General Counsel and Company Secretary (7228)

Save the Children; Greater London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading charitable organization is seeking a General Counsel and Company Secretary to provide strategic legal and governance advice. The role involves leading Legal, Enterprise Risk, and Company Secretariat teams, ensuring compliance with regulations, and advising senior leaders. The ideal candidate will be an English qualified lawyer with significant senior experience and a commitment to the organization's mission. A background in human rights law or charity law is desirable, as well as strong analytical and communication skills.

Benefits

Flexible work environment

Health and wellbeing benefits

Inclusion and collaboration focus

Qualifications

• Experience in an in-house legal role, ideally in a charity context.
• Understanding of human rights law or child-rights based law is desirable.
• Experience managing teams and working with senior executives.

Responsibilities

• Provide legal, regulatory and governance advice to senior leaders.
• Lead and motivate Legal, Enterprise Risk and Company Secretariat teams.
• Serve as Company Secretary ensuring robust governance.
• Oversee enterprise risk management and internal audit functions.
• Support organizational transformation and compliance.

Skills

Senior legal experience

Governance knowledge

Risk management

Strong communication skills

Analytical skills

Education

English qualified lawyer

Job description

Save the Children UK is looking for an individual with extensive senior legal, governance and risk leadership experience to join us as our General Counsel and Company Secretary. This is an exciting opportunity to work closely with our Board of Trustees, Chief Executive and leaders across SCUK, as well as partners across the global Save the Children Movement, to help drive impact for children.

About Us

Save the Children UK believes every child deserves a future. In the UK and around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When crisis strikes, and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children's unique needs are met and their voices are heard. We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach.

About the role

As General Counsel and Company Secretary, you will play a pivotal role in guiding decisions that align with our mission and values, ensuring that SCUK operates with integrity, transparency and strong governance. You will lead our Legal, Enterprise Risk and Company Secretariat functions, oversee internal audit performance, and act as a trusted adviser to the CEO, Executive Leadership Team and Board. You will integrate legal, governance and risk-thinking into organisational decision-making, enabling innovation and impact while ensuring compliance and safeguarding the organisation's reputation and obligations.

In this role, you will :

• Provide strategic legal, regulatory and governance advice to the Board, CEO and senior leaders, ensuring decisions are informed, risk‑aware and aligned with our organisational priorities.
• Lead and motivate the Legal, Enterprise Risk and Company Secretariat teams, setting strategic direction and fostering a high‑performing, inclusive, values‑ and impact‑driven culture.
• Serve as Company Secretary, ensuring robust governance, effective Board and Committee management, and compliance with company law, Charity Commission requirements and the Charity Governance Code.
• Oversee SCUK's enterprise risk management and internal audit functions, acting as Executive Sponsor for Global Assurance and ensuring effective risk, audit and compliance frameworks are in place.
• Support organisational transformation and innovation, including new financial models, subsidiaries, and partnerships, while ensuring SCUK remains compliant, ethical and child‑rights focused.

About you

You'll be an English qualified lawyer with broad experience across a range of areas, including some or all of charity and fundraising laws, corporate governance, commercial contracts, intellectual property, IT and corporate law.

Ideally, you'll bring experience in an in‑house legal role (including in a charity context) with some experience of working in international contexts.

To be successful, it is important that you have :

• Senior experience in a challenging role, including managing a team and working with senior executives and trustees.
• Good understanding of the context in which Save the Children works. Experience and understanding of human rights law, child‑rights based law and / or laws relating to sexual offences is desirable but not essential.
• Strong strategic, analytical and problem‑solving skills, with the ability to navigate complexity, influence at senior levels and provide clear, solution‑focused advice.
• Excellent communication and relationship‑building skills, with the ability to explain complex legal issues in accessible ways and negotiate effectively.
• A high level of integrity, ethical judgement and commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, and to fostering a culture of accountability and learning.
• Commitment to Save the Children's vision, mission and values.

What we offer you :

Working for a charity provides one of the best benefits there is – a sense of purpose and reward for helping others. However, we understand the importance of giving back to our employees to ensure a happy and healthy working environment and work / life balance.

• We focus on flexibility, inclusion, collaboration, health and wellbeing both in and outside of work.
• We provide a wide range of benefits which will reward your hard work, motivate you, and inspire you to work to improve the lives of children every day. You can read more about our benefits.

To learn more about the position, please review the Job Description in the attached Documents.