Senior Legal Counsel

NATO Communications and Information Agency; London; On-site; GBP 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

A multinational defense organization based in London seeks a Senior Legal Counsel to provide legal guidance across a range of issues. The role involves drafting contracts and policy documents, advising senior staff, and collaborating on international legal matters. Applicants should have a law degree and at least 3 years of relevant experience. Competitive tax-free salary and benefits offered, including excellent health insurance and 30 days of annual leave.

Benefits

Tax-free salary

30 days annual leave

Flexible working conditions

Health insurance

Qualifications

• Minimum 3 years’ experience advising on compliance and commercial legal matters.
• Experience with public procurement legal issues.
• Fluent in English with knowledge of French at a beginner level.

Responsibilities

• Analyze legal questions affecting DIANA's operations.
• Draft programmatic support documents and legal texts.
• Advise on agreements and legal matters.
• Develop domain expertise in international law.

Skills

Legal analysis

Communication skills

Attention to detail

Ability to manage workload

Education

Bachelor’s degree in law

Job description

NATO UNCLASSIFIED

Vacancy Notice

Senior Legal Counsel-251231Primary Location United Kingdom-London

NATO Body Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA)

Schedule Full-time

Application Deadline 28-Aug-2025, 10:59:00 PM

Salary (Pay Basis) : £7,317.69 Pound Sterling (GBP) Monthly

Grade NATO Grade G17

**This post is subject to Budget Approval**

The Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (“DIANA”) is NATO’s

newest body. From across the Alliance, DIANA will bring together innovators

and operational end users to foster a transatlantic ecosystem supporting dualuse ground-breaking innovation in deep technologies.

DIANA is an independent NATO body comprised of an Allied Board of Directors

and an executive management team - the DIANA Executive (“DX”). Operating

out of regional offices in Europe and in North America, the DX will conduct

DIANA’s mission: accelerating deep tech, dual-use solutions to criticaltransatlantic challenges in defence and security. The DX will use Challenge

Programmes in line with a published Strategic Direction, as the primary vehicle

to accomplish this mission. DIANA is a dynamic, agile and hybrid workplace,

which strives for innovation, diversity, and excellence. In order to achieve these

aims, DIANA is committed to providing our people with an environment that is

positive, inclusive, and collaborative.

The Office of the General Counsel of the DX, led by the General Counsel, is

responsible for the provision of legal advice and other legal services to theManaging Director of DIANA, the DX, the Board of Directors, and, as

appropriate, other NATO bodies or Allied Nations.

The Office advises its clients on all legal matters – domestic and international –

impacting the responsibilities, functions, and other activities of DIANA. The work

covers a broad-spectrum including matters of international law and theprivileges and immunities of DIANA, legal agreements with partner

organizations, potential litigation, and fast-paced commercial contracting with

participating innovators and sponsors of development and procurement

programs.

NATO UNCLASSIFIED

The Senior Legal Counsel is an individual contributor who ensures that DIANA’s legal activities are flexible, coherent, and ready to meet future operational

The Senior Legal Counsel will have a range of potential matters to support, but

their primary responsibility will be supporting programme delivery through thedrafting of programmatic support documents (evaluation materials, contract

templates, and programme reports) and adoption-specific arrangements,

including through the ability to independently support adoption motions from

initial request for innovation support from DIANA stakeholders through delivery

under negotiated legal arrangements.Reporting to the General Counsel.

Duties of this role include:

• Analyse the legal questions affecting the DIANA operation and

mandate, including applicable national and international law.

• Represent the DX, as required, in the preparation and discussion ofagreements, Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) or other legal

documents to be concluded by DIANA.

• Provide advice to the Managing Director, the BoD, and, as

appropriate, other senior personnel on relevant legal issues as

instructed by the General Counsel.

• Assist in drafting legal texts, internal memorandums, and other legaldocuments relevant to DX.

• Contribute to policy development in the legal domains and anticipate

the legal implications of policy decisions, as assigned, with a focus on

DIANA’s adoption efforts and nexus with public innovation and

procurement mechanisms.• Maintain and develop domain expertise by following major activities

in the field of international law and relevant national and commercial

laws and regulations that have a direct impact on assigned tasks,

especially in the field of activities related to DIANA.

