Senior Legal Counsel

JD Williams; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

JD Williams seeks a Senior Legal Counsel to join their Legal team in Manchester. This role offers the chance to handle commercial legal issues across multiple areas within a fast-paced retail environment. Responsibilities include contract negotiation, legal compliance, and proactive risk management, providing an opportunity for professional growth in a supportive team.

Benefits

Hybrid working – 3 days in the office, 2 days from home

24 days holiday (+8 bank holidays)

Annual bonus scheme

Enhanced maternity and adoption leave

Company pension with up to 8% employer contribution

Mental Health support services

Colleague discount across all brands

Onsite café with subsidised rates

Life Assurance and Private Medical Insurance

Paid volunteer time

Qualifications

• Qualified solicitor with 4+ years PQE.
• Strong commercial contract drafting and negotiation experience.
• Ability to work autonomously under pressure in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities

• Advise on company-wide projects and negotiate critical contracts.
• Support various legal areas including IP, consumer, and data protection.
• Manage external legal advisers and ensure compliance with legislation.

Skills

Commercial contract drafting

Legal advice

Communication skills

Teamwork

Problem-solving

Organizational skills

Education

Qualified solicitor

Job description

We’re looking for a Senior Legal Counsel to join our Legal team!

The Legal team here at N Brown are looking for a Senior Legal Counsel to join us at our Head Office in central Manchester. This is a fantastic opportunity to join a high-performing team in a busy, agile and fast-moving digital retail business. You will deal with a variety of retail-focussed, commercial legal issues and support all our brands and business areas.

As Senior Legal Counsel you will play a key role in assisting N Brown to meet its strategic goals and objectives by working pro-actively with business stakeholders to understand and mitigate legal risks, provide pragmatic legal advice and assist business stakeholders to make fully considered commercial decisions as cost effectively as possible. As Senior Legal Counsel you will report directly to our Head of Legal.

The role offers exposure to all parts of the business with the opportunity to expand your legal skills in a variety of areas (such as intellectual property, IT, advertising, data and privacy, Financial Services regulation, and dispute resolution/litigation), whilst making a real difference to our business.

What will you do as a Senior Legal Counsel at N Brown?

• Act as a business partner and take a lead role advising on company-wide projects and drafting and negotiating high value, business critical commercial contracts.
• Advise on a wide range of Legal areas as part of day-to-day duties, such as: general commercial; IT; IP; marketing / advertising; consumer (including advising on / drafting consumer facing T&Cs, promotions, consumer credit, etc); and data protection / GDPR.
• Opportunity to take ownership of specific Consumer Credit, Financial Services and Regulated Activities workstreams.
• Focussed development of leadership and management skills with responsibility for supervision and mentoring of junior member of the Legal team.
• Take a lead role on the development and implementation of new initiatives (including AI and other legal tech) to improve competence, effectiveness and productivity of the Legal team within the business.
• Coordinating and managing external Legal advisers, ensuring efficiency and value for money.
• Keep up to date with future legislation and regulatory changes and proactively identify and update the business on risks and implement changes and solutions to mitigate them where necessary.
• Support our Data Governance team with respect to GDPR compliance and other data protection related enquiries.
• Assist with the design and delivery of training and updates to various business areas on regulatory and legislative matters and best practice in areas such as consumer rights and data protection.

What skills and experience will you have?

• Qualified solicitor with 4+ years PQE
• Strong commercial contract drafting and negotiation experience
• Retail and Financial Services knowledge and experience would be helpful but not essential
• Strong written and verbal communication skills (including legal drafting)
• Team player with a positive “can do” attitude
• Ability to work autonomously under pressure in a fast-paced digital environment
• Organised and able to manage own workload and prioritise tasks accordingly

What’s in it for you?

• Hybrid working– 3 days in the office, 2 days working from home
• 24 days holiday (+8 bank holidays)
• Annual bonus scheme
• Enhanced maternity and adoption leave
• Company pension with up to 8% N Brown contribution
• Mental Health support both internally and externally, including access to our wellbeing champions and counselling services
• A range of financial wellbeing support
• Colleague discount across all N Brown brands
• Onsite café with subsidised rates and local restaurant discounts!
• Life Assurance and Private Medical Insurance
• Paid volunteer time – all our colleagues can take a full day paid to volunteer for a charity of their choice

N Brown – Who we are and why work for us?

At N Brown, we’re committed to building a diverse workforce and creating an inclusive environment that values equality for all. Our vision is that by ‘championing inclusion, we’ll become the most loved and trusted fashion retailer’. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging are, therefore, at the heart of our culture.

We’re a forward-thinking digital retailer with a financial services proposition to be proud of. We’re customer-obsessed, serving them through three core brands: JD Williams, Simply Be, and Jacamo. We’re experienced, with over 160 years of trading under our belt. We’re inclusive, as we believe in fashion without boundaries; and we’re sustainable, striving to make as little impact on the planet as possible.

In May 2024 we were delighted to be named one of The Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2024. We work hard to create a happy and inclusive culture for everyone and we’re so proud to have made this list - as voted for by our very own colleagues!

Ways of Working

We offer hybrid working which varies across the business depending on the role you’re in. Our Head Office is located in the Northern Quarter in Manchester City Centre. So if you are travelling by train, tram or bus we’re perfectly located, plus we’re surrounded by cool cafes, trendy bars and the best places to eat!

Our working hours are 36.17 per week and our core working hours are between 10am - 4pm. Given we don’t have strict working hours you can find the working pattern that’s right for you.

Our promise to you:

We’re an equal opportunity employer and value diversity. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, colour, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

What happens when you apply to a role at N Brown?

As soon as we receive your application, we’ll send you an email to let you know. We always aim to come back to you as soon as possible with an update and we really appreciate you taking the time to apply for a role with us. Good luck!