In-house Legal Counsel

In-house Legal Counsel (Commercial)

Our client is an international facilities management company that provides a first-class shopping experience at major retail and leisure establishments. Maintains critical factory facilities for well-known industrial organisations and supports the patient journey at large hospitals

They are looking to recruit a qualified commercial Solicitor (2 to 5 years PQE) to join the highly respected legal team for the UK, Ireland and Middle East (UKIME) region. The person appointed to this role will have direct responsibility for any legal support required by the procurement function but will also provide a wide range of legal advice across all areas of the UKIME business.

The commercial legal team is notionally based in the Crawley Head Office but operates a hybrid working policy. The successful candidate could work from this office, another office in London and/or work from home. The team gets together once every couple of weeks (normally in London).

What you'll be doing

• Assisting commercial, sales, and other key stakeholders with any legal and contractual requirements arising during the sales and bidding process for high-value customer contracts. This will include contract review and negotiation, providing solutions to mitigate risks, issuing mark-ups, attending and contributing on bid sign-off calls with senior stakeholders • Providing legal advice to the Group's central Procurement function (including IT). This will include reviewing and negotiating major contracts, managing disputes and dealing with other legal issues as they arise. • Providing ad hoc legal advice wherever required within the UKIME business, recognising the varied nature of the advice required to support a business of this nature- for example, this could entail managing / advising on disputes, intellectual property, data protection, information technology etc • With the support of senior colleagues, gaining experience in the public sector side of the business, where the opportunities are high-value and the contracts particularly complex • In all situations, providing legal advice that is both commercially astute and aligned with the key contracting and governance requirements applicable to the business • Developing strong partnerships and becoming a trusted advisor within the Procurement team and throughout the UKIME business, from contract manager level through to senior directors. To be successful, you will need to be seen as a problem solver and someone who helps the business to remove or navigate around risk (rather than just identify it) to achieve the common shared goal • Managing external lawyers and other professional advisers where necessary, with conscious effort to maximise value and control cost from any such appointments • Helping to promote legal good practice and awareness throughout the business, both through the quality and clarity of advice you provide and delivering targeted training on legal, risk and compliance topics.

What you'll need

• You will need to be a qualified solicitor with 2 to 5 years PQE, with broad commercial and contractual law experience and some in-house experience • You must have experience of supporting purchasing / procurement activity • A grasp of TUPE is required, but skills in this area can be developed • If you have experience in Facilities Management, Outsourcing, Public Procurement and IT / technology contracting, that would all be a considerable bonus

What will you get in return.

• Salary - up to £65,000 and access to bonus scheme • Car allowance • An enhanced pension scheme (above auto enrolment rates) • Life Assurance - to protect your family should the worst happen • 25 days holiday, plus 8 bank holidays on top • Private Medical Insurance - to protect you • Access to 100s of high street discounts