Who We Are

International Justice Mission (IJM) is the global leader in protecting vulnerable people from violence around the world. Our team of over 1200 professionals are at work worldwide in over 30 offices. Together we are on a mission to rescue millions protect half a billion and make justice unstoppable.

We are a global community that cares for one another. We believe that the way we work is as important as the results we achieve. We provide professional excellence with joy and celebration to all those we serve.

The Need

For over 25 years IJM has pioneered the work to protect vulnerable people from violence. 9 out of 9 times in the last decade IJMs Justice System Strengthening Projects have reduced slavery and violence between 50 and 85% for very large populations of people in poverty. As we grow to expand our impact to protect 500 million people from violence we are seeking a Global Legal Counsel (GLC) to join the Legal Governance Risk and Compliance division (LGRC).

This is a unique opportunity for an experienced legal generalist with a broad skill set capable of navigating complex legal landscapes across multiple jurisdictions to drive our transformative work to success. This GLC role is principally responsible for providing strategic and operational legal support to enable the scaling of IJMs protection work through its pioneering fast-growing and mission-critical South Asia Region program. The GLC will work in close and constant collaboration with leaders and other professionals in the South Asia program teams in the South Asia regional team in the Goverance and the Legal Operations and Customer Solutions teams in LGRC and in each of the other Global Operations teams (Finance Global People Support and Technology) among others. The GLC will be called upon to apply strategic thinking and problem-solving skills and provide risk-intelligent creative solutions-driven support agilely in a highly dynamic highly demanding environment.

This is a 2-year temporary employment role that reports to the Director of Legal Operations and Customer Solutions within the Office of General Counsel which is part of the LGRC division.

This position is hybrid (onsite Tuesdays and Thursdays) if located in the Washington DC area or remote for non-local candidates. It is only available to US-based candidates if they have the right to work in the United States.

Responsibilities

South Asia Focus

• Over time an average of 80% of the below responsibilities will be in direct support of the South Asia program and its projects in India and Bangladesh. One aspect of that is the GLCs role as the primary legal point of contact for the South Asia regiontriaging incoming legal requests identifying needs and connecting regional teams with the appropriate resources within the LGRC division.

Legal Advisory & Risk Management

• Provide practical solution-oriented legal advice and support across a wide range of issues including contracts compliance employment intellectual property data privacy international operations and more.

Governance and Governance-Adjacent Support

• Collaborate with the Officer of Global Governance and the Global Governance team to support the execution of governance and governance-adjacent responsibilities such as:

  • providing governance and good-standing counsel and services to project offices;

  • providing governance support on priority issues including IJMs expansion into new countries and securing operational sustainability of programs through creating and maintaining fit-for-purpose operational ecosystems; and

  • supporting the execution of governance and governance-adjacent strategies and decisions.

Contracts Agreements and Other Instruments

• Draft review and negotiate a variety of agreements and other documents such as MOUs partnership agreements funding agreements vendor contracts licensing arrangements policies standards and procedures.

Compliance

• Support organizational compliance with applicable laws regulations and internal standards and policies with a focus on proactive risk management.

Programmatic Support and Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Provide strategic legal guidance and tactical support that enables program teams to design and implement projects that are legally sound mission aligned and operationally feasible.

• Apply systems thinking and a strategic lens to identify legal risks and opportunities early in project lifecycles and influence cross-functional decision-making to ensure legal considerations are integrated into broader programmatic planning.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate with matrixed program and operations (HR Tech Finance) teams at the global regional and local levels fostering trust-based relationships with internal stakeholders.

• Influence cross-functional collaboration by understanding the strategic objectives of internal customers and aligning legal solutions to support long-term success.

Capacity Building

• Support the ideation creation and delivery of various skill-development learning enablement and communications resources in the LGRC space.

General Tasks

• Execute other legal and risk-management tasks as assigned including supporting and participating in a variety of multi-disciplinary teams and projects such as Customer Solutions projects implemented via the LGRC Problem-Solver Pool process.

Qualifications

• Law degree (J.D. or international equivalent) and active U.S. bar membership.

• At least 4 years pertinent experience as a practicing lawyer.

• Experience in non-profit legal matters preferred.

• Experience in corporate governance and/or regulatory frameworks strongly preferred.

• Ability to exercise relational leadership and lead through influence.

• Human-centered collaborative solutions-oriented and creative problem-solver.

• Rigorous analytical and critical thinker with the capacity to quickly absorb new subject areas.

• Ability to interact with high-level high-profile internal and external stakeholders.

• Orientation to process & systems thinking.

• Demonstrated ability to build and manage cross-cultural and cross-functional relationships.

Critical Qualities

• Mature Christian faith and an eager commitment to IJMs Core Values: Christian Professional and Bridge-Building.

• High emotional intelligence.

• Disciplined with priorities.

• Strong interpersonal skills and self-awareness.

• Flexible collaborative and eager to support others.

• Effective team player who fosters collaborative environment.

• Nimble in dynamic high-stakes environments.

Application Process:

Upload Resume Cover Letter & Statement of Faith* in one PDF document.

*What is a statement of faith
A statement of faith should describe your Christian faith and how you see it as relevant to your involvement with IJM. The statement can either be incorporated into the cover letter or submitted as a separate document and should include at a minimum a description of your spiritual disciplines (prayer study etc.) and your current fellowship or place of worship.

What does IJM have to offer

• Comprehensive Medical/Dental/Vision benefits

• Monthly commuter and parking benefits in the DC metro area

• Retirement benefit options

• Paid leave starting at 23 days

• 12 holidays (plus early release the day prior)

• Daily quarterly and annual community spiritual formation

• Robust staff care resources

IJM holds strict safeguarding principles and a zero tolerance to violations of the Safeguarding Policy Protection against Sexual Exploitation Abuse and Harassment Policy and Code of Ethics. Candidate selection is based on technical competence recruitment selection and hiring criteria subject to assessing the candidates value congruence and thorough background police clearance and reference check processes.

At IJM were committed to building a diverse workforce through fair and equitable employment practices. IJM encourages people of any race color age sex marital status or political ideology to apply for employment. While we welcome everyone into this work we truly believe that the work we are doing is Gods work not our own and practice spiritual disciplines together daily. Thats why we legally require under SEC. 2000e-1 Section702 of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that all employees practice a mature orthodox Christian faith as defined by the Apostles Creed.

IJM requires a background check police clearance and thorough review of references with an employment offer and/or employment contract.