Canadian Senior Counsel, Global Surety

The Opportunity

Liberty Mutual Canada is seeking a Canadian Senior Counsel – Global Surety, will lead legal strategy and oversight for its Canadian Surety business. This is a newly created and critical, enterprise-facing leadership role established to support the continued growth, complexity, and strategic importance of the Canadian Surety portfolio.

As the senior-most Surety legal leader in Canada, this role owns the end-to-end legal framework supporting the business, influencing underwriting strategy, risk appetite, and governance standards across contract and commercial surety. You will operate with enterprise-level accountability for legal risk, acting as the final decision authority on complex, high-exposure matters within delegated authority, while partnering closely with Global Surety Legal to ensure alignment with international practices.

This role sits at the intersection of Legal, Underwriting, and Executive Leadership, shaping business outcomes through proactive legal strategy, risk leadership, and advisory on large-scale, complex transactions.

Reporting locally to the Head of Surety (Canada) with a functional reporting line to Global Surety Legal (U.S.), you will play a key role in bridging Canadian market strategy with global governance and legal frameworks.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership & Enterprise Impact

• Define and lead the legal strategy for the Canadian Surety business, ensuring alignment with enterprise objectives and global legal frameworks.
• Serve as a core member of the Surety leadership team, contributing to business planning, portfolio strategy, and long-term growth initiatives.
• Influence underwriting appetite, deal structuring, and market positioning through legal insight and risk guidance.

Decision Authority & Risk Ownership

• Act as the ultimate legal escalation point in Canada for complex, non-standard, and high-value transactions, including those involving significant financial, reputational, or regulatory risk.
• Exercise independent signing and decision authority within delegated limits, guiding outcomes on bespoke and high-exposure deals.
• Establish and enforce legal risk tolerances and governance standards across the Canadian portfolio.

Advanced Legal Advisory

• Provide expert advice on contract and commercial surety, construction law, financial structures, indemnities, and bond forms.
• Lead legal structuring and negotiation strategy for enterprise-significant transactions, including major infrastructure and cross-border deals.
• Advise senior stakeholders on legal, regulatory, and contractual implications of complex business decisions.

Portfolio Oversight & Risk Management

• Oversee legal risk across the full Canadian Surety portfolio, including publicly traded clients, large contractors, and financial institutions.
• Anticipate emerging legal and regulatory risks and proactively shape mitigation strategies at a portfolio level.
• Translate developments in law, regulation, and market conditions into actionable business strategies.

Leadership & Influence

• Provide functional leadership to legal and business stakeholders, influencing without direct authority across underwriting, claims, and operations.
• Act as a mentor and thought leader, elevating legal capability and commercial acumen across the organization.
• Represent Canada in global Surety Legal forums, contributing to enterprise-wide initiatives, policy development, and best practices.

Operational Excellence & Transformation

• Lead development of legal frameworks, playbooks, and standardized approaches to support scalability and consistency.
• Drive modernization of legal services delivery, including the adoption of AI/GenAI tools and data-driven legal insights.
• Sponsor and lead cross-functional transformation initiatives, improving efficiency, governance, and business enablement.

Governance & Compliance

• Ensure adherence to all regulatory requirements, internal policies, and global legal standards.
• Own legal governance for the Canadian Surety function, including escalation protocols and cross-border alignment.

Skills & Qualification

• Law degree (LL.B. or J.D.) and membership in good standing with a Provincial law society – preference for Law Society of Ontario
• 8–12+ years of legal experience, ideally trained at a leading law firm, with progression to senior associate or equivalent level.
• Deep expertise in commercial and contract surety, construction law, and complex financial arrangements.
• Recognized leader and subject matter expert in Surety and/or Construction Law, with credibility to advise executive stakeholders and influence enterprise decisions.
• Demonstrated experience providing advisory on high-value, complex transactions involving publicly traded companies, major infrastructure projects, and sophisticated financial counterparties.
• Strong commercial acumen with the ability to balance legal risk with business strategy and growth objectives.
• Proven ability to operate at the executive level, influencing senior leadership and cross-border stakeholders.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate complex legal concepts into clear, actionable business guidance.
• Experience operating with significant autonomy, including ownership of legal outcomes in ambiguous, high-stakes environments.
• Genuine and demonstrable interest in legal innovation, including technology and AI-enabled service delivery.

We do not use AI‑based screening tools in our hiring process. Candidates who complete an interview and remain under consideration may request, and will receive, feedback within 45 days.

Liberty Mutual Canada is committed to fostering an inclusive, accessible environment where all employees feel valued and supported. We are committed to building a workforce that is representative of the communities we operate in and serve. If you require accommodation for the recruitment/interview process due to a disability (which may be invisible or visible, temporary or permanent), please let us know and we will work with you to meet your needs.

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