrounds, abilities, and perceptions, increasing diversity and promoting a sense of belonging across cultural and other groups.
• Strategic Foresight. Be proactive in identifying key issues and relationships relevant to achieving a long-range goal or vision.
• Team & Organization Building. Use a flexible interpersonal style to systematically build, motivate and guide individual, team and organizational capability, instilling a culture focused on talent development and engagement.
• Vision & Purpose. Confront the complex realities of Florida’s communities and create breakthrough results using data-driven approaches.

 

 

More Than a Legal Career:

Your work will influence every department. Every community. Every partnership. Every child we serve.

Are you ready to use your legal expertise to create lasting impact? Join Children's Home Society of Florida and help build brighter futures—for every child, every dream, every future.

 Together, good can be done.

 

All applicants are subject to background screening through the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). For more information, visit https://info.flclearinghouse.com