Vice President, Legal Counsel

The Vice President, Legal Counsel will establish and lead RCX Sports’ in-house legal function, serving as a practical, business-minded advisor to the executive team and cross-functional leaders. This role will bring routine legal work in-house, create scalable legal operations, and manage outside counsel for specialized matters—improving speed, controlling costs, and strengthening legal and regulatory risk management.

As an individual contributor reporting initially to the Chief Customer Officer, and the Chief Operating Officer long-term, this leader will serve as RCX Sports’ senior legal partner, overseeing commercial contracting and contract lifecycle management, compliance, youth protection matters, data privacy, intellectual property, employment-law support, policy governance, legal training, and legal operations. The role will establish and evolve the legal frameworks, policies, agreements, and governance practices that support the business, partnering closely with League Success, League Growth, Marketing, Programs, Events, InfoSec, People Operations, and other teams to define requirements, translate legal obligations into processes, and support effective execution.

Job Responsibilities:

• Serve as a strategic legal advisor to the executive team and business leaders on corporate governance, compliance, risk management, employment matters, contracts, and key business decisions.
• Draft, review, and negotiate sponsorship, supplier, vendor, service, partnership, licensing, media-rights, and other commercial agreements.
• Own the full contract lifecycle, including intake, prioritization, templates and playbooks, approval workflows, execution, a central repository, renewals, obligations tracking.
• Partner with functional owners and department heads to assign accountability, monitor fulfillment, review obligations regularly, and address gaps that could create business risk.
• Build a legal intake and prioritization process with clear service levels and transparent tracking of open legal matters.
• Develop and execute the legal department’s operating plan, annual budget, and reporting cadence.
• Manage outside counsel relationships, including matter scoping, panel selection, rate negotiation, budgets, spend reporting, and decisions about when specialized external support is required.
• Provide legal advisory support to the Foundation on nonprofit governance, program grants, agreements, and owned and operated league activities that expand access to youth sports, in partnership with Foundation and program leaders.
• Create and maintain a company policy library with assigned owners and an annual review cycle, beginning with youth protection, data privacy, and employee policies.
• Lead and document investigations involving alleged violations of youth protection policies and support broader safeguarding compliance, including background-check requirements, participant waivers, and league standards.
• Design and execute a risk-based compliance audit program; track findings through remediation or closure.
• Advise on data collection, processing, privacy, and security matters, including data involving minors, in partnership with InfoSec and operational teams.
• Manage RCX Sports’ trademark and copyright portfolio, including prosecution, maintenance, enforcement, and related calendars.
• Monitor legislative and regulatory developments across the states where RCX Sports operates and provide practical recommendations and regular updates to leadership.
• Advise on professional-league partner requirements, including brand and license terms, approvals, reporting obligations, and other contractual standards.
• Support People Operations on employment-law matters, including policies, handbooks, employment agreements, and workplace claims.
• Oversee litigation, disputes, insurance and claims matters, coordinating with insurance providers and outside counsel on claims-related diligence, documentation, and response; manage records retention, legal holds, corporate entity maintenance, and other corporate housekeeping.
• Advise on and negotiate leases, real estate agreements, and contracts supporting capital expenditures and physical assets, in partnership with Finance and relevant operational leaders.
• Review terms of service, participant agreements, privacy notices, marketing promotions, sweepstakes, endorsements, and content involving minors.
• Develop and deliver employee training on contracting, compliance, corporate governance, risk management, and related legal topics.
• Establish meaningful legal metrics and provide proactive updates to leadership on risk, service levels, outside counsel spend, contracts, compliance, and open priorities.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Juris Doctor (J.D.) from an accredited law school; active membership in good standing with at least one U.S. state bar; and eligibility to practice as in-house counsel in the employee’s work jurisdiction.
• 10+ years of relevant commercial and corporate legal experience in a law firm, an in-house legal department, or a combination of both.
• Significant experience drafting and negotiating complex commercial agreements, with sound judgment and a practical, business-oriented approach to risk.
• Demonstrated success working directly with executives and cross-functional stakeholders in an in-house or similarly operational environment, including the ability to influence senior leaders, build consensus, and drive accountability without direct authority.
• Hands-on experience implementing contract lifecycle management, legal intake, matter tracking, document repositories, templates, playbooks, service levels, or comparable legal-operations systems in a growing or evolving organization.
• Ability to independently prioritize a broad portfolio of matters and distinguish between work that can be handled internally and matters requiring outside counsel.
• Experience managing outside counsel, legal budgets, matter scopes, and spend reporting.
• Demonstrated experience conducting sensitive internal investigations and developing or administering compliance programs.
• Strong analytical, communication, and decision-making skills, including the discretion to handle sensitive and confidential matters.
• Experience advising a multi-state organization and interpreting evolving federal, state, and local regulatory requirements.
• Ability to translate complex legal requirements into clear, actionable guidance for non-legal partners.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in sports, youth programming, sponsorship, licensing, media rights, technology, supply chain, or consumer-facing organizations.
• Working knowledge of youth safety and child-protection compliance, data privacy, intellectual property, employment law, and multi-state regulatory requirements.
• Experience operating within a sports team, league, club, or other sports-related organization.
• Familiarity with professional-league relationships, brand standards, and contractual reporting obligations.
• Experience creating a legal function or formalizing legal operations in a high-growth environment.
• Experience advising nonprofit organizations or supporting holding companies and organizations with multiple legal entities.

Additional Position Details:

• Travel: Less than 10%
• Work Schedule: Full-Time 40 hours/week (Monday-Friday) with occasional nights and weekends as business needs require
• Compensation Structure: This is a Full-Time Salaried position (OT-Exempt), paid semi-monthly. This position is eligible for an annual discretionary bonus & benefits including: Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, Disability, 401(k), Paid Parental Leave, Unlimited PTO, Monthly Wellness Expense Reimbursement and additional voluntary benefits.
• Location: Remote
• Reports to: Chief Customer Officer initially; expected to transition to the Chief Operating Officer once hired
• Supervisory Responsibilities: None.

• Stay Healthy: Enroll in comprehensive benefits & insurance plans with no waiting period
• Be Well: Expense up to $65 per month for health & wellness
• Maximize Savings: Contribute to your 401k retirement savings with company matching
• Be Comfortable: Enjoy a relaxed casual dress code
• Take Time: Enjoy a variety of time off benefits including Unlimited PTO and paid Parental Leave
• Stay Connected: Work equipment (laptop and monitor) provided by RCX Sports plus, expense up to $350 towards the purchase of a personal use laptop, tablet, or computer