Legal Officer

PRIVACY INTERNATIONAL; London; On-site; GBP 41,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a passionate Legal Officer to advocate for human rights and privacy. This role involves engaging with international partners to formulate innovative strategies for change, while navigating complex legal frameworks. You will work in a collaborative environment with a diverse team dedicated to protecting democracy and civic spaces from authoritarian technologies. This is a unique opportunity to make a meaningful impact on global human rights issues, leveraging your legal expertise and advocacy skills to drive systemic change in a dynamic and supportive setting.

Benefits

26 days annual leave

Generous workplace pension

Wellbeing support

Resources for learning & development

Modest relocation fund

Qualifications

• Experience in legal roles post admission/qualification.
• Knowledge of legal issues related to data and privacy.

Responsibilities

• Conduct advocacy to achieve organizational goals.
• Develop and share diverse skill-sets with partners.

Skills

Experience with international human rights standards

Knowledge of data protection regulations

Ability to manage relationships with partners

Excellent written and oral communication

Proactive and self-motivated

Education

Law degree or equivalent postgraduate diploma

Job description

Full time and permanent from London office

Salary: £40,500 full time and permanent from London office

Benefits: 26 days annual leave (plus bank holidays), generous workplace pension, wellbeing support, resources for learning & development, and we can offer a modest relocation fund

Join us: You’re curious about how technologies affect power and shape the future. You’re an advocate who wants to speak out for change with a voice that is both nuanced and engaging. You want to help build an organisation that is always learning. You want to cooperate closely with colleagues and partners across the world on a tapestry of topics, developing and sharing diverse skill-sets along the way. You’re keen to explore new multidisciplinary and resourceful methods to achieve meaningful change.

Working together: You’ll join an organisation of 23 people in our Central London office from diverse backgrounds, collaborating, building and learning together. We are delivering our multi-year strategic plan to protect democracy and civic spaces from authoritarian technologies, defend people’s dignity as they seek access and protection, challenge companies who profit from exploitation, and hold governments accountable for the extraordinary powers they amass. We engage stakeholders, institutions, and adversaries with tact and persistence. We target systems-level change and establish safeguards for people across the world so that freedom and privacy will be the foundations of tomorrow’s societies.

ABOUT THIS ROLE

What you’ll be doing

The Legal Officer will conduct advocacy to achieve PI’s goals. This will include legal, policy, research, outreach and public engagement initiatives as PI formulates new and creative ways to demand change globally, including working with our partners across the world.

Essentials

Experiences

• Experience working with international human rights standards and/or national rights frameworks, including enforcing them.
• Experience working with data protection regulations, including enforcing them or ensuring organisational compliance.
• Law degree or equivalent postgraduate diploma in any jurisdiction.
• Admitted/qualified to practice in any jurisdiction.
• Experience in a legal role post admission/qualification.
• Understanding of and experience working within a variety of local, national, and international jurisdictions, including those governed by common law or civil law.
• Experience taking creative approaches to novel legal challenges.
• Experience in NGOs/human rights organisations.
• Knowledge of legal issues related to data and privacy, including data protection and surveillance, or the legal concerns raised by techniques such as the use of artificial intelligence, automated decision-making, data brokerage and profiling.
• Experience mitigating legal risks faced by organisations.
• Passion for technology and its interaction with human rights.
• Proven track record of communicating complex issues to diverse audiences.
• Experience in engaging in strategic advocacy regarding conduct of state or non-state actors.
• Experience in designing and delivering learning and education activities and content, i.e. trainings, workshops, etc.

Skills

• Ability to work with and manage relationships with partner organisations, coalitions and counsel.
• Proactive and self-motivated, capable of working unsupervised and taking responsibility for managing relationships with key partners, stakeholders, and adversaries.
• Capable to deliver projects, working collaboratively through delegation and coordination, and incorporate critical reflections into future planning.
• Thoughtful interpersonal skills for engaging with colleagues and stakeholders from experientially, demographically, cognitively, and culturally diverse backgrounds.
• Demonstrable excellent written and oral communication skills, with attention to detail and audiences.

Desirable experience and skills

• Knowledge of and experience advocating for the protection of social, economic and cultural rights.
• Record of stakeholder engagement, promoting or enabling meaningful participation of communities and civil society in advocacy.
• Deft at speaking publicly, including with the media and at conferences and high-level stakeholder meetings.
• Experience in identifying, researching, monitoring and documenting technologies and technology-related policies and practices of state actors, companies, and other third-parties.
• Willing and able to travel internationally.
• Fluency in a language other than English, with one of the other 5 UN languages (Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic and Chinese) an asset.

HOW TO APPLY

We want to encourage applicants with diverse experiences, backgrounds and talents. And you might be reading this page and thinking ‘they won’t want someone with my unusual background’. Well, you’d be wrong. Each of us here have followed our unique paths. PI is built on genuine diversity, and we would encourage you to apply if you think you can meet the criteria of the role based on your life experiences.

To apply please send:

• a CV (not more than two pages)
• a covering letter (not more than two pages)

The closing date for applications is Wednesday, 7 May 2025 at 11:59pm BST.

Please send the requested material in one email to recruitment (at) privacyinternational.org. Only complete applications will be considered.

The candidates who we choose to interview will be contacted by the end of the day on Monday, 12 May 2025.

Interviews will take place between 19 and 21 May – please reserve these days for a possible interview by video conference.

We may conduct a second round of interviews, which will be decided only after the first round of interviews takes place.

For information about how Privacy International will use your data during recruitment please see the policy on our website.