Head of Asset Manager & Insurance Legal, Investment Services(Americas) - Managing Director

About the Role

The Investment Services (Americas) Legal team provides strategic advice and counsel to business and control colleagues in accordance with the highest standards of judgment, integrity, and ethical leadership. The team partners closely with clients and internal stakeholders to deliver practical, business-oriented legal solutions that support State Street’s global alternatives, asset manager, asset owner, and insurance clients in the Americas. The team advises on a broad range of asset servicing products and services, including custody, accounting, trustee, transfer agency, fund administration, and supports client relationships, product development, operational strategy, regulatory matters, risk management, transformation initiatives, and complex commercial arrangements across the Americas.

Responsibilities

• Act as a trusted legal advisor to senior business leaders responsible for Investment Services products, operations, and business transformation initiatives.
• Provide practical and actionable legal advice and counsel with respect to Investment Services (Americas) clients, products, and operations, including custody, accounting, trustee, transfer agency, fund administration, and related asset servicing services.
• Provide legal guidance throughout the product lifecycle, including product design, enhancements, client offerings, commercialization, regulatory implementation, and strategic changes to State Street’s business.
• Counsel business leaders on legal, regulatory, operational, commercial, and reputational risks associated with product strategy, operational initiatives, client service activities, and strategic projects.
• Oversee the drafting, review, and negotiation of complex asset servicing agreements, disclosures, client communications, and related documentation.
• Support strategic projects, acquisitions, integrations, organizational restructurings, remediation efforts, and enterprise-wide transformation programs.
• Partner with Compliance, Risk, Audit, Technology, Procurement, and other control functions to address regulatory change, remediation efforts, incident response, and governance enhancements.
• Provide legal support during regulatory examinations, inquiries, remediation efforts, claims, errors, disputes, potential litigation, and interactions with regulators and industry utilities.
• Drive consistency, efficiency, and continuous improvement in legal processes, guidance, risk assessment, knowledge management, and client support models.

Leadership Responsibilities

• Lead, manage, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of attorneys and legal professionals.
• Establish legal priorities, allocate resources effectively, and drive high-quality execution across a complex portfolio of client, product, regulatory, and operational matters.
• Set clear expectations, provide guidance and feedback, support professional growth, and develop talent and succession plans for critical legal leadership positions.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, sound judgment, risk awareness, ethical leadership, and continuous improvement.
• Promote strong engagement across global Legal, Risk, Compliance, Operations, Product, Technology, Procurement, and senior leadership teams.
• Drive operational excellence within the legal organization through effective delegation, prioritization, resource management, and knowledge sharing.

Qualifications

• Significant experience advising financial institutions, asset servicing businesses, asset managers, or other institutional financial services clients.
• Strong understanding of asset servicing products and services, including custody, accounting, trustee, fund administration, transfer agency, ETF servicing, and related operational and regulatory frameworks.
• Experience supporting large-scale operational transformation, digital initiatives, outsourcing, and global delivery models.
• Demonstrated ability to lead legal teams, manage complex matters, and provide sound judgment in high-pressure situations.
• Proven ability to advise senior executives and influence decision-making across Legal, Risk, Compliance, Operations, Product, and business leadership.
• Ability to evaluate legal, financial, regulatory, operational, and reputational risk and escalate to executive management as needed.
• Excellent drafting, negotiation, analytical, communication, client service, and problem-solving skills, including the ability to translate complex legal issues into clear, actionable business advice.
• Strong research, time management, planning, and organizational skills, with the ability to work independently while thriving in a global, dynamic, and team-oriented environment.
• Juris Doctor from an accredited United States law school and license to practice law in Massachusetts or another state in the United States.
• Generally expected to have 10–15 years of experience in financial services legal practice at a law firm or in the legal department of a financial services company, preferably both.

Skills

The ideal candidate is a senior legal leader with deep financial services legal and regulatory expertise, strong knowledge of the asset servicing business, and the judgment to advise executive stakeholders on complex client, product, regulatory, operational, and governance matters. The candidate will be a collaborative and practical problem-solver who can lead and develop a sophisticated legal team, build trusted relationships with business and control partners, and support the Bank’s Investment Services Product and Operations organizations with clarity, discipline, and sound judgment.

Pay

Salary Range: $170,000 - $282,500 Annual. The range quoted above applies to the role in the primary location specified. If the candidate would ultimately work outside of the primary location, the applicable range could differ.

Benefits

• Retirement savings plan (401K) with company match.
• Insurance coverage including basic life, medical, dental, vision, long-term disability, and other optional additional coverages.
• Paid-time off including vacation, sick leave, short-term disability, and family care responsibilities.
• Access to Employee Assistance Program.
• Incentive compensation including eligibility for annual performance-based awards (excluding certain sales roles subject to sales incentive plans).
• Eligibility for certain tax-advantaged savings plans.