Senior Legal Counsel EMEA

O&M Halyard EMEA; Machelen; Sur place; EUR 120 000 - 180 000; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

Owens & Minor is seeking a Senior in-house legal business partner to support the EMEA leadership team. You will lead day-to-day legal support for the region, embed in the business, and provide strategic, commercial and practical advice to senior stakeholders.

You will collaborate with Sales, Marketing, HR, Quality and Regulatory, manage external counsel, and help drive governance, risk management and compliant decision-making across Europe, the Middle East and Africa as applicable.

Qualifications

• Strong commercial judgement and ability to distinguish material risk from complexity.
• Hands-on in-house experience supporting commercial teams and senior leadership.
• Experience negotiating and drafting complex commercial contracts.
• Experience advising on employment law and workforce matters in multinational EU environments.

Responsabilités

• Act as trusted legal business partner to the EMEA leadership team and key commercial stakeholders.
• Lead day-to-day regional legal support, prioritise work and manage legal risk.
• Oversee external counsel and coordinate with Legal, Compliance and other functions.
• Draft, review and negotiate customer, distributor, supplier and strategic agreements.
• Support tenders, RFPs and strategic customer opportunities, including strategy development.
• Provide practical legal support on regulatory, quality and ESG matters.
• Advise on marketing, product and regulatory claims and substantiation.
• Guide HR on employment law and workforce matters in a multinational setting.
• Support litigation and investigations and escalate material issues as needed.
• Develop templates, playbooks and self-service tools to improve efficiency.

Connaissances

Commercial judgement

Ownership mindset

Executive presence

Relationship building

Influence without authority

Hands-on contracts

Strong communication

External counsel management

Formation

Law degree and entitlement to practise in at least one EU jurisdiction

Description du poste

Senior in-house legal business partner supporting the EMEA leadership team - 10+ years PQE

1. POSITION SUMMARY

Under the direction of the Legal Director, International Markets, the Senior Legal Counsel, EMEA is responsible for leading day-to-day legal support for the EMEA region of Owens & Minor International and providing strategic, commercial and practical legal advice to the EMEA leadership team.

This is a senior, hands-on in-house role. The successful candidate will embed themselves in the business, build strong relationships with Sales, Marketing, HR, Quality, Regulatory and senior leadership, identify issues and opportunities early, and take ownership of moving matters forward.

The role acts as a senior legal adviser and commercial partner to the EMEA leadership team, supporting commercial execution, operational decision-making, risk management and regional governance. It also provides support on selected International Markets matters outside EMEA where appropriate.

The role will also contribute to improving how Legal supports the business by simplifying recurring work, reducing unnecessary friction and introducing practical templates, playbooks, self-service tools and clearer decision pathways so Legal can respond faster and devote more time to higher-value commercial and strategic matters.

2. JOB FUNCTIONS

• Act as a trusted legal business partner to the EMEA leadership team and key commercial stakeholders, contributing to regional strategy, commercial planning, operational decision-making and risk management.
• Work proactively with Sales and other business teams to understand commercial objectives, identify issues and opportunities early, and help transactions and strategic initiatives progress.
• Lead day-to-day regional legal support, including prioritising legal work, managing legal risk, coordinating with Legal, Compliance and other functions, and overseeing external counsel.
• Lead the review, drafting and negotiation of commercial contracts, including customer, distributor, supplier and other strategic agreements.
• Support RFPs, tenders and strategic customer opportunities, including customer paper, procurement requirements, deviations, approvals and negotiation strategy.
• Provide practical legal support to QARA on regulatory, quality and compliance matters, including product-related risk, customer and regulator communications, recalls, field actions and claims substantiation.
• Advise on product, regulatory, sustainability and marketing claims, including promotional materials, tender responses, customer communications, website content, ESG claims and substantiation requirements.
• Provide legal advice on ESG matters, including sustainability governance, responsible supply chain, human rights, greenwashing, ESG reporting and related European regulatory developments.
• Advise HR and business leaders on employment law and workforce matters, including employee relations, restructures, investigations, terminations, consultation requirements and employment disputes.
• Support litigation, disputes, investigations and other contentious matters, including management of external counsel.
• Provide practical legal advice on corporate, commercial and operational matters, escalating specialist or material issues where appropriate.
• Identify recurring legal and governance issues and develop practical improvements to templates, playbooks, processes, training and business self-service.
• Challenge unnecessary legal process and look for simpler, faster and more scalable ways for Legal to support the business without compromising material risk management.
• Work collaboratively with other members of the Legal team across Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the US, and influence global stakeholders where EMEA outcomes depend on action outside the region.
• Revise and update corporate governance policies and procedures as appropriate to help ensure the business operates in compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations.
• Provide practical support and guidance to other members of the Legal team and contribute to knowledge-sharing and capability development.

