Director, General Counsel

About The Krusteaz Company

Continental Mills, Inc. dba The Krusteaz Company (the “Company”), is a third-generation, family-owned food manufacturing company that launched the country’s first pie crust baking mix sold commercially. Our innovative spirit began in 1932 and continues today, selling baking mix and ready-to-bake products sold under company-owned and licensed brands, including Krusteaz®, Krusteaz Professional®, WildRoots®, Buck Wild®, Red Lobster®, and Ghirardelli®.

The Company hired its first in-house attorney/first GC in 2023 who has built a solid in-house legal foundation for us. With our GC’s transition to retirement, the Company seeks an attorney excited about the opportunity to continue to build the department and integrate the legal function across the organization.

The General Counsel oversees and manages the provision of all legal services to the Krusteaz Company to ensure maximum protection of its legal rights and to maintain its operations within the limits prescribed by law. Provides strategic guidance, consultation, and support to senior company leaders on a comprehensive range of legal and associated issues involved in carrying out the Company’s business. Reports directly to the Company Chief Financial Officer.

Position Overview

The General Counsel (GC) is a key member of the Company’s executive team, providing strategic counsel to the CFO and executive team members on legal, risk, and operational matters. This role delivers business-focused legal solutions that support growth, innovation, and operational excellence.  The successful candidate will demonstrate sound judgment and possess the interpersonal skills to build trusted relationships across functions. This is a highly visible role with meaningful impact, offering access to a wide range of legal matters and the chance to work closely with business leaders across the Company. The GC will report directly to the Chief Financial Officer.

Essential Functions: Other duties, responsibilities, and activities may change or be assigned at any time.

• Support day-to-day operations and long-term strategic initiatives of the Company.
• Manage all commercial contracting, including customer, supplier, distribution, licensing, confidentiality, creative services, and terms and conditions.
• Provide practical legal advice and guidance to internal stakeholders across business functions and multi-state operations.
• Develop collaborative working relationships with the executive team and management to support the legal and compliance functions.
• Provide employment law-related guidance.
• Draft and/or review Company policies, guidelines and procedures, and propose implementation of new policies, guidelines, or procedures.
• Advance best practices for ethics, compliance, and privacy across the organization.
• Provide legal input on corporate governance and Company incentive programs.
• Enforce the Company’s Business Code of Conduct.
• Develop the administrative structure of the Company’s Supplier Code of Conduct.
• Drive improvements in legal operations, leveraging processes and technology to scale with maturity of the legal department.
• Manage external legal counsel and ALSP relationships.
• Provide training on best practices for compliance, contract terms, and legal topics, ensuring alignment with current legal and business standards.
• Benchmark internal and external best practices as appropriate.

Position Requirements: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals qualified with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Action-oriented problem solver committed to understanding the business.
• Ability to scale legal functions.
• Proven ability to work effectively as part of a cross-functional team and to resolve issues efficiently.
• Takes a practical, solutions-oriented approach to balancing legal risk and business needs.
• Skilled in budget preparation and fiscal management.
• Detail-oriented and takes a hands-on approach.
• Strong experience in commercial contracts, risk management, and compliance.

Education and/or Experience:

• Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from an accredited law school
• Minimum 10 years of legal experience, including in-house leadership with a manufacturing, CPG company, or highly-regulated organization.
• Active license to practice law in Washington or eligibility to become registered in-house in Washington state.

Physical Demands & Work Environment:

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand, sit, talk, hear, and use hands and fingers to operate a computer and telephone along with reaching. Specific vision abilities include close vision requirements due to computer work. Moderate noise, ability to work in a confined area, and ability to sit at a computer for an extended period of time are also included.

The policy of Continental Mills, Inc. dba The Krusteaz Company is to hire, train, and promote all persons in all job groups in accordance with law, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital or military status, national origin, gender identity, the presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability, genetic information, or any other status or characteristic protected by local, state, or federal law.

Get to know us:

• A people-focused company that cares: We're a 90-year-old company with the entrepreneurial spirit of a startup and a focused eye on the future. As a midsized, privately held company with a portfolio of beloved food and beverage brands, our people are the most important ingredient in our success.
• A valued and supported workforce: We place tremendous value in our employees and provide competitive pay and comprehensive benefits to ensure our employees can create the best life for themselves. Benefits include a top tier health insurance plan with lower-than-average employee cost share, generous PTO, 401(k) match, and more.
• An engaged and energized culture: At The Krusteaz Company, collaboration and ingenuity drive our fierce commitment to creating extraordinary product experiences that people love.
• A place to grow and make a difference: An entrepreneurial spirit has been at the core of our company since the beginning, attracting self-starters who are curious and love to learn and to share ideas.

Hybrid Work Model: At The Krusteaz Company, we have in-office "core days" of Tuesdays and Wednesdays where all corporate employees are expected to be onsite. Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays are flexible remote days to allow for work/life balance. You may be asked to come in outside of a core day from time to time, based on business needs. We have found aligning our scheduled in-office days provides an opportunity for employees to build connections and collaborate together.

Benefits: We are proud to offer generous benefits including comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance (starting at $60/month for employee-only coverage on the PPO Plan or starting at $30/month for employee-only coverage on the HDHP), 401(K) matching, 4 weeks of paid vacation, 10 paid holidays, 1 paid personal holiday, company provided life insurance and disability insurance, flexible spending account, healthcare saving account, voluntary accident insurance, voluntary critical illness insurance, and tuition reimbursement.

Salary Information: An employee in this position can expect a salary range between $184,838 and $304,962. We typically payout between $240,000 and $280,000. The actual salary offered will carefully consider a wide range of factors, including internal equity, experience, education, certification, training, and location. All positions are eligible for additional short-term and long-term cash incentives based on individual and business performance.

We hope you'll take the time to get to know us!

The Krusteaz Company is not sponsoring new applicant employment authorization at this time, and please, no third-party recruiters.