Chief Legal & Corporate Growth Leader

Beaufort; Ellesmere Port; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

33 days holiday (including public)

Hybrid working policy

Cycle to Work Scheme

Life Assurance up to 4x salary

Pension scheme

Training & professional development

Employee Assistance Programme

Reward & Recognition scheme

Birthday leave

Job summary

Beaufort is seeking a Head of Legal to act as the Group's lead legal adviser, providing commercially focused counsel to the CEO, CFO and senior leadership across the business. You will support commercial contracting, governance, risk, compliance and strategic transactions in a growing international organisation.

The role involves leading M&A due diligence and negotiations, managing external counsel, and building in-house capability to scale with Beaufort's growth while balancing legal risk and

Qualifications

• Qualified solicitor/legal counsel with appropriate professional standing in the UK or another relevant jurisdiction.
• Significant post‑qualification experience in a strong commercial environment, ideally combining private practice and in‑house.
• Broad commercial and corporate legal experience with the ability to act as principal adviser.
• Strong experience drafting and negotiating complex commercial contracts.
• Experience supporting M&A transactions, including due diligence and documentation.
• Understanding of corporate governance and commercial risk management.
• Experience advising senior executives with clear, practical guidance.
• Experience managing external counsel and legal spend.
• Experience managing people.
• Comfortable operating across international jurisdictions.

Responsibilities

• Act as the lead legal advisor to the CEO/CFO, Executive Leadership Team and wider business.
• Provide pragmatic advice balancing legal risk, commercial opportunity and operational realities.
• Translate complex legal matters into clear options and recommendations for executive decision‑making.
• Build relationships across the organisation and position Legal as an enabling partner.
• Lead on M&A activities, including due diligence, transaction documentation and integration.
• Support corporate governance, entity management and regulatory matters.
• Manage external counsel and legal expenditure, ensuring value.
• Collaborate with Finance, People and other functions on governance and risk matters.

Skills

Commercial awareness

Pragmatic

People management

Strategic advisory

Communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Regulatory knowledge

Education

Qualified solicitor/legal counsel with UK status

Job description

Beaufort is seeking a Head of Legal to act as the Group's lead legal adviser, providing commercially focused counsel to the CEO, CFO and senior leadership across the business. You will support commercial contracting, governance, risk, compliance and strategic transactions in a growing international organisation.

The role involves leading M&A due diligence and negotiations, managing external counsel, and building in-house capability to scale with Beaufort's growth while balancing legal risk and