• Maintain and develop contacts NATO-wide, including with NATOmember states, as well as with external legal offices.

• Perform any other related duties as may be required.

3. ROLE REQUIREMENTS, QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

ESSENTIALThe incumbent must have:

• a Bachelor’s degree in law or a related field from a nationally

recognized/certified university;

• a minimum of 3 years’ work experience advising on compliance,

regulatory, or commercial legal matters• experience with legal matters involving public procurement

• Familiarity with the strategic issues and security challenges facing the

Alliance and the Allied innovation ecosystem, including an understanding

of multilateral defense capability planning and development;

NATO UNCLASSIFIED

• ability to gather, compile, and analyze complex legal and technicalinformation as well as apply analytical methods and techniques to identify

and resolve legal issues with creativity;

• ability produce quality results on time with a high attention to detail;

• resilience in managing a significant workload and the capacity to remain

calm under pressure;• excellent communication skills, both orally and in writing and the capacity

to present complex issues in a concise and clear manner;

• Possess the following minimum levels of NATO’s official languages

(English/French): V (“Advanced”) in one; and I (“Beginner”) in the other.

NOTE: Most of DIANA’s internal work is conducted in the English language.

DESIRABLE

The following would be considered an advantage:

• Specialized postgraduate studies in the area of public international

law;• Experience working on international legal matters

• Experience working with or within military or defence ecosystems

• Experience advising start-ups, accelerators, and/or systems

integrators

• Experience on matters involving, or experience directly advising,

international organizations• Knowledge of NATO institutional framework, policies and procedures

4. WHAT WE OFFER

• Genuinely meaningful work as part of the newest unit within the most

successful alliance in history

• Tax-free salary• Household and children’s allowances and privileges for expatriate

staff including expatriation and educational allowances (where

applicable) and additional home leave

• Excellent private health insurance scheme

• Generous annual leave of 30 days plus official holidays

• Flexible working conditions and a smoke-free office in London

• Opportunities for learning and development

The Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (“DIANA”) is NATO’s

newest body. From across the Alliance, DIANA will bring together innovatorsand operational end users to foster a transatlantic ecosystem supporting dual

DIANA is an independent NATO body comprised of an Allied Board of Directors

and an executive management team - the DIANA Executive (“DX”). Operating out of regional offices in Europe and in North America, the DX will conduct

DIANA’s mission: accelerating deep tech, dual-use solutions to critical

transatlantic challenges in defence and security. The DX will use Challenge

Programmes in line with a published Strategic Direction, as the primary vehicle

NATO UNCLASSIFIED

to accomplish this mission. DIANA is a dynamic, agile and hybrid workplace,which strives for innovation, diversity, and excellence. In order to achieve these

aims, DIANA is committed to providing our people with an environment that is

positive, inclusive, and collaborative.

The incumbent is required to be a resident in the host nation for the duration oftheir contract. DIANA has a flexible teleworking policy to permit working in

office, at home, and across NATO Allied Nations subject to managerial approval.

In accordance with the NATO Civilian Personnel Regulations, the successful

candidate will receive a definite duration contract of three years, which may be

followed by an extension.

If the successful applicant is seconded from the national administration of one

of NATO’s member States, a 3-year definite duration contract will be offered,

which may be renewed for a further period of up to 3 years subject to the

agreement of the national authority concerned. The maximum period of servicein the post as a seconded staff member is six years.

Appointment will be subject to receipt of a security clearance (provided by the

national Authorities of the selected candidate) and approval of the candidate’s

medical file by the NATO Medical Adviser.

Applicants who are not successful in this competition may be offered an

appointment to another post of a similar nature, albeit at the same or a lower

grade, provided they meet the necessary requirements.

NOTE: DIANA will not accept in any phase of the recruitment and selectionprocess assets prepared, in whole or in part, by means of generative artificial

intelligence (AI) tools, including and without limitation to chatbots, such as Chat

Generative Pre-trained Transformer (Chat GPT), or other language generating

tools. DIANA reserves the right to screen applications to identify the use of such

tools. All applications prepared, in whole or in part, by means of such generativeor creative AI applications may be rejected without further consideration at

DIANA’s sole discretion, and DIANA reserves the right to take further steps in

such cases as appropriate.

For more information on DIANA, please visit our website.