Step Up For Students empowers families to pursue the most appropriate learning options for their children. We unite communities to provide scholarships that open doors to a stronger future. With this support, students can choose the right learning environment and access resources to reach their full potential.
Our culture is rooted in two core values:
Everyone is an asset
Every event is an improvement opportunity
These values guide how we work together and continuously improve. We expect every team member to bring these principles to life in their daily work.
The Legal Counsel provides strategic and practical legal support to Step Up For Students, Inc. and its affiliates (SUFS) across a broad range of transactional, regulatory, compliance, corporate governance, and operational matters. This role serves as a trusted legal advisor to the organization, independently managing assigned legal matters from intake through execution, including the drafting, review, negotiation, and administration of contracts, terms and conditions, vendor agreements, and other legal documents.
In addition to transactional responsibilities, the Legal Counsel supports the SUFS Legal team in interpreting and advising on scholarship-funding organization (SFO) and scholarship-granting organization (SGO) requirements, regulatory obligations, organizational policies, risk management initiatives, and fraud prevention matters. The role conducts legal research, analyzes emerging laws and regulations, and provides timely, business-focused guidance to support organizational objectives while mitigating legal and compliance risks.
Working closely with leaders and stakeholders across the organization, the Legal Counsel contributes to the development and implementation of policies, procedures, and governance frameworks that promote operational effectiveness and regulatory compliance. The position also supports dispute resolution, litigation management, investigations, and other legal projects as needed.
Reporting to the General Counsel and partnering closely with Senior Counsel, this role exercises sound legal judgment, proactively identifies risks and opportunities, and escalates complex, high-risk, or sensitive matters as appropriate. The ideal candidate combines strong legal expertise with a collaborative, solutions-oriented approach and the ability to balance business needs with legal and regulatory requirements.
Location: Remote (United States)
Key Responsibilities:
Provide legal advice and support on assigned business transactions, regulatory compliance, corporate governance, and other legal and operational matters across the organization, seeking guidance from the General Counsel and Senior Counsel, as appropriate, on complex or high-risk issues.
Draft, review, revise, negotiate (as applicable), and provide counsel regarding contracts, legal memoranda, and other legal documents, including identifying risks and recommending appropriate risk mitigation strategies. For example, drafting, reviewing, and negotiating Master Service, Consulting, Non-Disclosure, Collaboration, and other Technology-related Agreements and managing transactional matters end-to-end.
Manage assigned commercial and transactional matters end-to-end, including issue spotting, drafting and redlining, negotiation, coordination with business stakeholders, approval and escalation of material risks, execution, and post-execution legal support.
Support the contract management process and workflows by coordinating contract reviews and required approvals, maintaining contract templates, playbooks, and standard forms and tracking contract status and renewals, and assisting with monitoring compliance with contractual obligations in collaboration with Procurement, Vendor Management, and other relevant departments.
Assist in maintaining compliance with Federal tax-exempt requirements under the Internal Revenue Service (e.g. 501(c)(3) compliance) and state nonprofit requirements (per applicable state…