Assistant General Counsel, U.S. Government

Your Growth

You are someone who thrives in a high-performance environment, bringing a growth mindset and entrepreneurial spirit to tackle meaningful challenges that have a real impact.

In return for your drive, determination, and curiosity, we’ll provide the resources, mentorship, and opportunities to help you quickly broaden your expertise, grow into a well-rounded professional, and contribute to work that truly makes a difference.

When you join us, you will have:

• Continuous learning: Our learning and apprenticeship culture, backed by structured programs, is all about helping you grow while creating an environment where feedback is clear, actionable, and focused on your development. The real magic happens when you take the input from others to heart and embrace the fast-paced learning experience, owning your journey.
• A voice that matters: From day one, we value your ideas and contributions. You’ll make a tangible impact by offering innovative ideas and practical solutions. We not only encourage diverse perspectives, but they are critical in driving us toward the best possible outcomes.
• Global community: With colleagues across 65+ countries and over 100 different nationalities, our firm’s diversity fuels creativity and helps us come up with the best solutions. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to learn from exceptional colleagues with diverse backgrounds and experiences.
• Exceptional benefits: In addition to a competitive salary (based on your location, experience, and skills), we offer a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, mental health, and vision coverage for you, your spouse/partner, and children.

Your Impact

As the Assistant General Counsel for US Government, you will provide strategic legal guidance to the firm’s Public Sector practice leadership on business matters, client selection, emerging legal trends, and compliance with evolving federal, state, and local government procurement rules to support high-quality client service and public sector operations.

You will offer counsel to partners, practice leaders and management, and relevant committees on issues of legal risk related to potential or current engagements. Additionally, you will support the practice, partners, engagement teams, internal operations team, and other attorneys on high-priority, strategic contractual matters, including:

• Reviewing federal, state, and local government requests for proposal and other tender documents and providing appropriate guidance
• Advising on federal, state, and local government procurement processes and requirements
• Managing bid protests
• Counseling on means to mitigate legal risk and resolving legal issues that occur during project delivery
• Participating in the development, interpretation, and communication of policies on public sector-related subjects (e.g., organizational conflicts of interest, ethics, anti-corruption analyses)
• Supporting the firm’s involvement in certain litigation matters, government audits, and investigative inquiries
• Establishing relationships with and supervision of outside legal advisors engaged to support the firm’s public sector practice

Your work will directly support the firm’s mission to help clients achieve their goals while safeguarding the firm’s reputation and long-term success.

The work of McKinsey Washington D.C. spans economic development, education, health care, public finance, infrastructure, operations and delivery, and defense and security. We work with the world’s largest public sector organizations to address major challenges such as macroeconomic vulnerability, population aging, urbanization, and digitization of government services. In the social sector, we support the world’s leading institutions in developing and scaling up solutions to major social challenges. One of the major hubs for our Social, Healthcare, and Public Entities practice is our Washington, D.C. office. Co-location with the Washington D.C.-based client service team, stakeholders, and legal and contracts professionals is required.

Your qualifications and skills

• 5+ years of legal experience within the industry of U.S. Government contracting
• Experience working with large, complex organizations, and a proven ability to balance the needs of different stakeholders
• Proven success in influencing senior management in a dynamic, complex environment
• Demonstrated experience advising on organizational conflicts of interest and navigating state conflict of interest laws, including identifying, mitigating, and resolving potential conflicts in compliance with applicable regulations
• Strong strategic and creative thinker
• Significant transactional experience negotiating contracts and arrangements with federal and/or state and local government and social sector institutions
• Strong counseling skills and an ability to perform outstanding, high-quality work with independence
• Proven relationship builder who has substantial experience in building knowledge among business people about how government work differs from commercial work
• Confident team player who is highly collaborative and flexible
• Keen ability to influence, yet able to operate in an environment that presents legal ambiguities
• Evidence of strong strategic capabilities, coupled with the pragmatism to act tactically when required
• Demonstrated experience in international public sector contracting, including navigating complex procurement processes, compliance with global regulatory frameworks, and managing cross-border stakeholder relationships, is a plus