Director, Business and Legal Affairs

Location: New York, New York

Salary Range: $165,000 - $180,000

Department: Business and Legal Affairs, Peanuts Worldwide

Hybrid work: Employees work in a hybrid model balancing collaboration in our office and remote work

Overview

Join our Peanuts Worldwide team within WildBrain today to become part of the story! From Peanuts shows and specials on Apple TV+ to interactive experiences worldwide, fans of all ages celebrate the Peanuts brand through thousands of consumer products, as well as amusement park attractions, cultural events, social media, and comic strips available in all formats from traditional to digital. Peanuts Worldwide, is a division of WildBrain Ltd., a global kids media and content company headquartered in Canada with offices worldwide. 

About the Role

Peanuts Worldwide is seeking a Director of Business and Legal Affairs to join our dedicated team, providing crucial support to our Peanuts Worldwide group! Reporting directly to the SVP of Business and Legal Affairs, this role will play a key part in delivering day-to-day business and legal affairs services to facilitate Peanuts Worldwide's diverse range of activities. These activities include expanding our iconic brand through global licensing, strengthening our digital presence, enhancing location-based entertainment experiences, and engaging in charitable and marketing initiatives, all with the goal of staying connected with our fans, reaching new audiences and promoting the Peanuts brand worldwide. The role involves driving and closing a heavy volume of domestic and international intellectual property licenses for consumer-facing opportunities, as well as creative and marketing initiatives. Additionally, this role will advise on day-to-day legal and business brand protection issues for Peanuts Worldwide.

• Review, draft, negotiate and analyze a wide variety and heavy volume of intellectual property licensing for domestic and international consumer-facing opportunities including apparel, publishing, toys and games, consumer packaged goods, and location based retail events.
• Review, draft and negotiate a variety of agreements and documentation to support Peanuts Worldwide’s business, including settlement agreements, confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, and creative services agreements.
• Provide timely and thoughtful legal advice on potential risks and issues, and propose practical, business-oriented solutions.
• Advise and manage trademarks and other intellectual property matters, including communication with external counsel  in the areas of trademark portfolios, investigations and adversarial proceedings, settlements, bankruptcy and litigation.
• Collaborate directly and efficiently with domestic and international colleagues from Peanuts Worldwide’s business development, brand management, and marketing teams.
• Enable the business to timely achieve its targets, while respecting the Peanuts Worldwide’s principles and applicable laws, and assist in embedding these principles into the the company’s processes and decisions.
• Identify and assist with the continuous development and improvement of the legal team and its processes.

• JD degree or equivalent from an accredited law school.
• Comprehensive knowledge of contract law and intellectual property law and a mastered capability for contract drafting, legal analysis and reasoning.
• Excellent negotiation and communication skills.
• Ability to work flexible hours to accommodate international time zones and business needs.

What We Offer 

Working at WildBrain is more than a job — it’s the opportunity to join forces with extraordinary, insightful, and imaginative people who will recognize your talents and encourage your professional growth and development in a work environment that promotes creativity and individuality. We offer competitive benefits, and we invest in our people and their future.    

Our Commitment  

Diversity and Inclusion are in our DNA. As a global leader in kids and family entertainment, we strive to reflect and honour the diversity of our audiences around the world. We believe that creating diverse and inclusive content & brands begins with fostering a culture of belonging at WildBrain. To us, a culture of belonging is one where we celebrate and welcome the diversity of all employees, stakeholders, and external partners and strive to create an environment where every individual feels valued, respected, and brings their authentic self to work.

We demonstrate our commitment to this by striving to provide a supportive work environment and a corporate culture that welcomes and encourages equal opportunities for all employees. We recognize that people bring experience and talent that goes beyond the technical skills and requirements of a job. If you possess similar experience that is close to what we’ve listed here, we encourage you to please still consider applying. We strongly believe that diverse experience, transferable skills, and passion are key! WildBrain accommodates people with disabilities throughout the recruitment and selection process. Applicants are encouraged to make their needs known in advance if accommodation is required. 

About WildBrain  

At WildBrain we inspire imaginations through the wonder of storytelling. As a leader in 360° franchise management, we are experts in content creation, audience engagement and global licensing, cultivating and growing love for our own and partner brands around the world. With approximately 14,000 half-hours of kids’ and family content in our library—one of the world’s most extensive—we are home to such treasured franchises as Peanuts, Teletubbies, Strawberry Shortcake, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Inspector Gadget and Degrassi. WildBrain’s mission is to create exceptional entertainment experiences that captivate and delight fans both young and young at heart.  

Our studios produce such award-winning series as The Snoopy Show; Snoopy in Space; Camp Snoopy; Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City; Sonic Prime; Chip and Potato; Teletubbies Let’s Go! and many more. Enjoyed in more than 150 countries on over 500 platforms, our content is everywhere kids and families view entertainment, including YouTube, where our network has garnered approximately 1.5 trillion minutes of watch time. Our television group owns and operates some of Canada’s most loved family entertainment channels. WildBrain CPLG, our leading consumer-products and location-based entertainment agency, represents our owned and partner properties in every major territory worldwide.  

WildBrain is headquartered in Canada with offices worldwide and trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: WILD). Visit us at wildbrain.com. 

About Peanuts 

The characters of Peanuts and related intellectual property are owned by Peanuts Worldwide, which is 41% owned by WildBrain Ltd., 39% owned by Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc., and 20% owned by the family of Charles M. Schulz, who first introduced the world to Peanuts in 1950, when the comic strip debuted in seven newspapers. Since then, Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang have made an indelible mark on popular culture. In addition to enjoying beloved Peanuts shows and specials on Apple TV+, fans of all ages celebrate the Peanuts brand worldwide through thousands of consumer products, as well as amusement park attractions, cultural events, social media, and comic strips available in all formats, from traditional to digital. In 2018, Peanuts partnered with NASA on a multi-year Space Act Agreement designed to inspire a passion for space exploration and STEM among the next generation of students. 

About WildBrain:  a parent company of Peanuts Worldwide

At WildBrain we inspire imaginations through the wonder of storytelling. As a leader in 360° IP management, we are experts in content creation, audience engagement and global licensing, cultivating and growing love for our own and partner brands with kids and families around the world. With approximately 13,000 half-hours of filmed entertainment in our library—one of the world’s most extensive—we are home to such treasured franchises as Peanuts, Teletubbies, Strawberry Shortcake, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Caillou, Inspector Gadget and Degrassi. WildBrain’s mission is to create exceptional entertainment experiences that captivate and delight fans both young and young at heart.  

Our studios produce such award-winning series as The Snoopy Show; Snoopy in Space; Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City; Sonic Prime; Chip and Potato; Teletubbies Let's Go! and many more. Enjoyed in more than 150 countries on over 500 platforms, our content is everywhere kids and families view entertainment, including YouTube, where our network has garnered over 1 trillion minutes of watch time. Our television group owns and operates some of Canada’s most-viewed family entertainment channels. WildBrain CPLG, our leading consumer-products and location-based entertainment agency, represents our owned and partner properties in every major territory worldwide.   

WildBrain is headquartered in Canada with offices worldwide and trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: WILD). Visit us at wildbrain.com.