Director, Legal - Finance

Beverly, MA, United States

About Us

Highland Electric Fleets is a comprehensive turnkey solutions provider that delivers electric school buses (EVSB) to school districts and third-party managed fleet providers (3PMs).

We offer a model involving financing, infrastructure, vehicle deployment, and maintenance in an easily digestible, economic format that enables EVSB acquisition at traditional diesel cost of ownership.

Our mission is to eliminate the barriers to better student health and cleaner air.

We aim to mitigate risk for our customers, increase EVSB market penetration, and deliver positive impacts across a broad spectrum of stakeholders: students, communities, school districts, fleet operators, manufacturers, and utilities.

We are hiring a seasoned lawyer to lead our efforts negotiating, drafting, and driving to close debt and tax equity facilities. The ideal candidate has at least 6 years of relevant legal experience, which may include law firm, and/or in-house experience.

The candidate should have experience in tax-advantaged financing structures, as well as construction, term, and working capital debt facilities. Experience in either renewable energy project or automobile leasing sectors is preferred.

The candidate will work in a fast-paced startup environment and will be comfortable taking on an array of matters and, when necessary, be willing to pitch in on matters where the candidate has less experience or that are outside of candidate’s area of responsibility.

Primary Responsibilities

Support structuring, drafting, and negotiating of term sheets and definitive agreements for tax equity financings, which may include sale-leaseback, lease, and partnership flip structures;

Assist finance team in negotiating and drafting construction, warehouse, term, and working capital debt facilities, and related security and credit enhancement documents;

Manage borrower-side due diligence (data room and Q&A) and coordinate with internal stakeholders in legal, origination, fleet operations, development, and other departments to provide prompt and well-vetted responses;

Concisely summarize key legal and risk items as well as other elements of financing transactions for executive and legal team members;

Coordinate with team members to ensure alignment between financing objectives with business and operational priorities, suggesting product improvements to support finance goals and exploring scalable finance solutions;

Analyze federal tax incentive guidance and rulemaking as well state and federal grant funding requirements to inform financing options;

Manage outside counsel, including tax, transactional and federal/regulatory, to achieve desired outcomes;

Develop systems, along with finance and IT teams, for effective reporting and compliance for our financing arrangements;

Provide pragmatic, business-minded guidance to internal team members; and

Manage or assist with special projects, including capital markets transactions, M&A, and joint ventures.

Additional Responsibilities

Support exploration and execution of opportunities with government agencies, including state green banks and Department of Energy LPO, including issue analysis, negotiations, and loan documentation;

Drive our Canada financing platform, including through Canada Infrastructure Bank as well as commercial facilities;

Draft and negotiate transportation equipment service agreements, our primary revenue contract;

Develop, and assist finance and marketing in development of, educational tools for our sales and origination team members related achieving our financing goals in a seamless and customer-centric way; and

Support corporate governance in connection with finance and capital markets activities.

Qualifications

At least 6 years as practicing attorney in relevant fields

Broad functional understanding of project and structured finance

Experience with tax advantaged financing arrangements (e.g., ITC, PTC, LIHTC)

Excellent business and legal judgment and the ability to work flexibly with a variety of internal and external stakeholders

Ability to provide sound advice that considers both short and long-term business objectives

Ability and availability to work at least two (2) days a week in-office at the company’s Beverly, MA headquarters (for highly qualified candidates, fully remote work may be considered)

JD, with membership in at least one U.S. state bar (MA preferred)

Eligible to work in the United States (visa support not provided)

What You Can Expect From Highland

Competitive base salary and performance-based bonus program

A supportive, highly collaborative, team-oriented environment

Opportunities to make a difference, be heard, add value, and be recognized

Growth and development with a leader in this new and exciting industry

Ability to work with bright, innovative, and forward-thinking colleagues

Health, Vision, and Dental coverage for employees & their dependents

Life insurance, public transportation assistance

Generous Paid Time Off

401(k) program and company match

Highland Electric Fleets provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, Highland Electric Fleets complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

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