Senior Commercial Counsel (Fixed-Term)

WGSN; Greater London; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days of holiday per year, with option to buy/sell up to 5 days

Pension, Life Assurance and Income Protection

Private Medical, Dental Insurance & Critical Illness

Employee assistance programme

Season ticket loans and cycle to work scheme

Volunteering opportunities

Job summary

A global authority on trend forecasting is seeking a Senior Commercial Counsel in London for a 12-month fixed term role. In this position, you will provide a range of legal support, including managing commercial contracts and advising on compliance and risk issues, particularly in technology and data. The ideal candidate will have a strong commercial contracts background, experience in international law, and the ability to collaborate effectively within a busy team. Competitive benefits and opportunities for professional growth are included.

Qualifications

• Mid-level lawyer with experience in an international law firm or in-house.
• Ability to manage multiple matters in a global function.
• Experience drafting and advising on commercial contracts.

Responsibilities

• Provide legal support for WGSN globally.
• Manage and draft various commercial contracts.
• Advise on compliance, disputes, and data privacy issues.

Skills

Commercial contracts background

Proactive team player

Experience in international law

Strong communication skills

Knowledge of AI and technology law

Education

Law degree

Relevant professional qualifications

Job description

Overview

The Senior Commercial Counsel is a fixed term role (12 months maternity cover) based in London, joining the legal team to provide a range of legal support for WGSN globally.

Work at WGSN is fast-paced, with opportunities to grow. WGSN is a team of consumer and design trend forecasters, content creators, designers, data analysts, advisory consultants and more, united by the goal to create tomorrow. WGSN’s forecasts power product design across consumer insights, beauty, consumer tech, fashion, interiors, lifestyle, food and drink forecasting, data analytics and expert advisory.

Role and Responsibilities

• Provide a range of legal support for WGSN globally; manage a diverse and challenging workload; assist in building effective processes and systems to ensure efficiency; earn the trust of senior stakeholders; work collaboratively with colleagues across functions.
• Instruct and manage external lawyers on occasion; work autonomously with support from more senior team members and peers.
• Advise on technology, data and IP risk issues; a keen interest in AI and AI-related law is desirable.
• Communicate clearly and succinctly with stakeholders at all levels of the business.
• Report to the Interim Head of Legal (London).

Key Accountabilities

Commercial/General

• Advising, drafting and amending a full range of commercial contracts, standard terms and conditions, subscription contracts, consultancy agreements, barter agreements, IP licensing agreements and other business-as-usual agreements.
• Special focus on contracts related to data licensing, data scraping, intellectual property rights, technology agreements, Data as a Service and SaaS/platform agreements.
• Advising on establishing and managing commercial partnership arrangements.
• Advising on commercial disputes arising out of client relationships and supporting dispute resolution and debt collection processes.
• Advising on copyright and trademark issues (contentious and non-contentious) and assisting in managing the trademark portfolio.
• Advising on data privacy compliance, privacy and data security issues; liaising with the Interim Head of Legal as required.
• Assisting and developing templates for use by the business and legal team; assessing legal risks and implementing risk mitigation strategies; assisting with corporate administration tasks.

Reporting/Regulatory/Compliance

• Keep records of matters worked on and report the same; contribute to legal reporting of key business risks to senior management.
• Support the management of the company’s compliance programme including data privacy, ABC/sanctions/financial crimes and policy management.
• Monitor and advise on new and evolving legal and regulatory risks with a focus on trend forecasting, market research, data aggregation and AI.

Corporate Governance

• Work with cosec service providers to support corporate secretarial or governance matters for subsidiaries across jurisdictions.

Professional Development

• Meet and exceed personal KPIs; contribute to legal team objectives to deliver value to the business; assist with profile-raising and positive business engagement.

Relationship Management

• Develop and manage relationships with key stakeholders; liaise with commercial clients at all levels of the business.

This list is not exhaustive and there may be other activities you are required to deliver.

Skills, Experience & Qualifications

• The role would suit a mid-level lawyer with a broad commercial contracts background who has experience in an international law firm or in-house, ideally in a global organisation.
• If coming from private practice, some secondment experience would be desirable.
• A proactive team player who can integrate quickly with a busy team, collaborate effectively, demonstrate a positive attitude, be willing to learn and manage multiple matters in a dispersed, global function.

What We Offer

Our benefits and wellbeing package offers flexible benefits you can tailor to your needs, including:

• 25 days of holiday per year, with option to buy/sell up to 5 days
• Pension, Life Assurance and Income Protection; Private Medical, Dental Insurance & Critical Illness
• Employee assistance programme, season ticket loans and cycle to work scheme
• Volunteering opportunities and charitable giving options
• Great learning and development opportunities

More About WGSN

WGSN is the global authority on consumer trend forecasting. We help brands create the right products at the right time for tomorrow’s consumer.

Our Values

We Are Everywhere – The future is everywhere. We track and analyse consumer behaviours, product innovation, design and creativity, worldwide.

We Are Future Focused – We research and analyse data to produce forecasts focused on helping customers create a successful tomorrow.

We Are Rigorous – We ensure robust, actionable forecasts through careful data review and assessment.

Our Culture

An inclusive culture is a key priority. We value diverse teams with different strengths and perspectives that reflect our global audience.

Inclusive workforce – We are committed to environmental sustainability and offer options aligned to sustainable pensions and net zero by 2030.

Recognising great performance – Our Awards schemes recognise outstanding achievements.

We offer a flexible working environment with hybrid and agile arrangements; full remote working is not available. If you require reasonable adjustments during the interview process, please let us know.

A Note for Applicants – We use AI to help screen applications while maintaining transparency and fairness. Final hiring decisions are made by humans.

A Note for Recruiters – Our internal Talent Acquisition team handles recruitment; we partner with agencies on our Preferred Supplier List. We may use AI tools to support parts of the hiring process.