Description:
Job Description:Job Title: Deputy General Counsel
Department: Legal
Reports To: Chief Legal Officer
FLSA Status: Exempt
Location: Nashville, TN (hybrid)
SVP Worldwide is the world's largest consumer sewing machine company, proudly home to the iconic brands SINGER®, HUSQVARNA® VIKING®, PFAFF®, and CREATIVATE™. Together, our brands represent nearly 500 years of combined leadership, empowering sewists around the world, and shaping the evolution of sewing for generations.
Our purpose is clear: to create, elevate, and celebrate sewists around the world.
With global operations spanning R&D, manufacturing, distribution, and sales, SVP Worldwide brings together heritage craftsmanship and modern innovation to serve a worldwide community of makers.
Our expanding portfolio includes sewing and embroidery machines, accessories and notions, garment care, and creative software — offering meaningful opportunities to innovate, collaborate, and make an impact.
Guided by our values — customer-first thinking, curiosity and creativity, inclusion, and transparency — we're building a connected, inclusive culture where people can grow their careers while helping define the future of sewing.
Position Summary: The Deputy General Counsel serves as the operational, strategic leader of the Legal Department and is responsible for leading the Company's global legal function on a day-to-day basis. Reporting directly to the Chief Legal Officer, this senior leader serves as the second-in-command within Legal, leading legal operations, managing outside counsel, leading the legal team, and providing practical legal advice across the business.
This role is designed for a highly commercial attorney who enjoys building scalable legal processes, partnering with business leaders, and enabling growth in a fast-paced private equity environment. While the Chief Legal Officer focuses on Board governance, enterprise strategy, executive counseling, M&A, and significant enterprise risks, the Deputy General Counsel owns execution across the legal function and ensures Legal delivers responsive, business-focused support throughout the organization.
The ideal candidate combines outstanding legal judgment with exceptional leadership, operational discipline, and business acumen.
Responsibilities:
Build and Lead a High Performing Legal Team
- Lead the day-to-day operation of the Legal Department
- Manage legal priorities across all business functions
- Develop, engage, and maximize performance within others; lead a high-performing team of attorneys and paralegals who scales with the business
- Manage a collaborative relationship with outside counsel
- Allocate resources and prioritize work based upon enterprise risk
- Develop department goals, KPIs, budgets, and operating plans
- Build scalable legal processes that support continued company growth
- Role model and operate with our Values (value-based behaviors) every day, fostering a culture of accountability, responsiveness, and continuous improvement
Commercial Transactions:
- Draft, review, and negotiate a wide variety of commercial contracts, including vendor agreements, NDAs, and service contracts
- Improve contracting efficiency through playbooks, templates, delegation frameworks, AI-enabled workflows and contract lifecycle management
- Partner closely with People & Culture to proactively manage legal risk
- Direct outside counsel and litigation budgets while driving efficient, practical outcomes
- Develop practical compliance training and business guidance
- Oversee the company's compliance program and monitor regulatory developments in key jurisdictions
- Support the company in investigations and managing legal disputes
- Advise on and ensure compliance with global data privacy laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA
- Lead legal aspects of M&A transactions, joint ventures, and strategic partnerships
- Conduct legal due diligence, draft transactional documents, and negotiate deal terms
- Collaborate with the finance and business teams to assess deal risks and opportunities
- Manage the company's intellectual property portfolio, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets
- Provide strategic guidance on IP licensing agreements, enforcement, and protection of proprietary technologies
- Collaborate with R&D and product teams to ensure IP assets are effectively protected
The Employer retains the right to change or assign other duties to this position.
Requirements And Preferred Experience:
- Juris Doctor from an accredited law school
- Licensed and in good standing in at least one U.S. jurisdiction required.
- 10–15+ years of legal experience
- Combination of sophisticated law firm and in-house experience strongly preferred.
- Significant commercial transactions experience.
- Experience supporting manufacturing, consumer products, retail, or industrial businesses.
- 5+ years experience leading legal teams.
- Experience supervising outside counsel.
- Excellent contract negotiation skills.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
- Demonstrated experience supporting organizations under private equity ownership, with an understanding of PE governance, investment strategies, and value creation initiatives.
- Strong knowledge of global manufacturing operations, including operational, commercial, and regulatory considerations.
- Expertise in global supply chain legal matters, including procurement, logistics, sourcing, trade compliance, and supplier risk management.
- Deep understanding of the consumer products industry, including product compliance, advertising, marketing, and commercial transactions.
- Experience advising on retail and omnichannel operations, including e-commerce, consumer protection, and distribution strategies.
- Comprehensive knowledge of international distribution, cross-border commercial transactions, and global channel partner relationships.
- Proven experience leading legal support for mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and post-acquisition integration initiatives.
- Strong expertise in corporate governance, ESG, ethics, and compliance frameworks supporting publicly and privately held organizations.
- Extensive knowledge of intellectual property, including trademarks, copyrights, patents, trade secrets, licensing, and brand protection.
- Experience driving legal operations excellence, including process optimization, outside counsel management, legal spend oversight, and contract lifecycle management.
- Proficiency with AI-enabled legal technologies, legal automation platforms, and emerging technologies that improve legal service delivery and operational efficiency.
- Ability to develop, engage, and maximize performance and potential within others/team
- Ability to maintain confidentiality and handle sensitive information
