Senior Corporate Counsel

Great design carries real stakes, for the client, for the firm, for the people who use what we build. We're looking for a Corporate Counsel who can partner with our design teams and advise firm leadership, handling everything that protects the work, from the contract that starts a project to the risk, insurance, and legal questions that come with seeing it through.ABOUT THE JOB

Ankrom Moisan is an award-winning architecture and interior design firm of 100+ people, with studios in Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, and Austin, working across housing, senior communities, healthcare, hospitality, workplace, and retail. We're looking for a Senior Corporate Counsel to manage the contracts and legal matters that keep our work moving and our firm protected, serving as our in-house subject-matter expert and working alongside outside counsel as the work requires.

This is a business-focused legal seat, not a paper-pushing one. You'll own the full contract lifecycle for our client and consultant agreements, negotiating the terms that actually move risk (standard of care, indemnification, limitation of liability, waiver of consequential damages, IP, dispute resolution) so project teams can move forward with confidence and the firm gets paid for the work it does. Contracts are the core of this role, and you'll be the person teams rely on to get them right, quickly and consistently.

Beyond contracts, you'll be the firm's go-to legal expert across a range of matters, from risk and compliance to insurance, employment, disputes, and governance. You'll advise leadership directly on much of this and work alongside outside counsel on specialized or higher-stakes matters, helping the firm bring in the right expertise at the right time. Leadership will rely on your judgment to weigh risk against business reality and give clear, practical answers people can act on.

You'll report to the CFO as part of the Business Operations team, partner closely with firm leadership, project teams, finance, and outside counsel, and manage a Contract Specialist.

This is a Portland-based hybrid role, in-office a minimum of two days per week, ideally on our anchor days (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday).

INTRODUCTIONS FIRST!You -

• Read risk the way a designer reads a site, taking in the whole picture and spotting what others miss.
• Give practical, timely guidance that helps non-lawyers make good decisions and keep the work moving.
• Build trust through honest, independent counsel, even when it's not the easy answer.
• Move contracts efficiently without ever loosening the terms that protect the firm.
• Balance revenue and risk with sound judgment, and know when to hold a line and when to find the deal.
• Bring steady judgment and discretion to sensitive, high-stakes situations.