VP & General Manager – Legal Dept ZE0A

Job Type: Location Type: Remote: open to residents of any country

 

Marubeni America Corporation

Marubeni America Corporation (MAC), headquartered in New York City, is the primary U.S. subsidiary of Marubeni Corporation, one of Japan’s leading global trading and investment groups. Operating across a broad portfolio that spans food and agriculture, energy, chemicals, machinery, transportation equipment, real estate, finance, and consumer products, MAC supports large-scale import, export, distribution, and investment activities throughout North America. With major offices in New York, Houston, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, Omaha, and Washington, D.C., the organization serves as a strategic hub connecting U.S. markets with Marubeni’s worldwide network, enabling integrated supply-chain operations, project development, and long-term commercial partnerships.

MAC’s role is central to advancing Marubeni’s global business initiatives, combining diversified trading capabilities with a commitment to responsible and sustainable enterprise. In this document, “MAC” primarily refers to Marubeni America Corporation, and, where the context requires, may also include Marubeni Corporation and other companies of Marubeni Group.

Scope and Responsibilities:

• Strategic Legal & Compliance Leadership: Provides strategic leadership as both a “partner” in value creation and a “guardian” of MAC, embodying the dual roles recognized by experts in the United States and Japan. Oversees the performance of the Legal and Compliance Team in executing these responsibilities.
• Risk Prevention & Business Support: Serves as a “goalkeeper” of MAC by preventing internal errors and compliance breaches through proactive legal and compliance oversight, while actively supporting business managers to enable commercial success.
• Regional Legal & Compliance Advisory: Advises senior management with timely and accurate guidance on the full spectrum of legal and compliance issues arising from Marubeni Group’s extensive activities in North America-representing roughly 35% of global revenue within one of the world’s most demanding litigation and enforcement environments.
• Team Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration: Leads and supports the Legal and Compliance Team in their performance and daily operations and builds cross-functional alliances while collaborating closely with senior management and legal and compliance teams across other Marubeni Group companies operating in North America.
• Commercial Transactions, Contracts & M&A Support: Advise on and manage the legal risk of commercial transactions

and various projects including preparation, review and negotiation of contracts and examining MAC’s internal approval processes documents (written in Japanese), and advise and assist on significant transactions, matters and projects (including M&A transactions/projects for Marubeni Corporation and Marubeni Group entities) from early stages to identify, manage and minimize legal risk and keep senior management informed.

• Litigation, Dispute Resolution & Regulatory Matters: Manage litigation, arbitration and other dispute resolution procedures, and regulatory matters for MAC including investigating and reporting on status to senior management.
• Compliance Program & Corporate Secretariat Support: Establishing, implementing and monitoring the Compliance Programs and in responding to compliance related issues for MAC, and manage legal risk involved with shareholder resolutions, board minutes, corporate powers of attorney and other corporate secretarial documents, letters of guaranty, and other documents.
• Risk Management & Legal Research: Assist Risk Management Team members in debt collection, acquiring security interests as necessary, and bankruptcies, and conduct and manage research on legislation and legal precedents for MAC.
• Operational & Administrative Legal Support: Provide legal support for MAC’s operational and administration activities.
• Regulatory Requirements & Compliance Oversight: Identifying and assessing the compliance and regulatory requirements applicable to MAC’s operations, and supervising, directing, monitoring, reviewing and auditing of the compliance activities of MAC, as well as the general activities of MAC to ensure their compliance with relevant laws and regulations.
• Early Review of Compliance-Impacted Practices: Taking an early look and providing input on all compliance-implicated practices and procedures of MAC and on the transactional activities of MAC, both commercial and investment.
• Support for BUs, BA Teams & Corporate Responsibility Programs: Providing support and assistance to BUs and BA Teams that originate systemic practices and procedures whose primary purpose is corporate responsibility to meet legal and related standards (a “corporate responsibility program”), assisting in the origination and development of any such corporate responsibility program and the integration of such programs into MAC’s compliance regime, and eventually providing outreach and support on the development of corporate responsibility programs at Marubeni Group companies in North America.
• Administration of Formal Compliance Programs: Serving as the Compliance Program Administrator for each of MAC’s formal compliance programs: the Antitrust Compliance Program, Anti-boycott Compliance Program, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Compliance Program, Import Management System and Export Management System.
• Coordination With Parent Company & Internal Teams: Coordinating compliance matters with the parent company on the Marubeni Group Compliance Manual and working closely with the Human Resources Team and other internal stakeholders to maximize performance.
• Training, Development & Ongoing Compliance Support: Responsible for developing, upgrading and improving compliance training and providing assistance to the BA Teams charged with providing training in support of the formal compliance programs.

Must-Have Qualifications:

• Member in good standing of the New York State bar.
• Experience managing litigation and arbitration, regulatory and corporate compliance matters.
• Extensive experience with commercial law and regulations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, which relate to the activities of Marubeni Group companies (e.g., FCPA, CFTC).
• Knowledge of world trade regimes and documentary requirements.
• High level of communication and drafting skills.
• Business proficiency in verbal and written Japanese for understanding and analyzing (i) internal documents and other legal documents written in Japanese and (ii) legal and compliance issues when being consulted by Japanese rotational staffs (including general managers of business units and business administrative teams).

• Tokyo Training: Initial training at the Tokyo Legal Department (MC Legal) for at least three months (duration may be adjusted based on experience).]

Preferred Qualifications:

• Background or knowledge in economics and finance preferred.
• Willingness to travel within the U.S. and abroad (such as Canada, Mexico and Japan).

Education and Experience:

• Law degree from a top tier U.S. law school
• 15+ years of international commercial and complex corporate transactions experience including mergers & acquisitions and divestiture transactions.

Marubeni America Corporation is an Equal Opportunity Employer – Veteran/Disability