We are a leading multidisciplinary professional services and consulting engineering firm operating across Canada and internationally. Our teams deliver complex infrastructure, transportation, energy, environmental, and building projects through a wide range of delivery models. We are committed to technical excellence, collaboration, and innovation in everything we do.
GHD has a new and exciting opportunity for a Senior Legal Counsel -Alternative Delivery and Construction. We are seeking a seasoned Senior Legal Counsel to join our in-house legal team and serve as the primary legal advisor on major alternative delivery projects across the country. This is a high-impact role for an experienced construction lawyer who thrives in a dynamic, project-driven environment and who brings demonstrated expertise in the full spectrum of alternative project delivery models, including public-private partnerships (P3/PPP), alliance contracting, integrated project delivery (IPD), design-build (DB), and progressive design-build (PDB).
Reporting to the Assistant General Counsel, the successful candidate will work closely with leadership, project leaders, business groups, risk management, and commercial teams across multiple service lines and geographies. The role demands a strategic thinker and pragmatic advisor who can manage legal risk on large, complex mandates while supporting business development and team growth.
The Senior Legal Counsel will be responsible for providing day-to-day legal support and strategic advice on the firm's most significant alternative delivery pursuits and projects across Canada. This includes reviewing, drafting, and negotiating contracts, joint venture agreements, teaming agreements, subconsultant agreements, and other project-related commercial arrangements. The successful candidate will advise project teams on risk allocation, liability, indemnification, insurance, limitation of liability, and dispute resolution provisions in the context of major infrastructure and building projects.
A core aspect of the role involves leading the legal analysis and negotiation of project agreements under P3/PPP, alliance, IPD, DB, and PDB delivery frameworks, including advising on the unique risk profiles and contractual structures associated with each model. The Senior Legal Counsel will support proposal and pursuit teams during the procurement phase, including reviewing requests for qualifications (RFQs) and requests for proposals (RFPs), advising on commercial terms, and assisting in the preparation of compliant and competitive submissions.
The role also requires building and mentoring an existing team of legal professionals to support the growing volume and complexity of alternative delivery work. The successful candidate will develop and maintain precedent documents, contract playbooks, risk matrices, and other tools to improve consistency and efficiency across the legal function. They will also collaborate with external counsel where required, managing outside legal spend and ensuring alignment with the firm's commercial objectives and risk tolerance.
In addition, the Senior Legal Counsel will provide guidance on claims management, dispute avoidance, and dispute resolution, including mediation, arbitration, and litigation support as needed. They will monitor legislative and regulatory developments affecting the construction and infrastructure sectors and advise the business on emerging legal risks and opportunities. The role includes contributing to the firm's broader legal and compliance functions, including corporate governance, privacy, employment, and insurance matters, as required.
The role provides the opportunity to work on some of Canada's most significant and complex infrastructure projects alongside talented professionals across multiple disciplines. We support professional development, continuing legal education, and active participation in industry associations.
Job details are sourced from the employer's original posting.
Open job postingAbout the company
Established in 1928 and privately owned by our people, GHD operates across five continents - Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America - and the Pacific region. We employ more than 9000 people in 200+ offices to deliver projects with high standards of safety, quality and ethics across the entire asset value chain. Driven by a client-service led culture, we connect the knowledge, skill and experience of our people with innovative practices, technical capabilities and robust systems to create lasting community benefits. Committed to sustainable development, GHD improves the physical, natural and social environments of the many communities in which we operate. We are guided by our workplace health, safety, quality and environmental management systems, which are certified by Lloyds Register Quality Assurance to the relevant international standards (ISO and OHSAS). In alignment with the global demands of water, energy and urbanisation, our aim is to exceed the expectations of our clients and contribute to their success.