Senior Legal Counsel (Contract)

Who Gives A Crap; Melbourne; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare support

Generous paid leave

Learning & development opportunities

Free toilet paper

Job summary

Who Gives A Crap is hiring a Senior Legal Counsel to lead complex commercial matters and provide expert guidance across global legal areas. You’ll partner with the Head of Legal to drive growth and ensure governance, compliance, and risk management across the business.

You’ll serve as a central legal contact, translate complex issues for non-legal teams, mentor junior staff, and help scale the organisation responsibly as a mission-driven B Corp.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years PAE with 10+ years in-house experience desirable.
• Strategic thinking and goal setting with Head of Legal.
• Strong relationships and stakeholder influence to advance risk maturity.
• Project management across multiple legal projects with rigorous tracking.
• Mentor and develop junior lawyers while scaling the team.

Responsibilities

• Lead on complex commercial matters, including significant contracts and high-stakes negotiations.
• Provide expert guidance across global legal areas such as IP, regulatory compliance, and governance.
• Serve as a key contact for day-to-day legal inquiries and educate the business on legal best practices.
• Collaborate with Head of Legal to scale operations and ensure responsible growth.

Skills

PAE 10+ years

Strategic thinking

Negotiation

Stakeholder management

Leadership

Clear communication

Commercial advice

Risk management

Mentoring

Job description

Not all heroes wear capes — but plenty of them use toilet paper

Want to challenge yourself at a purpose-led scale up AND make a difference in the world? Come join the revolootion!

Funny name, serious business

We make eco-friendly products and donate 50% of our profits to provide clean water and help build toilets for the billions of people who lack proper access. So far, we’ve contributed over $18 million AUD (roughly $12.5 million USD) to fund sanitation projects around the globe. Basically, we’re really good at doing good.

With hubs in Australia, the Philippines, China, the US, UK and Europe, our amazing team of 200+ work to make the biggest possible impact for people and the planet. Over the next couple of years, we’re hoping to increase our annual donation tenfold to get us closer to our dream of everyone in the world having access to clean water and sanitation services.

A bit about the role

As our Senior Legal Counsel, you’ll be instrumental in supporting Who Gives A Crap’s growth and impact. You’ll take the lead on complex commercial matters, including significant contracts and high-stakes negotiations. Beyond that, you’ll provide expert guidance across global legal areas like intellectual property, regulatory compliance (in close collaboration with our Privacy & Compliance Specialist), and corporate governance. You’ll also serve as a crucial point of contact for day to day legal inquiries and play a key role in educating the business on legal best practices. Working closely with the Head of Legal, you’ll be the linchpin that helps us scale and thrive responsibly, all while making a lasting positive impact.

If you worked here this past month here are some things you might have been involved in

• Shaping our legal team's direction: You would have collaborated with our Head of Legal to define goals and priorities, ensuring our legal strategy aligns with the company's bigger picture.
• Navigating new product launches: You might have been reviewing contracts and advising on compliance for exciting new product lines as we expand our reach.
• Mentoring future legal stars: You could have been sharing your knowledge with a junior lawyer on secondment, helping them tackle a complex issue or providing guidance that supports their professional growth.
• Making legal easy to understand: You'd have been translating complex legal jargon into clear, actionable advice for our marketing or operations teams, making sure everyone's on the same page.
• Championing smarter ways of working: You might have been exploring and implementing new legal tech or processes to boost efficiency and make legal support even more accessible.
• Skilful negotiations: You could have been in the thick of negotiations for a key partnership, securing outcomes that are beneficial for our mission and our business.
• Staying ahead of the curve: You'd have been keeping a close eye on global legal changes, ensuring our advice is always accurate and we're prepared for what's next.

Let’s talk about you

You're more than just legally brilliant; you're a proactive leader with a knack for getting things done. You're someone who:

• Minimum 5 years+ PAE: 10years+ PAE & in-house experience desirable
• Thrives on strategy: You enjoy collaborating to set clear goals and work with the Head of Legal to develop effective plans for the team.
• Influence: You understand the benefits of finding win win solutions, you develop strong relationships, and pro-actively engage with stakeholders to influence risk maturityIs a project management whiz: You can skillfully manage multiple legal projects, keeping stakeholders aligned and initiatives on track.
• Leads with both directness and empathy: You're great at fostering collaboration, providing constructive feedback, and navigating challenging conversations respectfully.
• Drives tangible results: You're focused on achieving measurable outcomes, always looking for ways to improve processes and deliver real value.
• Communicates clearly and simply: You can break down complex legal information for non-legal audiences and champion user-friendly legal solutions.
• Possesses strong negotiation skills: You have excellent technical legal skills and can confidently handle complex matters, achieving favourable outcomes while maintaining positive relationships.
• Provides savvy commercial advice:You offer clear, pre-emptive legal advice that balances risk and commercial success, identifying both risks and opportunities for the business.
• Is committed to continuous growth: You're always seeking ways to improve processes, stay updated on legal developments, and contribute to a culture of ongoing learning.
• Enjoys mentoring others: You genuinely like guiding and supporting junior team members, and educating the broader business on all things legal.

You give a crap

Do you want your work to make the world a better place? Do you want to work with other people who feel the same way? What a coincidence — us too!

Why should you work with us?

First off, as a certified B Corp™ , we work to make a difference every day while maintaining the highest standards of social and environmental impact. With our most recent score of 125.5 we’re in very good company with other exceptional B Corps around the world.

We also believe that helping to make the world a better place should be rewarded accordingly – that’s why we offer competitive, market informed salaries, meaningful support towards healthcare for our team around the world, generous paid leave , tailored learning and development opportunities, and free toilet paper (yes, you read that right). Our engagement surveys (thanks Culture Amp!) tell us that our team is really proud (95%) to work for Who Gives A Crap and, well, we couldn’t be more proud of that.

Have you made it this far?

If you’re still reading, we think there’s a strong chance you might be our kind of person. Here’s the thing, though — research suggests that 60% of women and underrepresented folks might have already talked themselves out of applying. Even if you don’t check every box above, we want to encourage you to introduce yourself. We believe a diversity of perspectives and experiences makes a team stronger — and the stronger our team, the closer we are to delivering toilets and clean water for all.

Inclusion & Representation

We’d love to know a little more about who applies to Who Gives A Crap. By sharing how you identify, we can improve our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts . How does this work? We anonymise and aggregate this information - then use it to help us understand who’s applying, and what we can do to reduce bias and be as inclusive as possible. All information provided will be kept according to our strict privacy standards .

Filling this part out is completely optional, but we really hope you choose to answer. Please know whether you decide to share or not will not influence the outcome of your application.

It’s important to us that when we’re asking this set of questions around identity and representation that everyone responding feels included and considered, so we’ve given you the opportunity to self-describe or opt out of answering entirely!

Of the following options, which race/ethnicity most closely describes how you identify? Please select all that apply. Select...

Of the following options, which gender most closely describes how you identify? Select...