Director, Legal Counsel- Institutional Trust and Custody

Your opportunity

At Schwab, you’re empowered to make an impact on your career. Here, innovative thought meets creative problem solving, helping us “challenge the status quo” and transform the finance industry together.

We believe in the importance of in-office collaboration and fully intend for the selected candidate for this role to work on site in our Westlake, TX location.

Join Charles Schwab’s Retirement Business Services (RBS) as a Director/Legal Counsel, where you will play a pivotal role in supporting the day-to-day legal needs of our institutional trust and custody businesses.

This position is integral to providing trust and custody services for both qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, governmental plans, as well as related individual retirement account products and omnibus sub-custody services arrangements. You will also support Schwab’s retirement technology services provider, which offers software and data services to third-party recordkeeping providers.

Key Responsibilities:

Negotiation and Agreement Management

• Negotiate trust and custody agreements with sponsors of ERISA-governed retirement plans, non-qualified plans, and employer-sponsored plans.
• Negotiate custody and other service agreements with institutional clients.
• Experience negotiating agreements with third-party administrators, plan consultants, and internal and external counsel on plan trust and custody engagements and matters.

Institutional Trust and Custody Legal Counsel

• Provide advice to senior management on issues related to the administration of trust and custody relationships, new products and services, and legal risks associated with the retirement business unit.
• Offer guidance on legal risks arising from account holder or recordkeeper inquiries for self-directed brokerage accounts.
• Provide legal support for bank collective investment trust products.

ERISA and Tax Issues

• Advise on ERISA issues relating to Charles Schwab Trust Bank’s institutional trust and custody services and Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s brokerage window services.
• Provide advice on tax issues related to distributions from qualified plans.
• Experience or knowledge related to Puerto Rico plans or dual qualified plans, including sub-custody arrangements.

Governance Support

• Support business-level governance committees of Charles Schwab Trust Bank, including the Business Trust Administration Committee and the Employer Stock Monitoring Committee.

What you have

To ensure that we fulfill our promise of “challenging the status quo,” this role has specific qualifications that successful candidates should have:

Required Qualifications:

• Juris Doctor (JD) degree from an accredited law school.
• Admission to the bar in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
• Minimum of 10 years of relevant legal experience in a similar role.
• Experience negotiating trust and custody agreements with sponsors of ERISA-governed retirement plans, non-qualified plans, and employer-sponsored plans.
• ERISA:  Knowledge and experience in ERISA law are essential for this role.
• Trust/Banking Regulatory Law: Proficiency in institutional trust, custody and banking regulatory law is required.
• Securities Law: Understanding of securities law as it relates to brokerage windows offered to qualified retirement plans.
• Federal Tax Law: Familiarity with federal tax law concerning the operation of retirement plans and related arrangements, including IRAs and HSAs.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Strong negotiation and communication skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams.

In addition to the salary range, this role is also eligible for bonus or incentive opportunities