Construction Jobs in Portland, OR

Department: Legal

Reports To: General Counsel

FLSA Status: Exempt

Location: Portland, Oregon with periodic travel to project sites, customer meetings, and dispute proceedings

Travel: Approximately 5%-10%, based on project and dispute activity

Who We Are:

Renewable Acres is committed to integrating utility scale solar power & battery energy storage into our national infrastructure, driving sustainable, long-lasting energy solutions for communities across the country. Based in Portland, Oregon, we work collaboratively with our sister development company (GreenKey Solar) to drive change developing utility-scale renewable energy projects in key growth markets. We are a team of doers, taking ownership of our work and proactively solving problems to achieve ambitious goals.

Who You Are:

You are not waiting for someone else to act—you take responsibility and initiative to get things done. You have a passion for tackling complex challenges, and see them through until they are done and done well. You thrive in an environment where creativity, problem-solving, and curiosity is paramount. You believe in learning continuously, growing with every experience, and driving solutions, not just identifying problems.

Your Mission:

The Construction Attorney is responsible for providing legal support for the bidding, contracting, execution, and closeout of Renewable Acres, Inc.’s (RAI) engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) projects, including commercial and utility-scale solar PV and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) projects and associated Operations & Maintenance (O&M) services.

The Construction Attorney serves as RAI's primary in-house construction counsel and supports the company across the full project lifecycle—from bid and proposal through contract negotiation, construction, commissioning, final completion, warranty, and O&M.

Working under the direction of the General Counsel, the Construction Attorney is responsible for protecting RAI's commercial position by ensuring that contract risk is identified, appropriately allocated, priced, and managed, and that RAI's rights and remedies are preserved throughout project execution. The position works closely with executive leadership, Project Managers, Construction Managers, Estimating, Procurement, Engineering, HSE, Quality, Finance, customers, subcontractors, suppliers, sureties, insurers, and outside counsel.

The Construction Attorney has authority to require legal review of contracts, change orders, notices, and settlements within the thresholds established by RAI's delegation of authority.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

1. Bid, Proposal, and Prime Contract Support

• Review owner requests for proposal, bid documents, and proposed contract terms, and identify significant legal and commercial risks before bid submission.
• Prepare bid exceptions, clarifications, assumptions, and qualifications.
• Draft, review, and negotiate prime EPC agreements, construction agreements, engineering services agreements, and O&M agreements with project owners and customers.
• Negotiate risk-allocation provisions, including scope, price, schedule, liquidated damages, performance guarantees, limitation of liability, consequential damages waivers, indemnities, warranties, payment terms, retainage, credit support, suspension, termination, and force majeure.
• Develop and maintain RAI's standard contract forms, fallback positions, and negotiation guidelines.
• Prepare contract summaries and conduct contract turnover briefings for project teams at project award.

2. Subcontracts and Procurement

• Draft and maintain RAI's standard subcontract, master services agreement, purchase order, and supply agreement forms.
• Review and negotiate subcontracts and lower-tier agreements, ensuring appropriate flow-down of prime contract requirements.
• Draft, review, and negotiate equipment and material supply agreements, including PV modules, inverters, racking and trackers, BESS equipment, transformers, and balance-of-system materials.
• Advise on delivery, title and risk of loss, delay damages, warranty, and supplier credit risk.
• Support Procurement on tariff, trade, and supply-chain provisions, including domestic content and foreign entity of concern documentation required by customers.

3. Project Execution and Contract Administration

• Serve as the primary legal resource to Project Managers and Construction Managers during project execution.
• Advise on contractual notice requirements and support timely issuance of notices of delay, change, claim, differing site conditions, and default.
• Support RAI's change-management process, including preparation and review of change order requests, time-impact documentation, and reservations of rights.
• Review payment applications, lien waiver, and retainage release requirements.
• Advise on suspension, acceleration, termination, and default scenarios.
• Train project personnel on contract administration, notice, and documentation practices.

4. Mechanics’ Liens, Payment, and Bonding

• Manage RAI's mechanics' lien rights, including preliminary notices, notices of intent, lien recording, and enforcement deadlines, in states where RAI operates.
• Manage lien and bond claims asserted by subcontractors and suppliers on RAI projects, including lien releases, bonding off, and resolution.
• Administer RAI's conditional and unconditional lien waiver processes.
• Coordinate with RAI's surety on bid, payment, and performance bonds and other forms of security, and review bond forms and indemnity obligations.
• Support collection of past-due receivables and enforcement of payment rights.

5. Claims, Disputes, and Litigation Management

• Evaluate, prepare, and defend claims involving delay, disruption, changed conditions, extra work, back charges, and defective work.
• Lead negotiation and early resolution of disputes with owners, subcontractors, and suppliers.
• Select, manage, and oversee outside counsel in litigation, arbitration, and mediation, including strategy and budgets.
• Issue and administer litigation holds and document-preservation requirements.
• Report dispute status and exposure to executive leadership.

