Legal Counsel

Premier Foods; St Albans; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading British food company is seeking a Legal Counsel to join their team in St Albans. This role involves drafting and negotiating legal documents, ensuring product compliance, and supporting broader compliance initiatives. The ideal candidate will have a solicitor qualification in England and experience in procurement. This position offers a flexible work arrangement with up to 50% work from home.

Benefits

Bonus

Up to 7.5% pension

Life assurance

Training opportunities

Employee discount scheme

Qualifications

• Must thrive in a fast-moving environment.
• Ability to manage a wide range of contacts.
• High standards and attention to detail required.

Responsibilities

• Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating legal documents.
• Ensuring compliance of product packaging.
• Supporting the compliance programme and managing training.

Skills

Legal knowledge

Procurement experience

Communication skills

Attention to detail

Proactivity

Education

Solicitor in England or equivalent

Job description

Overview

Legal Counsel

Date: 12 Sept 2025

Location: St Albans, GB

Based in St Albans/50% WFH

Permanent

We're one of Britain's biggest food companies with a broad stable of leading brands; brands which you can find in around 94% of British households, as well as a growing number of international markets. We are listed on the UK Stock Exchange, have annual revenues of in excess of £1bn and employ over 4,000 colleagues across our 14 locations. Our brands include Mr Kipling, Merchant Gourmet, Cadbury (under licence), Bisto, Batchelors, Ambrosia, Sharwood’s, Oxo, Loyd Grossman, Homepride, Saxa, The Spice Tailor, Fuel 10k and McDougall’s.

Our UK Business Unit is responsible for developing our portfolio of leading brands in the following key categories: Flavourings & Seasonings, Cooking Sauces & Accompaniments, Quick Meals & Soups, Ambient desserts, Sweet Treats. Our International Business Unit focuses on developing new markets for our brands around the world, including key strategic markets in Australia, USA, and Republic of Ireland, and other markets such as the Middle East, South Africa, and more.

The Legal and Secretarial Department’s role is to ensure that Premier Foods plc, and its subsidiaries, comply with their legal, regulatory and corporate governance obligations. This is a small central team that is highly-regarded, impactful and moves with pace and has a focus on business partnering. The job offers a great opportunity to gain a wide variety of experience in the domestic and international markets. We will provide support for continued development of your legal skills.

What we need from you

• Admitted as a solicitor in England (or an equivalent international qualification) (ideally NQ-4 PQE)
• Must thrive and enjoy working in a fast moving environment
• Ideally Procurement experience
• Must act in a professional manner at all times
• Must be proactive, show initiative, with a hands-on attitude
• Must be able to multi-task and instinctively be able to deal with a wide range of contacts (internal colleagues, external suppliers, key stakeholders)
• You will be someone who has high standards and attention to detail and who continually seeks a better way to do things
• Well-developed verbal and written communication skills

What you'll be doing

• Commercial: Drafting, reviewing and negotiating a variety of legal documents (e.g. NDAs, letters of variation, extensions, procurement contracts, sales contracts, distribution agreements, terms and conditions of sale and purchase, letters of termination etc). Provide advice to the commercial teams on interpretation of contracts with a view to delivering the desired Premier position.
• Marketing and Advertising: Review of product packaging and liaising with the brand and regs teams, as necessary, to ensure product packaging is compliant. The drafting and review of promotional terms and conditions and advertisements for legal compliance and creating solutions to change advertisements to ensure compliance with the Code of Advertising Practice and other relevant laws.
• Compliance: Support the implementation and ongoing monitoring of Premier’s compliance programme including Competition, Anti-Bribery, Sanctions and Data Protection laws. Organising and creating training materials, monitoring attendance and spotting compliance issues, drafting NDAs/reviewing NDAs received from third parties, undertaking trade mark clearance searches for UK and International, including assessing when external counsel will be required to conduct full clearance searches, and managing external counsel with the clearance searches. Reviewing trade mark watch notices and escalating any which may be an issue to the relevant member of the legal team. Handling ad hoc queries from the International team on what trade marks we have registered and where. Drafting letters of consent to use our brands and drafting trade mark licences.

What we offer you in return

• Bonus
• Up to 7.5% pension
• Life assurance
• Wide range of online and in-house training
• Access to an employee discount scheme, with access to hundreds of nationwide retailers

Ready to apply

Click apply, submitting an up-to-date CV tailored to this opportunity. We look forward to hearing from you.

A great British food company

Premier Foods is one of Britain’s biggest listed food companies, employing over 4,000 colleagues at 13 manufacturing sites and offices up and down the country. Many of our brands have been part of UK life for more than a century and you’ll find them in 90% of British households. At Premier Foods we believe in inclusion, authenticity and individuality. We aim to ensure all existing and future colleagues are given equitable opportunities and are respected, valued and encouraged to bring their true authentic selves to work no matter who they are, what they look like, who they love or what they believe in. Our culture is one where everyone is welcome.