Legal Counsel and Director of Contracts

Overview

Black Diamond Therapeutics is a precision oncology medicine company pioneering the discovery and development of small molecule, tumor-agnostic therapies. Black Diamond targets un-drugged mutations in patients with genetically defined cancers for whom limited treatment options currently exist. Black Diamond is built upon a deep understanding of cancer genetics, protein structure and function, and medicinal chemistry. The Company's proprietary technology platform, Mutation-Allostery-Pharmacology, or MAP, platform, is designed to allow Black Diamond to analyze population-level genetic sequencing data to identify oncogenic mutations that promote cancer across tumor types, group these mutations into families and develop a single small molecule therapy in a tumor-agnostic manner that targets a specific family of mutations.

The Company has an exciting opportunity to join a small but highly experienced legal team, with great opportunities for growth and learning. This position will report to the Vice President - Legal & Intellectual Property and requires a high degree of flexibility, judgment, organizational and technical skills. It is an ideal position for an attorney who has mastered the preparation and negotiation of R&D related agreements and enjoys that work but also wants to gain further experience in other areas such as IP, more complex collaboration and license agreements and corporate legal work.

Responsibilities

• Preparation and negotiation of contracts, including but not limited to: CRO master service agreements, clinical trial agreements (US and ROW), development and manufacturing agreements, sponsored research agreements, consulting agreements, confidential disclosure agreements, and material transfer agreements, and license and collaboration agreements, independently, as well as in coordination with the VP - Legal & IP and external counsel (depending on the complexity of the agreement)
• Lead the implementation and training for a new contracts management system to be rolled out in 2020.
• Assist with business development, IP and public company work and other legal tasks, as needed Liaise with the finance department on financial matters as they pertain to contracts and statements of work
• Monitor and advise department managers of contractual rights and obligations as they pertain to their specific agreements
• Analyze contracts to ensure compliance to company policy and regulations
• Advising internal clients on contract interpretation, dispute resolution, risk allocation and other legal matters in a pragmatic way that results in actionable business advice
• Advising, mentoring and overseeing contract specialists, and over time, junior attorneys, in the preparation, negotiation and execution of high-volume contracts and other documents
• Leading initiatives to improve contract processes, including by reducing cycle times and increasing efficiency
• Overseeing the development of template agreements, fallback provisions and negotiation guidelines
• Educating internal clients regarding contract policies and processes
• Representing the legal department and/or contracts function on cross-functional initiatives and collaborating with other members of the legal department on internal initiatives

Qualifications

• JD from accredited law school and license to practice in at least one US jurisdiction
• 7 + years' professional experience, with at least 3-5 years' experience in contracts negotiation and administration in the biotech or pharmaceutical industry required
• Strong work ethic and team player

• Ability to independently manage workload in a fast-paced environment
• Ability to provide practical, timely, and risk-appropriate legal counsel to a wide variety of internal clients on legal and regulatory matters and interact effectively with employees at all levels of the organization

• High degree of professionalism in a client-service-focused setting
• Strong interpersonal (verbal and written) communication skills
• Ability to communicate with various levels of the organization, including senior management
• Decision-making, problem-solving, and analytical skills
• Organizational, multi-tasking, and prioritization skills