In-House Counsel

Thomson Legal Recruitment Company; Glasgow; Hybrid; GBP 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Pension

Hybrid working

Job summary

Thomson Legal Recruitment Company, on behalf of a renowned global technology business, seeks an Associate Corporate Counsel in Glasgow. The role provides cross‑regional support on commercial contracts, compliance and regulatory matters, with a strong emphasis on public sector tenders and strategic supply arrangements across EMEA.

You will draft and negotiate complex agreements, guide risk decisions, and help harmonise processes with playbooks and AI-enabled tools.

Qualifications

• Qualified UK lawyer with circa 7+ years PQE and in-house or international law firm experience.
• Experience drafting and negotiating complex commercial contracts and tenders.
• Strong business acumen with ability to influence stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Review high-value government contracts and tenders and provide risk guidance.
• Draft and negotiate complex commercial agreements with standard positions/playbooks.
• Advise on compliance, data privacy and regulatory issues across EMEA.
• Educate and train employees on contractual rights and risk management.
• Contribute to process improvement, templates, playbooks and AI-enabled workflows.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams and external partners to harmonise guidance across regions.

Skills

Contract drafting

Commercial awareness

Negotiation

Regulatory compliance

AI in legal

Education

Qualified UK Lawyer

Job description

Excellent opportunity for a Corporate/ Commercial Lawyer to join an award-winning global technology company.

Exceptional, high class legal work on offer with a truly international company.

This role will be based in Glasgow with a hybrid- working model on offer.

Role Profile:

• You will join as an Associate Corporate Counsel and will be a key member of the EMEA Legal function, providing cross-regional legal support on a wide range of commercial, compliance and regulatory matters.
• The role will initially focus on the UK, Ireland and the Nordics and will also support other EMEA regions as the team continues to harmonise services and share expertise.
• You will help the business reach commercial outcomes with integrity by simplifying complexity and providing practical legal advice that enables sound business decisions.
• Your core focus will be commercial contracts, particularly public sector (including NHS) tenders, and strategic supply-chain arrangements within the EMEA region. You will also advise on a broad range of other related matters, including compliance, regulatory issues, claims and disputes. From time to time, you will advise on other legal matters, including data privacy and competition law, leveraging the relevant legal SMEs in the organisation, as appropriate.
• You will also help improve how the team works by contributing to process improvement, playbooks, templates, knowledge re-use and automated legal solution strategy, using technology (including AI) and standardisation as force multipliers to reduce friction and rework.
• You will report to the Regional EMEA North Legal Lead, and work closely with other lawyers across EMEA Legal, and with Division Counsel across the business.
• You will also partner with Finance, Procurement, IP, Quality, Regulatory, and other support functions across the EMEA region to help leaders frame issues, evaluate trade-offs, agree guardrails and mitigations, and elevate material risk or reputation issues early and clearly.

Role Responsibilities:

• Review high-value government contracts and public tender opportunities and provide strategic guidance on risk, including decision-ready options, recommended pathways and practical mitigations;
• Draft and negotiate complex agreements across the organisation, including sales agreements, strategic supply agreements, collaboration and joint venture agreements, IT agreements, co-marketing agreements and term sheets, using clear, business-friendly language and approved standard positions/playbooks where appropriate;
• Consult with other parts of the organisation and advise the business on the interpretation of agreements-in-effect or in development by clarifying the business decision needed, key assumptions, options, trade-offs and revisit triggers;
• Manage disputes, settlements and litigation support through timely triage, fact-based escalation and clear recommendations on the decision required;
• Educate and train employees in their contractual and legal rights and obligations, including the need for effective early engagement with Legal, proportionate risk management and practical use of templates, playbooks and self-service tools, as well as helping the business to think through issues while retaining ownership of its own business decisions;
• Actively contribute to the team’s process improvement and automated legal solution strategy (including the appropriate use of AI), updating playbooks, templates, and workflow to improve support.
• Use a 'Yes, if...' approach to commercial enablement by proposing pragmatic solutions, mitigations and monitoring rather than defaulting to 'no' where risk can be responsibly managed;
• Capture material decisions, lessons learned and recurring issues to improve playbooks, precedents, escalation pathways and future workflows;
• Partner with the Contracting Centre of Excellence (CCoE) to assist the CCoE in managing matters on behalf of EMEA Legal North team, as well as promoting the reuse of approved positions, and clarifying escalation thresholds and lessons learned;
• Collaborate with EMEA Legal colleagues and Division Counsel across all Groups on EMEA matters and initiatives, building alignment across functions and regions, resolving conflicts and reinforcing consistent Business Player principles and messaging; and
• Contribute positively to a strong culture of business integrity and ethics, accountability, trust and continuous improvement.

Candidate Requirements:

• Qualified Lawyer (in the UK) with circa 7+ years’ PQE, preferably in-house or in a full-service international law firm, advising life sciences, fast-moving consumer goods or other multinational businesses.
• Legal drafting capability and the ability to provide pragmatic, commercially astute and plain-English advice on contractual risk across a variety of commercial contracts, including basic intellectual property and IP licensing issues, with clear options, recommendations and mitigations.
• Commercial awareness and business judgment, with the ability to engage and influence business stakeholders as a trusted partner, balancing speed, growth, integrity, risk and reputation.
• Negotiation, influencing and communication skills, including the ability to frame decisions, explain trade-offs and align stakeholders around a recommended path forward.
• Ability to prioritise work based on business needs and manage multiple key projects simultaneously through effective resource utilisation.
• Ability to develop practical processes and approaches, simplify complexity, standardise repeatable work and drive solutions to completion.
• A 'Business Player' mindset, self-motivation, and comfortable working in a changing, complex business environment, with clear communication, practical negotiation and collaborative teamwork,
• Decision quality and risk stewardship, including sound judgement on risk tiering, escalation discipline, proportionality and when to accept, mitigate or elevate material exposure.
• Technology fluency and an improvement mindset, including the effective use of automaton, AI-enables tools and knowledge reuse.
• Able to travel occasionally within EMEA.

On Offer:

• On offer is a highly competitive salary and benefits package including bonus and pension.