Legal Counsel - Specialty Businesses

About the Role

We seek an experienced Legal Counsel to join our Specialty Group, supporting four distinct businesses with global reach: Clean Energy, bioprocessing and medical device components (PharmBIO), ELIXIR® Strings, and Gore composting solutions. As Legal Counsel, you will provide practical, hands-on legal support to these businesses, with a primary focus on reviewing, drafting, and negotiating commercial agreements. You will work directly with business teams to help structure agreements, identify and resolve legal and contractual risks, and enable timely execution of customer, supplier, distributor, technology, and other commercial transactions.

In addition to commercial contracting, you will provide day-to-day legal guidance on matters that arise in the operation of the businesses and help connect teams with appropriate subject-matter expertise when needed. You will collaborate closely with Gore legal colleagues specializing in areas such as intellectual property, employment, compliance, regulatory, and other legal disciplines to ensure matters are handled consistently and effectively across Gore.

This role is well suited for an attorney who enjoys being close to the business, working through contracts and legal issues directly, and providing clear, practical advice that helps teams move work forward. The successful candidate will be responsive, pragmatic, detail-oriented, and comfortable managing a varied workload across multiple businesses and geographies.

This role is based at our Elk Mills 2 and Appleton East facilities in Elkton Maryland, and is eligible to work Hybrid with four days per week in office and up to one day per week remote.

Pay and Benefits:

• $158,000 - $200,000 per year
• Roles above $150k are eligible for the variable pay program each fiscal year, based on defined business performance metrics.
• Factors considered in extending an offer within this pay range include (but not limited to) education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities.
• Medical, Dental and Vision benefits effective on Day 1 of employment! We offer a comprehensive total rewards package, including competitive benefits. More details are available at

Responsibilities

• Review, draft, and negotiate commercial agreements, including customer, supplier, distributor, confidentiality, development, licensing, and other business contracts. Own and execute commercial contracting as a primary growth lever, designing deal structures, contracting frameworks, and negotiation strategies that accelerate revenue, support scalable partnerships, and improve speed to market.
• Provide practical, timely legal guidance to Specialty business teams on day-to-day commercial matters. Coach sales, product management, business leaders, operations teams, and technical teams to establish their own capabilities to streamline contract execution. Help teams execute business priorities while appropriately managing legal and contractual risk.
• Improve contract turnaround times by effectively using Gore Legal Connect, AI-enabled tools, templates, standard terms, and other ways of working that prioritize the most important and time-sensitive business needs.
• Identify key legal, commercial, and contractual issues and translate them into clear requirements, recommendations, and actions for business teams.
• Apply sound judgment to determine when standard terms and contracting approaches are appropriate and when additional review, customization, or escalation is required based on the complexity and risk of the transaction. Identify the highest value legal work, focusing effort on matters that materially impact growth, value creation, and risk exposure.
• Work directly with commercial and technical teams to ensure agreements accurately reflect the intended business arrangement, responsibilities, intellectual property considerations, and appropriate allocation of risk. Calibrate contract complexity and customization to the needs and risks of the transaction.
• Support contracting and other legal needs associated with new customers, suppliers, products, technologies, partnerships (including potential Mergers & Acquisitions), and geographic markets.
• Identify legal issues requiring specialized expertise and coordinate with Gore subject-matter experts in areas such as intellectual property, employment, compliance, trade, data privacy, EH&S, sustainability, and regulatory law.
• Collaborate effectively with Gore Enterprise and Gore Performance Solutions (GPS) legal colleagues and external counsel to provide timely, consistent, and efficient legal support to the Specialty businesses. Synthesize input from legal subject-matter experts into clear, practical guidance that business teams can understand and implement.
• Champion Lean and continuous improvement approaches in legal processes, including simplifying contracting practices, reducing unnecessary complexity, improving standard work, and eliminating delays.

Required Qualifications

• Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from an accredited law school, active bar membership in at least one U.S. jurisdiction, and ability to practice as in-house counsel.
• Minimum of 7 years of relevant legal experience, including substantial experience reviewing, drafting, and negotiating commercial agreements.
• Demonstrated experience supporting business teams on a broad range of commercial legal matters, including customer, supplier, distributor, confidentiality, development, licensing, and other business agreements.
• Strong legal judgment and business acumen, with the ability to identify material legal and contractual risks and provide practical, actionable advice.
• Values building close, collaborative relationships with Specialty business partners to improve effectiveness and speed, including engaging directly and in person when a quick conversation can resolve an issue more efficiently than email or other transactional communication.
• Ability to manage and prioritize multiple matters simultaneously, respond effectively to changing business needs, and move work forward in a timely manner.
• Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex legal concepts clearly to non-legal stakeholders and work effectively across commercial, technical, and functional teams.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently on day-to-day legal matters, recognize when specialized expertise is required, and appropriately engage or escalate to internal subject-matter experts or external counsel.
• Experience supporting global, multi-business, or multi-product organizations and working across different jurisdictions and business environments.
• Willingness and ability to travel approximately 10%, including internationally.

Desired Qualifications

• In-house or law firm experience supporting at least one Specialty-relevant sector, such as life sciences/bioprocessing, medical devices, clean energy, industrial technologies, or branded consumer products.
• Additional experience beyond commercial contracting in intellectual property, regulatory, compliance, or other legal matters relevant to technically complex or regulated businesses.
• Demonstrated continuous-improvement mindset, including simplifying legal processes, reducing unnecessary complexity, and leveraging technology, AI, templates, and new ways of working to improve speed and efficiency.

This position offers a hybrid work arrangement in the country from which the Associate is employed. Eligibility is dependent on the responsibilities of the role and business needs, and the Associate must agree to comply with Gore’s work arrangement policies.