6. Regulatory, Licensing, and Compliance

• Support maintenance of RAI's contractor licenses, registrations, and qualifications in the jurisdictions where it operates.
• Advise on prevailing wage, apprenticeship, and certified payroll requirements, including those associated with federal tax credit requirements.
• Coordinate with the Manager, HSE on the legal aspects of OSHA inspections, citations, and incident response.
• Advise on environmental, permitting, and stormwater obligations allocated to RAI under its contracts.

7. Insurance and Risk Management

• Review contract insurance requirements and coordinate with RAI's insurance broker.
• Establish subcontractor insurance requirements, including additional insured endorsements and waivers of subrogation.
• Support notice and tender of claims to insurers and sureties.
• Maintain a register of significant contract risks across RAI's project portfolio.

8. Completion, Warranty, and O&M

• Support mechanical completion, substantial completion, final completion, and acceptance documentation.
• Advise on warranty claims, including pass-through of manufacturer and subcontractor warranties.
• Advise on O&M contract performance, including availability and performance guarantees.

9. Contract Management and Reporting

• Maintain RAI's contract repository, key-date tracking, and obligation tracking.
• Develop contract review procedures and support RAI's delegation-of-authority policy.
• Prepare periodic reports for executive leadership on contract risk, open claims, liens, and disputes.

Organizational Responsibilities

The Construction Attorney is expected to:

• Serve as a practical, responsive business partner to project teams.
• Provide clear, timely, and commercially grounded legal advice.
• Build contract literacy and disciplined contract administration across the organization.
• Identify when matters warrant outside counsel or specialized expertise.
• Escalate significant legal and commercial risks to the General Counsel and executive leadership.
• Participate in planning for future legal staffing and organizational development.

Contract administration remains a project-management responsibility. Project Managers, Construction Managers, and Superintendents remain responsible for day-to-day administration of their contracts, including timely notices and documentation; the Construction Attorney supports, trains, and advises them.

Authority

The Construction Attorney is authorized to:

• Approve contract terms within the delegated authority.
• Require legal review before execution of contracts, change orders, or settlement agreements.
• Issue notices, reservations of rights, and demand letters on behalf of RAI.
• Engage outside counsel within approved budgets.
• Escalate unresolved legal or contract-risk concerns directly to executive leadership.
• Recommend that RAI decline to bid on or execute contracts presenting unacceptable risk.

Education and Experience

Required

• Juris Doctor (J.D.) from an ABA-accredited law school.
• Active bar membership in good standing in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
• Minimum 4 years of construction law experience in a law firm and/or in-house, preferably representing contractors in renewable energy, power generation, electrical construction, utility construction, industrial facilities, or heavy civil construction.
• Experience drafting and negotiating EPC agreements, subcontracts, and equipment supply agreements.
• Experience with mechanics' liens, bond claims, and payment disputes.
• Experience managing construction claims and disputes, including litigation and arbitration.
• Working knowledge of construction insurance and surety.
• Strong written, verbal, negotiation, and communication skills, with the ability to explain legal risk in practical business terms.

Professional Certifications and Training

Preferred

• Board certification in construction law, where available in the candidate's jurisdiction
• Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) certification
• Certified Construction Contract Administrator (CCCA)
• Membership in the ABA Forum on Construction Law or a state bar construction law section

Additional Preferred Experience

• Solar PV and BESS EPC contracting
• Industry standard contract forms (e.g., AIA, ConsensusDocs, EJCDC, FIDIC)
• Prevailing wage and apprenticeship compliance
• Domestic content and foreign entity of concern requirements
• Utility interconnection requirements as they affect EPC scope
• Commissioning, performance testing, and turnover

Knowledge and Technical Competencies

The successful candidate should possess working knowledge of:

• Construction contract law and risk allocation
• EPC and design-build project delivery
• Mechanics' lien and bond claim law
• Delay, disruption, and changed-conditions claims, including schedule analysis concepts
• Construction insurance, including CGL, builder's risk, and wrap-up programs
• Surety bonds and indemnity
• UCC Article 2 (sale of goods)
• Contractor licensing
• Federal and state prevailing wage requirements
• OSHA enforcement procedures
• Alternative dispute resolution
• Solar PV and BESS construction, commissioning, and O&M

About Renewable Acres, Inc.

Renewable Acres, Inc. is an EPC contractor serving the commercial and utility-scale renewable-energy industry. Our team brings extensive experience in construction, project execution, solar PV, battery energy storage, commissioning, and Operations & Maintenance.

As RAI continues to grow, we are investing in the people, systems, and processes necessary to consistently deliver safe, high-quality renewable-energy projects for our customers.

We are looking for a Construction Attorney who wants to help build that organization—not simply inherit it.

Renewable Acres, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Pay: $125,000.00 - $145,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Health insurance
• Paid time off

Work Location: In person