Legal Counsel (maternity cover)

UniHomes; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

A fast-growing technology company based in Sheffield seeks a proactive Legal Counsel for maternity cover. The role encompasses various legal responsibilities, including drafting commercial agreements and managing disputes. The ideal candidate is a qualified solicitor with strong negotiation skills and experience in commercial law. Competitive salary and benefits are offered in a supportive work environment.

Benefits

Complimentary breakfast

Healthcare scheme

Enhanced maternity & paternity pay

Employee Assistant Programme

Qualifications

• 1 to 4 years' experience considered.
• Experience in low level dispute resolution (pre-action negotiations).
• Familiarity with IP protection and trademark monitoring.

Responsibilities

• Draft and negotiate commercial agreements.
• Manage legal risks and disputes for customer complaints.
• Support internal departments with legal inquiries.

Skills

Commercial law experience

Strong drafting skills

Negotiation skills

Analytical abilities

Stakeholder management

Education

Qualified solicitor or legal executive

Job description

Overview

Legal Counsel (maternity cover) – Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom

Hours: 30 per week (4 days) - flexible on days. Full-time will be considered.

Contract type: 12 months fixed term from September 2025 (maternity cover)

Salary: GBP Competitive

Reporting to: Director of Legal and Business Affairs

We are seeking a proactive Legal Counsel to provide maternity cover. The successful candidate will support the Legal and Business Affairs team in managing a variety of legal support requests from across the business. Day to day workload will include supporting with various commercial agreements, intellectual property management, approving marketing copy, supplier onboarding, low level dispute resolution and providing general first line support on legal enquiries.

This role would suit a generalist commercial lawyer looking to build on existing in-house experience or broaden their private practice skills set by joining a fast-growing business. You will be dealing with a variety of legal topics and your day-to-day workload will require contract drafting skills, stakeholder engagement, and the ability to manage and prioritise an ever-changing workload with discretion and precision.

Key responsibilities

• Draft, review, negotiate and amend commercial agreements with client partners and suppliers. Prepare and revise special conditions, draft bespoke agreements and respond to counterparties' legal comments. Liaise with internal stakeholders to draft and negotiate agreements and ensure alignment with business objectives.
• Legal risk and dispute management: Provide guidance and support the Customer Support team in the handling of consumer complaints. Supporting the various internal departments with ad-hoc enquiries, for example, marketing, employment, litigation, consumer, commercial and intellectual property related matters.
• Legal research: Supporting the Data Protection officer where required. Support the senior compliance counsel on regulatory matters, including ICO, IPO and advertising standards referrals. Manage energy billing disputes and pre-litigation correspondence with external legal teams. Advise on supplier and partner agreements.
• Supplier and invoice management: Set up new suppliers and process invoices via SAGE. Coordinate with Finance and external vendors to validate and resolve billing issues.
• Intellectual property oversight: Manage the Group's trademark portfolio. Administer trademark watching services (e.g., Corsearch) and ensure brand protection. Liaise with marketing and legal teams to monitor third-party trademark applications.
• Internal legal support: Provide legal input on procurement questionnaires and onboarding documentation. Review, develop, draft, and update internal precedent agreements including T&Cs and NDAs.

Skills and experience

• Qualified solicitor or legal executive with commercial law experience, preferably with some in-house experience but this is not essential.
• Ideally 1 to 4 years' experience but all levels considered.
• Ideally some familiarity with the ASA CAP and BCAP Code.
• Strong drafting and negotiation skills.
• Some experience in low level dispute resolution (pre-action negotiations only) and regulatory compliance.
• Familiarity with IP protection and trademark monitoring.
• Proficiency and interest in legal document management.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

About us

UniHomes has been named the fastest-growing technology company in Yorkshire and the Northeast in the 2023 Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50. We are also incredibly proud to have been officially certified as a Great Place to Work (GPTW).

Our industry-leading property search portal and utility management service enables our established and ever-increasing network of letting agent partners, to offer hassle-free all-inclusive accommodation to our growing and strong community of university students, who are actively seeking their perfect shared house. We are taking the market by storm, currently in over 60 university cities and towns across the UK, and we have huge ambitions for 2025.

Founded by three Sheffield property entrepreneurs in 2015, we have experienced remarkable growth and now have a team of almost one hundred at our Sheffield City Centre office. With recent minority investment from LDC we are scaling up our teams ready to conquer new horizons.

Core values

• Lead the Way
• In it Together
• Customers Matter
• Keep it Simple
• Rise Above Challenges
• Make it Happen

Benefits and culture

We are incredibly proud to have been officially certified as a Great Place to Work (GPTW) and an accredited Living Wage employer - all our employees earn a fair living wage above the government minimum wage.

Working in our stunning new office at New Era Square in the centre of Sheffield, you will get complimentary breakfast, hot & cold drinks, snacks, pool table, holidays, length of service days, voluntary day, enhanced pension scheme, pension salary sacrifice scheme, healthcare scheme, Employee Assistant Programme, sick pay, enhanced maternity & paternity pay, career progression, a commitment to personal and professional development, employee of the month award, refer a friend scheme, staff discounts, mental health and financial support, and company social events.

At UniHomes we are committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace. We welcome candidates from all backgrounds, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments to make the recruitment process more accessible to you.

We do not accept CV submissions from recruitment agencies. Direct applications from individual candidates are encouraged.