Legal Director, M&A in Toronto

Banyan Software is the best permanent home for software businesses that serve specialized industries, their employees, and their customers. With a buy-grow-and-hold-for-life approach and a permanent capital base, Banyan acquires and grows companies worldwide, honoring founder legacies and helping portfolio companies modernize through shared AI expertise and operational discipline. Founded in 2016, Banyan operates more than 120 portfolio companies across North and South America, Europe, and APAC, and has appeared on the Inc. 5000 list for six consecutive years.

The Opportunity

Banyan's Legal team is growing to support a high-volume M&A practice and an expanding portfolio of vertical-market software companies. We are looking for a Director, Legal to join our Toronto team and take ownership of deal execution across the full acquisition lifecycle. You will work alongside our M&A Directors, Operating Partners, and portfolio company leaders to close transactions and support operational legal needs across the business.

Initially, approximately 80% of your time will focus on deal work: due diligence, purchase agreement negotiation, closing mechanics, and post-close integration support. Over time, as Banyan's verticalized legal structure matures, you will step into a portfolio-level leadership role, effectively becoming the dedicated legal lead for an operating portfolio. This is the path to becoming a "Portfolio General Counsel", owning the full legal function for a group of software companies while remaining connected to a collaborative legal guild at corporate headquarters.

What You Will Own

• M&A Execution
• Lead legal due diligence on acquisitions, identifying and escalating risks across corporate, IP, employment, and regulatory dimensions.
• Draft, review, and negotiate purchase agreements, disclosure schedules, and ancillary deal documents from LOI through closing.
• Manage external counsel relationships and coordinate specialist advice when required by deal complexity or jurisdiction.
• Partner directly with M&A Directors and Operating Partners to ensure transactions close on time and within risk tolerance.
• Provide day-to-day legal support to portfolio companies on commercial contracts, NDAs, vendor agreements, and general corporate matters.
• Cover portfolio legal responsibilities during team transitions, ensuring continuity across the team.
• Advise portfolio company leadership on operational legal questions, acting as a trusted business partner to CEOs and operating leaders.
• Transition into the dedicated legal lead for one of Banyan's operating portfolios as the verticalized structure scales.
• Build and own the legal playbook for your portfolio: deal support, commercial contracting, compliance, and corporate governance.
• Participate in the Banyan Legal Guild, contributing to cross-portfolio knowledge sharing and best practices with the broader legal team.

What We Are Looking For

• The ideal candidate is a 5th to 7th year lawyer with strong M&A fundamentals from a mid to large law firm, combined with a genuine interest in technology companies and a willingness to roll up their sleeves in a high-volume deal environment.
• 5 to 7 years of legal experience, including meaningful M&A transactional work at a mid-size or large law firm.
• Direct experience leading or supporting buy-side due diligence and purchase agreement negotiations.
• Familiarity with technology company legal issues: IP ownership, SaaS licensing, data privacy, and software-specific commercial terms.
• In-house experience at a technology company is a strong asset, even if gained informally.
• Licensed to practice in Ontario (Law Society of Ontario member in good standing) or eligible for prompt admission.
• Canadian or US M&A experience; cross-border deal exposure is a plus.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Comfortable working independently with minimal supervision while staying connected to a collaborative legal team.

This position is for an existing vacancy. In this role you will be working in a hybrid capacity, visiting our Headquarters team located in Toronto, ON, Canada.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Equal Employment Opportunity at Banyan: Banyan affirms that inequality is detrimental to our Global Teams, associates, our Operating Companies, and the communities we serve. As a collective, our goal is to impact lasting change through our actions. Together, we unite for equality and equity. Banyan is committed to equal employment opportunities regardless of any protected characteristic, including race, color, genetic information, creed, national origin, religion, sex, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, lawful alien status, ancestry, age, marital status, or protected veteran status and will not discriminate against anyone on the basis of a disability. We support an inclusive workplace where associates excel based on personal merit, qualifications, experience, ability, and job performance.

Our salary range is between $160,000 - 190,000 annually for this role.