Senior Director & Managing Counsel

At ACT, Your Work Makes a Difference

Education has power - a power that changes lives forever. It creates opportunities that lift up individuals, their families, and sparks societal change that echoes through generations to come. From our grassroots we have fought the good fight for equity in education, and we remain devoted to helping anyone who struggles to access that power. This is what matters to us and we must do better -- we've never been more sure of our purpose.

ACT team members are part of an organization dedicated to a mission that has never been more important: Helping people achieve education and workplace success. Advancing that mission within our organization, by helping our team members achieve education and workplace success of their own, is core to our values. ACT values a diverse workplace and is committed to fostering an inclusive, equitable environment in which every team member has an opportunity to grow.

We want our team members to have the well-being and confidence they need to do their best work, in an environment where both they and ACT thrive. To support this, our total rewards include company paid life insurance, medical, dental, vision, flexible health and dependent spending accounts, 401(k) retirement savings with company match, paid holidays, paid time off, and so much more. You can find a comprehensive list of our benefits here.

We are seeking a Senior Director & Managing Counsel to help us fulfill that mission.

Ensure that personal information processed by ACT is protected by planning and directing all aspects of the organization's privacy strategy, by building upon and advancing ACT's strategic and comprehensive privacy program that includes policies, procedures, and initiatives and establishing business and data management processes that reflect privacy requirements and are in compliance with applicable domestic and international laws and regulations.

Provide legal advice related to data privacy and intellectual property for ACT's products and services. Manage paralegals supporting intellectual property work, including registration of ACT's copyrights, management of ACT's trademark portfolio, and enforcement of ACT's intellectual property rights. Manage a privacy team handling data privacy and security functions within the Office of the General Counsel. Responsible for delivering high-quality, actionable legal advice, tracking and reporting on relevant metrics, and helping to drive continuous improvements in data security, quality and efficiency.

The finalist will be hired at the salary and level commensurate with their qualifications. For this position, we anticipate offering an annual salary in the range of $180,000 to $200,000. ACT manages salaries within the range based on relevant factors including, skills, experience, and internal equity. This position is incentive eligible.

Location: This is a remote position, based in the United States.

Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for visa sponsorship.

What you will be working on:

• Define, develop, maintain, and implement policies and processes that enable consistent, effective privacy practices which minimize risk and ensure the confidentiality of protected information across all media types. Ensures privacy forms, policies, standards, and procedures are up-to-date and best in class.
• Work with executive and senior management, security, and corporate compliance to establish governance for the privacy program
• Perform or oversee initial and periodic information privacy risk assessment/analysis, mitigation, and remediation.
• Collaborate with the information security team to ensure alignment between security and privacy compliance programs, including policies, practices, investigations, and act as a liaison to the information systems department.
• In collaboration with information security, establish and maintain an ongoing process to track, investigate, and report inappropriate access and disclosure of protected information. Monitor patterns of improper access and/or disclosure of protected information.
• Work cooperatively with the information management and other applicable organization units in overseeing customer rights to inspect, amend, and restrict access to protected information when appropriate. Manage all required breach determination and notification processes under applicable state breach rules and requirements.
• Establish and administer a process for investigating and acting on privacy and security complaints.
• Work with organization administration and other relevant parties to represent the organization's information and interests with external parties (state or local government bodies) who undertake to adopt or amend privacy legislation, regulation, or standards.
• Serve as information privacy resource to the organization regarding the release of information and all departments for all privacy-related issues.
• Enhance the organization's ability to detect, prevent and mitigate all data privacy threats.
• Monitor the external environment for emerging issues and proactively consult with stakeholders on appropriate courses of action.
• Leads day-to-day privacy operations, including overseeing action plans, continuous improvement initiatives, and investigations of any control failures (and leading follow-up action plans).
• Advise the company on data privacy compliance, including under state privacy laws such as the Colorado Privacy Act and California Consumer Privacy Act, federal laws such as COPPA, FERPA, PPRA, TCPA and CAN SPAM, and international privacy laws including GDPR and China's PIPL.
• Monitor privacy related legislation that may impact ACT or its customers and advise Government Relations Team on any needed lobbying efforts.
• Draft and negotiate data privacy and intellectual property terms in both vendor and customer contracts.
• Oversee the maintenance of ACT's intellectual property portfolio, including registration of ACT's copyrights, maintenance of ACT's trademark portfolio, and enforcement actions (cease & desist, UDRP, litigation matters).
• Support proposals team in responding to state RFPs, including drafting responses to requirements and contract language related to privacy and security requirements.

This could be the job for you if you have (minimum requirements):

• A minimum of ten years of experience as an attorney in a law firm or corporate legal department that includes handling privacy and intellectual property matters.
• Strong understanding of IT systems and data privacy best practices, particularly as they relate to student data, educational platforms, compliance and other relevant regulations.
• Significant experience in partnering with business clients and cross-functional teams and leading strategic projects and initiatives required.
• Active, good standing state license to practice law required.
• Highly self-motivated and able to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Possess strong analytical, drafting, and negotiation skills, as well as excellent oral and written communication skills and judgment.
• Able to think creatively to find practical solutions to complex issues.
• Organized and detail oriented.
• Demonstrated experience managing multiple matters and projects, meeting deadlines and working effectively individually and as part of a team in a dynamic, fast-paced, challenging environment.
• Sophisticated interpersonal skills, including the ability to develop strong internal relationships, influence others, and work as part of cross-functional teams and in partnership with team members at all levels of the organization.
• Maintain a high level of confidentiality regarding corporate information.
• Juris Doctor degree from an ABA-accredited law school required.

It's a plus if you have:

• Experience working in a corporate legal department is preferred.

About ACT

When ACT was founded in 1959, it disrupted the assessment industry with a new approach to helping students better understand their readiness so they could take steps to improve it. By leveraging our expertise and authority in assessment and research, we will again disrupt the industry-helping more people learn, better measure their progress, and improve their navigation through life's transitions.

More than ever before, ACT is fulfilling its mission of helping people achieve education and workplace success. We're doing it by pushing the boundaries of learning innovation through the work of our people, who we call team members because we're all in this together.

We know transformation does not come without challenge. That's why ACT invests in a variety of experiences for team members to strengthen their connections, explore ideas, learn from customers, and celebrate success.

Learn more about working at ACT at act.org!

ACT is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. ACT participates in E-verify. ACT's online position announcements are intended only to provide general descriptions of employment opportunities; none of the information provided for any position should be interpreted as a commitment by ACT to specific terms and conditions for employment.

Completion of the ACT National Career Readiness Certificate is recommended. Find a testing site near you to register for the WorkKeys assessments. Finalists for this position will be subject to a criminal background check as a condition of employment.

**If you have received an ACT employment-related communication from an email address that is not affiliated with @act.org and/or that requests personal or financial information, please do not reply. Instead, reach out to us at careers@act.org with the details. ACT's recruitment team appreciates your interest in working with us to transform college and career readiness pathways for all learners and wishes you the best of luck in your career journey.**