Senior Legal Counsel

Our client is a British multinational enterprise software company headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne. They are recruiting a Senior Legal Counsel to join their legal team.

Client Details

Our client is a British multinational enterprise software company headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne. They are recruiting a Senior Legal Counsel to join their legal team.

Description

Key accountabilities and decision ownership:

Under the direction of the VP, Partners, Marketing, M&A, IP (as appropriate):

• Deliver and manage appropriate best-in-class end-to-end legal advice in a leadership context to Partnerships & Alliances, Corporate Development (M&A), Marketing, Product Delivery, CTO and IT teams across the world adopting a collaborative business partnering approach and leading key elements of those relationships.
• Work collaboratively with other teams within the Legal Services team to ensure effective and fully aligned end-to-end legal support to wider business colleagues. In particular working alongside the Secretariat and Legal Compliance teams on M&A considerations and channel delivery; and with the Regional Commercial teams on multi-jurisdictional legal delivery. Co-ordinate internal and external legal support in a cross-discipline / jurisdiction context.
• Ensure that governance is adhered to and collaborate with other functional (e.g. Procurement; Tax; Finance; HR, Risk, Assurance and Compliance) and commercial (e.g. Corporate Development; Marketing; Partnerships & Alliances; Product Delivery) colleagues to ensure that legal risk is managed in accordance with clients risk tolerances.
• Actively participate (with legal accountability) in all assigned projects and deals as a core team member, including delivery or core legal accountability, risk analysis, progress reports, issue identification / resolution and team meetings. Provide clear direction on the management of legal considerations.
• Actively assist in the development and effective management of relationships with all parts of the business so that the Legal function maintains a reputation as an approachable and collaborative professional team delivering high quality advice and support.
• Identify opportunities to develop and continuously drive and improve operational efficiencies, processes and systems, both in the team and across the Legal function, particularly in automation/empowering business colleagues to 'self-help' and through the use of technology. Implement and embed those improvements in collaboration with other colleagues.
• Exercise appropriate cost management and control to meet the Legal function's targets to reduce expenditure.
• Develop strong working relationship with VP, Partners, Marketing, M&A, IP; the wider Legal Services team and business colleagues and pro-actively assist with the elimination of inefficiencies.
• Advise, influence and support key stakeholders at all levels across our worldwide operations to ensure close alignment between the Legal function and business areas and identify and progress value creation opportunities.
• Identify opportunities to develop and continuously drive and improve operational efficiencies, processes and systems, both in the team and across the Legal function, particularly in automation/empowering business colleagues to 'self-help' and through the use of technology. Implement and embed those improvements in collaboration with other colleagues.
• Exercise appropriate cost management and control to meet the Legal function's targets to reduce expenditure.
• Develop strong working relationship with VP, Partners, Marketing, M&A, IP; the wider Legal Services team and business colleagues and pro-actively assist with the elimination of inefficiencies.
• Advise, influence and support key stakeholders at all levels across our worldwide operations to ensure close alignment between the Legal function and business areas and identify and progress value creation opportunities.

Profile

Skills, know-how and experience:

Significant commercial and/or corporate (M&A) legal experience and a track record of delivering commercially sound legal advice to business colleagues

• Excellent communicator
• Excellent analytical and commercial legal skills
• Functions at a senior level and works unsupervised producing consistent high quality deliverables.
• Excels at applying deep legal knowledge to provide pragmatic solutions to complicated commercial challenges
• Capable of co-ordinating multi-territory legal support and advising cross border
• Good understanding of data privacy
• Capable of both project managing and executing large legal projects unsupervised; senior stakeholder management
• An ability to analyse legal and commercial issues and to provide clear explanations of legal matters with relevant commercial advice.
• Ability to embrace, cope with and manage change quickly, and be enthused and excited about what's around the corner for us, given our fast pace.
• Drive and determination to deliver outstanding results.
• Collaborative approach and supports, motivates and develops junior colleagues.

Preferred:

• In-depth knowledge of other relevant legal disciplines (e.g. IP; IT, agency / distribution) is also highly desirable.
• Extensive experience of working with businesses to solve their commercial challenges in an effective, practical way
• Experience working in commerce (particularly within the Technology sector)

Job Offer

The level of salary will be commensurate with level of PQE