Senior Counsel (Commercial)

HS2 Ltd.; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 62,000 - 77,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible benefits fund

Competitive benefits package

Job summary

HS2 Ltd in Birmingham seeks a Senior Counsel (Commercial) to lead legal advice on procurement, contract management, and insurance for major railway projects. The role involves advising on complex commercial terms, conducting negotiations, and coordinating with internal stakeholders to safeguard HS2’s interests.

The successful candidate will manage external solicitors, oversee budget and timelines, and ensure compliance with UK procurement law, FOI and GDPR, contributing to the organisation’s

Qualifications

• Qualified solicitor with extensive post-qualification track record in high-value utilities procurements and contract management.

Responsibilities

• Provide high-quality legal support on commercial/contract matters for procurement and construction projects.
• Attend senior-level meetings and liaise with internal stakeholders to enable timely delivery and risk management.
• Manage external solicitors and budgets when required.
• Advise on contract claims and disputes and assist with insurance-related matters.

Skills

Communication skills

Negotiation

Problem solving

Multidisciplinary teamwork

Planning & organisational

Attention to detail

Education

Qualified solicitor with PQP in high-value procurements

Tools

UK GDPR

TUPE

Insurance knowledge

Job description

Senior Counsel (Commercial)

Birmingham

Base salary: £61622 pa to £77027 pa depending on skills and experience. In addition, we offer flexible benefits fund of 20% which is paid on top base salary and is fully pensionable, as well as a range of competitive benefits - check them out in the Benefits section on our website.

HS2 Ltd endeavours to ensure everyone working for us and with us feels included, thrives and achieves their full potential. In practice, this means we are positive and inclusive about making adjustments, providing flexible working, encouraging our staff networks to flourish and providing personal and professional development opportunities.

As the Senior Counsel you will Lead and manage the provision of a full range of legal advice in connection with procurement (e.g. Phase 1 - North Stations, Phase 2 – RWGI, 2a MCW) and corporate procurement/contract management/administration matters, freedom of information matters and insurance (relating to HS2’s Owner Controlled Insurance Policy, supply chain insurances and annual renewals process), liaising with key internal stakeholders in order to enable high quality, timely delivery and optimise exposure and risk whilst ensuring compliance with legislation and regulations.

About the role:

• In relation to high value procurements and contract management/ administration enquiries, work without supervision to provide high quality legal support, including drafting documents and providing advice to staff at all levels (including at “legal surgery”) on all aspects of commercial law in connection with the design, build and operation of the railway (including consideration of intellectual property, insurance, FOI and other technical issues) to ensure HS2 Ltd is not exposed to undue risk and that consistent business standards are adhered to.
• Attend senior level meetings on behalf of Assistant General Counsel/General Counsel, for example Procurement Steering Group meetings.
• Act as a main point of contact in the Legal team to a wide range of internal stakeholders in respect of the above matters.
• Advise on resolution of contractual claims and disputes (not including conduct of litigation or arbitration) in relation to various railway assets, where possible without resort to external forms of dispute resolution.
• When required, manage teams of external solicitors (where capability and/or capacity is unavailable in the Legal team) including responsibility for managing and monitoring cost, assisting with the setting of budget and timescales and managing quality.
• Act as ‘subject matter expert’ in the Legal team in connection with UK GDPR, TUPE.
• Provide legal support in connection with insurance matters/policy. Support the HS2 Insurance Manager to ensure compliance by HS2 Ltd under any insurance policies entered into by HS2 Ltd. Contribute to the preparation and drafting of reports and briefings for HS2’s Board, the Executive and their respective sub-committees to support the decision-making process.
• Contribute to the operational management of the wider legal function, implementing process and system improvements to ensure internal legal services are delivered to high quality and efficiently.
• Contribute as commercial legal team member to legal topics training, templates, know how as and when required.
• Actively promote and embed Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in all your work, and support and comply with all organisational initiatives, policies and procedures on EDI.

About you:

Skills:

• Communication skills – including ability to produce and present information with a variety of stakeholders - with interpersonal and influencing skills;
• Problem solving skills, including working without established precedent or procedure;
• Ability to negotiate high value, complex commercial/contract terms;
• Ability to work within a multidisciplinary team in a high pressured, demanding environment, on a wide range of commercial/contract issues;
• Ability to juggle and prioritise numerous tasks in a high activity environment;
• Ability to consistently deliver high quality outputs under pressure whilst maintaining attention to detail;
• Planning and organisational skills in order to manage a high, diverse and complex caseload.

Knowledge:

• Extensive commercial contracts/construction contracts knowledge, preferably with a significant expertise in NEC3 contracting
• Extensive knowledge of public procurement law gained in either the public sector or private sector (preferably under the Utilities Contracts Regulations)
• Thorough understanding of (i) the role of the in-house legal function as a key contributor to successful delivery and (ii) the challenges facing the delivery of all HS2 projects.

Type of Experience:

• Qualified solicitor with extensive post-qualification track record in high value, utilities procurements and contract management, preferably obtained in a large project/organisation environment
• Extensive working knowledge of dealing with government departments, utilities and/or transport undertakers, from either an in-house or private practice background
• Experience in managing external law firms and budget responsibility

The post-holder is expected to behave at all times in a manner consistent with the HS2 values of Safety, Leadership, Integrity and Respect.

It is expected that you will actively promote and embed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in all your work and support and comply with all organisational initiatives, policies and procedures on EDI.

As HS2 Ltd do not hold a sponsorship license from the Home Office, we are not able to provide sponsorship to any applicant.Applicants must already have the Right to Work in the UK at the time of application and our process involves a Right to Work validation prior to the interview stage. Note, there are certain types of time-bound visas that we cannot accept.

Any offers made to applicants will be subject to satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks which include Nationality & Immigration Status, employment references, DBS, Financial and Education checks.

We ask for a variety of detail in your online application, however we perform the first assessment of suitability for a role based solely on the information in your CV. In a further development of our efforts to create a more diverse workforce, your CV will be anonymised and personal information will be removed during the first stage of the application review. This removes bias from the process and makes it even more important that you attach an updated word version of your CV for each new application ensuring you include evidence directly related to the criteria in the job advert.

About Us

High Speed 2 (HS2 Ltd) will be the UK’s new high speed rail network. As well as improving capacity, the new scheme will shorten journey times between a number of Britain’s major population centres, boost the economy and create thousands of jobs.

HS2 Ltd will create a skills legacy and develop a diverse range of talent. We aim to be a leader in EDI practice by creating a safe & inclusive working environment for all our staff - living our values of Safety, Respect, Integrity and Leadership.

In practice, this means we are positive and inclusive about making adjustments, providing flexible working, encouraging our staff networks to flourish and providing personal and professional development opportunities.

HS2 Ltd is also a safety-critical organisation. Employees are required to ensure reasonable care of their own and others’ health and safety by taking personal responsibility for working to our ‘Safe at Heart’ programme principles and following safe working procedures at all times.

HS2 Ltd endeavours to ensure everyone working for us and with us feels included, thrives and achieves their full potential.

Closing date: 11:59pm, 15 November 2026.