3. KEY RELATIONSHIPS

• EMEA Regional Vice President / General Manager
• VP, International Markets
• Legal Director, International Markets
• General Counsel and global Legal colleagues
• Director, ESG & Sustainability
• Legal Counsel (Dublin)
• Sales, Marketing, HR, Quality, Regulatory, Compliance and Finance stakeholders

4. EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

• Law degree and entitlement to practise in at least one relevant European jurisdiction.
• At least 10 years' post-qualification legal experience, together with substantial recent in-house experience supporting commercial teams directly and advising senior leadership.
• Candidates with significantly greater experience who remain enthusiastic about a hands-on regional role are encouraged to apply.
• Demonstrated experience operating as an embedded in-house legal business partner in a multinational commercial environment.
• Strong commercial contracting and negotiation experience, including customer, distributor, supplier and strategic agreements.
• Experience supporting Sales organisations, major commercial opportunities, tenders and RFPs.
• Experience advising on employment and workforce matters in a multinational European environment.
• Experience in medical devices, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, life sciences or another highly regulated product environment is desirable but not essential.
• Experience with EU regulatory, sustainability / ESG, product and marketing matters is desirable.
• Experience operating across both common law and civil law jurisdictions is desirable.

5. KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES

• Strong commercial judgement, with the ability to distinguish material business risk from legal or technical complexity and provide proportionate, actionable advice.
• High ownership mindset, with the ability to take difficult or ambiguous issues and drive them through to an outcome.
• Confidence and executive presence to advise, influence and appropriately challenge senior leaders.
• Ability to build strong relationships with commercial teams, particularly Sales, understand what they are trying to achieve and get involved early in the issues and opportunities that matter.
• Ability to influence colleagues and global functions without formal authority and to make progress across a highly international and distributed organisation.
• Comfort operating autonomously while remaining closely connected to the broader Legal team.
• Willingness to remain hands-on with contracts and day-to-day legal work alongside strategic and leadership responsibilities.
• Ability to simplify, standardise and improve Legal processes through templates, playbooks, workflows, technology, training and self-service solutions.
• Pragmatic, responsive, commercially minded and comfortable balancing speed, risk and business objectives.
• Clear and persuasive communication skills, with the ability to explain complex legal issues in practical business terms.
• Ability to manage external counsel effectively, including scoping, supervision, budget discipline and quality control.
• Fluent English. Additional language skills, particularly French, German, Dutch or Spanish, are an asset but not essential.

6. ENVIRONMENT

The role is based in Brussels and supports the EMEA business directly. The successful candidate will work closely with senior European leadership while reporting to the Legal Director, International Markets and collaborating with Legal colleagues and global functions across Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the US.

The structure requires someone who is independent, confident and highly proactive. Success in the role will be measured not simply by the quality of legal advice, but by the ability to help the business make good decisions, move opportunities forward and get things done.

Once established, the role may also provide support on selected matters across Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the US as part of the broader International Markets Legal team.

7. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Ability to undertake occasional travel.
• Ability to participate in calls and meetings outside standard local business hours from time to time to support collaboration across EMEA, Asia-Pacific and US time zones.
• Ability to operate effectively in an ISO9001 and ISO14001 controlled environment and understand the basic principles of those quality standards.
• Must actively demonstrate Owens & Minor's IDEAL values: Integrity, Development, Excellence, Accountability and Listening.
• Performs additional duties as directed.

Owens & Minor is an equal opportunities employer