Senior Legal Counsel, Research & Innovation, Providence Health Care, Vancouver

As part of its strategic vision to strengthen the intersection of health care, technology, and research, Providence Health Care (“PHC”) is seeking a Senior Legal Counsel, Research & Innovation (“Senior Legal Counsel”) to support the research, clinical, and innovation priorities of Providence Research, PHC Ventures, and PHC’s corporate leadership team.

This is a unique opportunity to join PHC in this newly created role that bridges its most innovative and leading-edge divisions, during an exciting chapter as the organization designs and develops their state-of-the-art future campus.

Providence Research is the research engine of PHC and an academic health science centre affiliated with the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Simon Fraser University (SFU). It is home to several globally recognized research centres and clinical academic research groups. The research undertaken at Providence plays a pivotal role in understanding disease states while pioneering methods of treatment, in the areas of heart and lung disease, cardiovascular innovation, kidney disease, HIV/AIDS, sepsis, aging, mental health and substance use.

PHC Ventures is PHC’s technology and commercialization platform. Their team identifies, nurtures, and deploys innovations that advance health care, generating proceeds that are reinvested back into PHC and the health system. Over the past five years, PHC Ventures has led and contributed to 11 significant projects, including the notable Intelligent Network for Point-of-Care Ultrasound (IN PoCUS) initiative, among others.

Reporting to PHC’s General Counsel & Chief Privacy Officer, the Senior Legal Counsel possesses strong leadership abilities to provide a broad range of legal support and advice to the President of Providence Research (PR) and the Chief Financial Officer & VP Health Informatics exclusively; with the goal of advising on legal strategies and solutions to minimize legal risk and financial exposure in respect of PHC operations.

The Senior Legal Counsel is the primary contact for institutional contracts and provides legal interpretation, negotiation expertise, and advisory services to researchers, senior leadership, Contracts Management Office (CMO), Ventures and the PR Contracts & Grants team. This role works closely with the PR Contracts team, CMO and Ventures driving strategic initiatives to optimize contract lifecycle management and build institutional capacity. The role fosters operational excellence, promotes continuous improvement, and maintains strong working relationships with internal departments and external partners, including universities, industry sponsors, and government agencies.

Working in close collaboration with the PR Manager, Contracts & Grants, and PHC’s CMO, the incumbent directs all contract negotiations and provides critical legal guidance and risk management strategies to support research excellence and operational efficiency.

The Senior Legal Counsel works with the PR Director of Clinical Research Administration along with the relevant corporate departments at PHC and UBC/SFU as applicable, to ensure legal and regulatory compliance for research and innovation related contracts including clinical and academic research agreements such as Phase 1 trials and supports the development and implementation of institutional policies.

The ideal candidate will be a senior lawyer with a minimum of 7 years of practice including articling (2019 call or earlier) with demonstrated experience in one or more of the following: research law, health care regulation, university or public sector contracting for comparable organizations. Experience supporting or negotiating on behalf of research institutions, health care bodies, or innovative venture partnerships is highly desirable. A strong understanding of contract law, research compliance, and institutional policy development is essential.

The Senior Legal Counsel role is categorized at R11 on PHC’s scale, which includes a salary band of $128,298 to $184,428 with a mid-point of $160,372. Compensation will be commensurate with experience and internal equity factors. PHC’s public sector benefits are robust and amount to an additional ~26%+ of salary to total compensation. Along with coverage under the Municipal Pension Plan, staff receive vacation, group health and welfare benefits, sick-leave credits, and a flexible hybrid-work arrangement.

This is an exclusive search. For more information, the full job description, or to apply for this role, please contact Dave Namkung at dave@smithlegalsearch.com or visit smithlegalsearch.com.