Major Projects Legal Director (Finance)

As an Arcadian, you already help us deliver world leading sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets. You are part of our global business comprising 36,000 people, in over 70 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life.

Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can continue to solve the world's most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.

Role description:

The Major Projects Legal Director leads legal strategy for high-risk, cross-border infrastructure projects, advising on front-end setup, structure, and risk allocation. While the current pipeline is primarily focused in North America, support in other jurisdictions is required as company needs evolve. You will work closely with bid, project, engineering, and legal teams across different time zones to shape the legal and commercial direction of some of the world's most iconic infrastructure projects. This role demands exceptional legal judgment, commercial acumen, and the ability to balance firmness with diplomacy in navigating complexity, ambiguity, and demanding stakeholder environments. Strong client engagement skills are essential.

Role accountabilities:

Strategic Legal Leadership

• Lead the legal strategy for Arcadis' portfolio of major projects which include large-scale, complex, or strategically significant projects and programs - typically exceeding €20 million in revenue, involving substantial risk, and requiring extensive global collaboration across sectors such as rail, road, aviation, buildings, water, and energy.
• Advise on procurement models (e.g. D&B, PDB, PPP, Alliancing), JV arrangements, and risk allocation.
• Embed legal insight early in project pursuit and structuring, partnering with commercial, technical, and legal leaders.
• Align project governance with corporate risk appetite, standards, and commercial priorities.
• Use project data and legal insights to inform strategy, identify trends, and improve decision-making and commercial outcomes.

Transactional Support

• Lead high-stakes negotiations on client contracts, consortium agreements, and partnering structures where needed.
• Review and develop bespoke terms, deviation strategies, and negotiation frameworks.
• Ensure contractual positions are commercially sound and aligned to enterprise legal risk appetite and reward outcomes.

Cross-Border Collaboration

• Coordinate global business area legal directors and local legal teams to maintain consistent legal positioning across jurisdictions.
• Act as legal lead in global Major Project governance forums and project reviews.
• Institutionalize legal best practices in areas of expertise through playbooks, templates, and knowledge-sharing.
• Provide training and coaching to legal and commercial teams in areas of expertise to build capability and alignment to risk appetite.

Risk & Disputes

• Set and oversee legal risk thresholds for major project delivery.
• Contribute legal expertise to internal governance, approvals, and project risk reviews.
• Provide strategic input on disputes and claims where appropriate.

Success Factors

• Strategic thinker with deep expertise in major, cross-border infrastructure projects in rail, road, buildings, aviation, water and energy.
• Trusted strategic business partner to commercial, project, and legal leaders; brings clarity in high-stakes environments.
• Strong drafting and negotiation skills across a range of alternative delivery models and international standard construction contracts (e.g. FIDIC, NEC, JCT).
• Commercially focused; understands when to push and when to partner to get the right outcome.
• Skilled at navigating matrixed environments and leading through influence.
• Comfortable operating under pressure and in the spotlight; resilient, pragmatic, and steady.

Qualifications & Experience:

• Law degree and license to practice in a common law jurisdiction (US strongly preferred); must be US-based with valid work authorisation.
• Extensive experience advising in infrastructure, construction, or engineering sectors.
• Minimum 15 years' post-qualification experience, ideally including both top-tier law firm training and senior in-house roles. If you have the capabilities and mindset to succeed, we encourage you to apply - regardless of years of practice.
• Deep knowledge of alternative delivery models (e.g. Alliance, Progressive D&B, PPP) and international contracting.
• Demonstrated autonomy in leading complex matters with high commercial and reputational stakes.
• Strong interpersonal skills and cultural fluency; able to work across time zones with stakeholders in North America, Australia, and Central Europe.
• Commercially sharp with the judgment to know when to hold the line-and when to adapt.

Working Environment

This is a high-profile, high-accountability position within the legal leadership team. The pace is fast, the work is complex, and the hours can be variable due to global coordination demands.

You'll be working on some of the most strategic and visible projects in the business - often in ambiguous or high-pressure environments. Success requires resilience, maturity, and the ability to influence without formal authority, bringing a calm and decisive approach to complex legal and commercial challenges.

Continue your career journey as an Arcadian.

We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It's why we are pioneering a skills based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.

You do meaningful work, and no matter where your next role in Arcadis takes you, you'll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark; on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.

Together, we can create a lasting legacy.

Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day, which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people.

Arcadis offers benefits for full-time and part-time positions. These benefits include medical, dental, and vision, EAP, 401K, STD, LTD, AD&D, life insurance, paid parental leave, reward & recognition program, and optional benefits including wellbeing benefits, adoption assistance, and tuition reimbursement. We offer nine paid holidays and 20 days of PTO that accrue per year. The salary range for this position is $218.000 - $330.000. Actual salaries will vary and are based on several factors, such as experience, education, budget, internal equity, project, and location.

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