Tes Global 2

Legal Counsel 

Sheffield 

Full time, permanent 

£40,000 - £50,000


Who are tes?
Tes Global is a fast-growing and digital education company committed to supporting teaching and learning. tes global has been supporting our educators worldwide for over 100 years.

We are home to the world’s largest online community of teachers, with over 11 million registered users.

Educators are at the heart of our business and they shape everything we do. We’re dedicated to ensuring that everyone has the best education, wherever they are. 

We succeed by working together, collaborating across teams and global locations. We’re excited about the future. We embrace new ideas, innovative ways of working and open technologies so that we can help every educator in the world to raise global teaching standards.

We are diverse, we come from different backgrounds and different countries. We are teachers, journalists, designers, technologists, sales people, events managers, software engineers and more. Together, we are socially engaged and united by our passion to support educators, schools and students.

We’re committed to providing an inclusive and engaging workplace where everyone’s contribution is valued. We believe that a diverse organisation makes us stronger. If you share our vision and would like to join our team, please see our latest job opportunities.

Role Overview

Contribute to the success of Tes and its subsidiaries through the provision of a professional in-house service as Legal Counsel in your capacity as a qualified lawyer to provide legal advice on all commercial aspects of the organisation.

Tes is a private equity owned business, primarily based in the UK with approximately 600 employees in offices in Central London and Sheffield.

Key Tasks and Responsibilities

  1. To provide commercial and fit for purpose legal advice on all commercial aspects of the role.
  2. Negotiation, reviewing and drafting commercial contracts for the Group to ensure consistency.
  3. Support the business with legal compliance and rights management for the group, including bribery act, data protection, advertising and promotions, e-commerce, and ad hoc queries.
  4. To assist the business in understanding and complying with commercial legal agreements and legal requirements, and to provide regular updates of developments in the legal and regulatory environment.
  5. Dealing with Intellectual Property issues.
  6. Facilitate advice from overseas legal providers regarding relocations, secondments and foreign entities where appropriate.
  7. Managing instructions to external counsel (including, property, employment, litigation, banking and other specialist areas of law).
  8. Provide day to day assistance to the General Counsel.

What are we looking for?

  • Qualified Solicitor or Barrister in England and Wales with 3 years+ PQE 
  • Strong academic education and  qualifications
  • In house experience beneficial but not essential
  • Previous experience of operating at senior executive level with a demonstrable ability to gain trust and influence at Board and senior leadership level.
  • Key Competencies & Behaviours 
  • Demonstrate general business awareness and strong commercial acumen
  • Excellent communication skills, oral and written, and ability to communicate with employees at all levels within the organisation
  • Ability to work on own initiative and offer a pro-active problem solving approach
  • Ability to work in a team environment collaboratively with other business functions to understand the business needs and complexities of legal issues as they arise to ensure pragmatic outcomes are achieved
  • Ability to organise self to work efficiently and manage conflicting priorities and multiple deadlines

Company Secretary to the Board, Committees and subsidiaries. 

  1. Responsible for compliance with Company Law, the Listing Rules and DTRs, Corporate Governance Code and Remuneration Principles, and advising the Chairman and Committee Chairman on issues arising. 
  2. Responsible for establishing and managing procedures for sound corporate governance.
  3. Arranging and managing General Meetings, and liaising with proxy voting advisory agencies and shareholders to ensure compliance with all reporting filing and documentation requirements.
  4. Provide an effective service to the CEO and the board, keeping them fully informed of their responsibilities.
  5. Acting as signatory for required legal documentation.
  6. Preparation of relevant sections of the Annual Report.
  7. Managing share incentive plans.

The role also includes the following ancillary duties:

  • Insurance administration
  • Property management (in relation to leases)
  • Maintenance of risk register 
  • General compliance (Health and Safety; Business Continuity Planning)

Core Values  

Collaborative and resourceful across teams and locations
Great things happen when we work together to develop and deliver the best education; when we are able to deal skillfully and quickly with new challenges in the fast moving world of digital education and technology. We succeed by utilising the different skills and experiences of our teams across our global locations. 

Passionate about education and teachers
We‘re dedicated to helping teachers, schools, universities and students to make a difference through education. We proudly put educators at the heart of everything we do and play an active and positive role at the heart of the global education community.

Fast moving and flexible 
We value our print heritage, but we’re excited about our digital future. We’re open to change, embracing new ideas, technologies and innovative ways of working so that we can help educators everywhere raise global teaching standards.

Well-informed and focused
This applies to both our business and our journalism. We move quickly, but we make well-informed decisions about what will best help our business and customers flourish. We challenge ourselves to support educators and universities with the most insightful data, news and analysis every day.

Respectful and open minded
We treat people as we would like to be treated ourselves – with dignity and courtesy. We are sociable people with a sense of fun, and we warmly welcome everyone who wants to contribute to our business and the world of education. 

What do you get in return? 
A basic salary of £40,000 - £50,000 (dependent on experience), 25 days annual leave rising to 30, 5% pension after probation, State of the art city centre offices, Access to a range of benefits via perkbox, discounted parking for city centre, a people centric culture all driven to achieve the same goal, a supportive and consultative environment, to support you with personal development.

TES Global relies on the flexibility of its staff to ensure the continuity of the high standards and performance, as such this job description is only intended to be a guide to the most regularly performed duties, it does not form part of the contract of employment and is subject to amendment and change as may be considered.