Senior Legal Counsel (Commercial Manager)

As a Senior Legal Counsel (Commercial Manager) at Kainos, you will be joining a commercially focused, leading in-house legal team. We are seeking a pragmatic, business-focused and collaborative commercial lawyer. The ideal candidate will bring expertise in drafting, negotiating and advising on complex commercial contracts, with a proven ability to balance legal risk against commercial objectives. A strong understanding and experience of the Canadian public sector procurement and contracting environment is highly desirable. You will be flexible, forward-thinking and solutions-oriented, with the confidence to provide clear, practical advice that supports strategic goals. This role requires someone who thrives in a fast-paced environment, demonstrates exceptional stakeholder engagement skills, and maintains a strong business focus while safeguarding compliance and governance. This is a hybrid role based out of our Halifax office. 

Your responsibilities will include:  

• Act as a trusted advisor to the business, balancing legal obligations with commercial realities. You will be responsible for keeping stakeholders engaged at all steps of the process and shifting focus to align with business needs.  

• Draft, review and negotiate a wide range of commercial agreements, including customer, supplier and partner contracts, SaaS agreements, software licensing and professional services contracts.  

• Collaborate with internal stakeholders across commercial, finance, delivery and leadership teams to enable strategic initiatives.  

• Support bid teams on contractual terms for tenders and proposals.  

• Identify and mitigate legal and commercial risks in new ventures and ongoing operations.  

• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of relevant legislation, regulatory changes and industry best practice.  

• Contribute to continuous improvement of contract templates, processes and governance frameworks.  

• Managing, supervising and supporting the up-skilling and development of more junior members of the team as required.  

MINIMUM (ESSENTIAL) REQUIREMENTS:   

• Qualified lawyer who is called to the bar and currently licensed in good standing in Canada  with a minimum of 8-10 years relevant post qualification experience in a commercial contracts role.  

• A strong understanding of the Canadian public sector procurement (federal and/or provincial) and contracting and subcontracting environment  

• Extensive experience in commercial contracts within IT Sector.    

• Articulate, analytical, pragmatic, and enthusiastic.  

• Excellent drafting, communication, and negotiation skills.  

• Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills with demonstrated  ability of building strong trusted relationships with internal and external stakeholders. 

•  A high attention to detail with excellent time management, organisational and  planning skills.  

• Ability to work to tight deadlines and make sensible decisions under pressure.   

• We all work in teams here in Kainos – a proven ability of strong team skills, including managing and driving a high performing team.  

• We are passionate about developing people – a demonstrated ability in  managing, mentoring and coaching members of your team and wider community  is important.  

DESIRABLE:  

• A solid understanding of the legislative and regulatory landscape relevant to the role is desirable, including international frameworks such as the GDPR and the EU AI Act, as well as Canadian requirements such as PIPEDA (and applicable provincial equivalents), the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA), and Canadian public sector procurement legislation and trade agreement obligations. 

• Experience drafting and negotiating SaaS agreements