Senior Legal Counsel (Commercial) – first in-house hire, route to Head of Legal
Fast-growing British consumer brand | London, hybrid (3 days in the office) with travel | £85-100,000 plus benefits | Permanent
Agora Talent is partnering with one of the UK’s fastest-growing consumer brands to hire its first in-house lawyer. Having scaled rapidly over the last few years, with national retail and trade distribution and a strong direct-to-consumer presence, the business is now building the legal foundations for its next stage of growth. This is a rare opportunity to grow the legal function from day one.
The role
You will be the sole in-house counsel, reporting to the senior leadership team with the support of an experienced external General Counsel who covers specialist and strategic matters. You will be the first port of call for the business on everything commercial, and you will shape how legal works here.
- Lead, negotiate and manage commercial contracts across suppliers, distributors, retail and trade customers, licensing and brand partnerships
- Take ownership of data protection and GDPR across the business
- Own and maintain the company risk register, working with the leadership team on mitigation
- Handle day-to-day employment and HR queries, escalating complex matters externally
- Manage the panel of external firms covering trademark, IP and other specialist areas, and control external legal spend
- Prepare the business for the compliance and governance requirements that come with scale
- Build the function: templates, playbooks and processes that let the commercial teams move quickly
About you
- Qualified solicitor (England and Wales), c. 5 to 9 PQE, with strong commercial contracts experience
- In-house experience, ideally at a consumer brand
- Working knowledge of GDPR and marketing and advertising compliance in a consumer business
- Commercial and pragmatic: you find a way to get things done in-house and treat external counsel as the exception
- Comfortable operating autonomously as the only lawyer in the building and building from a low base
- Ready to step up from a legal counsel or senior legal counsel role into leading a function
Why this role
- Genuine ownership of legal at a high-profile, fast-growing brand
- A clear, stated route to Head of Legal as the business and the function grow
- Senior support from an experienced General Counsel, so you are never the single point of failure
- London based, three days a week in the office, with regular travel to the company’s operations in the South West
#J-18808-Ljbffr…