Sr. Legal Director Real Estate, Infrastructure & Procurement (North America)
Location: Dallas, TX
Your Role
This is an opportunity to join Digital Realty's global Legal, Risk, Sustainability & Compliance (LRSC) team as Senior Legal Director leading the Real Estate, Infrastructure & Procurement team. Reporting to the SVP, Deputy General Counsel, Global Commercial & Real Estate/Ops, this role serves as the senior legal lead for North America supporting real estate development, construction, infrastructure and procurement activities across our data center platform. You will provide strategic, business-oriented legal counsel on complex transactions and oversee a team of legal professionals supporting these functions.
You will partner closely with Development, Design & Construction, Portfolio Management, Energy, Procurement, Operations, Investments and Finance teams to enable execution of large-scale data center projects while ensuring appropriate risk management and alignment with Digital Realty's commercial and operational objectives.
What You'll do
Leadership and Team Management
Strategic Legal Advisory
Transactions and Contracting
Oversee and support the drafting and negotiation of:
Construction, design and development agreements
Procurement and master service agreements (equipment, materials and services)
Infrastructure agreements, including for campus developments, reciprocal easements, and similar.
Real estate documentation related to development and operations
Provide guidance on complex, multi-tiered and multi-jurisdictional contracting strategies.
Ensure appropriate risk allocation and consistency with company standards.
Risk Management and Governance
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Process Improvement and Efficiency
External Counsel Management
What you will need
Juris Doctor (JD) from an accredited law school
Admitted to the bar and in good standing or otherwise authorized to practice law (e.g., have registered in-house status) in the state in which the position is located.
Minimum 12-15 years of relevant legal experience (law firm and/or in-house), with strong focus on:
Real estate development and transactions (data center development a significant plus)
Construction and infrastructure projects
Procurement and commercial contracting
Extensive experience in negotiating complex agreements (construction, MSAs, procurement and real estate).
Strong business and commercial judgment, with ability to balance risk and execution.
Proven leadership experience managing and developing legal teams.
Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, high-growth, international environment.
Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
Ideal Candidate Profile
A highly strategic, commercially minded legal leader with deep experience in real estate and infrastructure development. This individual combines strong technical expertise with leadership capability, enabling the business to execute complex data center projects at scale while effectively managing legal and commercial risk.
Additional Information
The responsibilities described above are not exhaustive. Additional duties may be assigned at any time, with or without notice, at Digital Realty's discretion.
A bit about us
Digital Realty brings companies and data together by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL, the company's global data center platform, provides customers with a secure data meeting place and a proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx) solution methodology for powering innovation and efficiently managing Data Gravity challenges. Digital Realty gives its customers access to the connected data communities that matter to them with a global data center footprint of 300+ facilities in 50+ metros across 25+ countries on six continents.
To learn more about Digital Realty, please visit digitalrealty.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
A bit about our team
Legal
Our Legal team works in a highly complex global business sector with a diverse range of local, regional and international organizations. From ensuring compliance in different jurisdictions to supporting business teams with customer and supplier contracts, we're involved in a variety of projects. Working in a dynamic commercial environment, we collaborate with colleagues across different departments and always have a new challenge waiting for us.
What we can offer you
Our rapidly evolving business sector offers the opportunity to be part of a courageous and passionate team who work together to understand and meet the changing needs of our global customers.
Join us and you'll be part of a supportive and inclusive environment where you can bring your whole self to work. As part of our team, you'll get to work with people from different business areas, challenge the way we do things and put your ideas into action. We'll also give you plenty of development opportunities so you can build a rewarding and successful career with us.
Health and Safety
Safety isn''t just a priority here at Digital; it''s critical to everything we do. Safeguarding lives, protecting assets, and securing data aren''t just ideals - they''re essential pillars of our commitment to excellence for our people, our partners and our customers. We have a culture of care where every member of Team Digital embraces a relentless pursuit of working safely across Digital Realty. Together we are Safely Powering Progress.
Our Compensation Philosophy
Digital Realty offers its employees a highly competitive compensation package, excellent benefits, and an environment that recognizes and rewards your contributions. Central to our compensation philosophy is rewarding our employees for achieving the values and objectives aligned to the company''s overall goals and values.
Apply today, take charge of your career and grow your talents with us.
Licensed attorney/lawyer with 15-20 Years of experience in commercial law and risk management. Proven leadership in legal advisory roles. Demonstrated expertise in contract negotiation and compliance. Strong strategic thinking and business acumen. Excellent communication and influence skills.The Role in this role leads the legal-commercial function, managing teams and overseeing complex client-facing legal matters. They ensure that all legal advice and services are aligned with company-wide objectives and strategies, while maintaining a strong focus on customer needs and digital trust. The role requires binding the company contractually to customers and vendors, with broad P&L responsibility. Strategic thinking and influence are critical, as the role must anticipate industry trends and proactively address risks. Collaboration across departments is vital to drive results and foster teamwork. The Role supports company success above personal or functional interests, consistently upholding core values.The Role in this role leads the legal-commercial function, managing teams and overseeing complex client-facing legal matters. They ensure that all legal advice and services are aligned with company-wide objectives and strategies, while maintaining a strong focus on customer needs and digital trust. The role requires binding the company contractually to customers and vendors, with broad P&L responsibility. Strategic thinking and influence are critical, as the role must anticipate industry trends and proactively address risks. Collaboration across departments is vital to drive results and foster teamwork. The Role supports company success above personal or functional interests, consistently upholding core values.