Head of Legal Affairs

Kings Global; Pune District; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 9,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Kings Global in Pune, Maharashtra, seeks a Head of Legal to act as the senior-most legal advisor and partner with the leadership team on strategic, commercial, regulatory, and corporate matters.

This business-facing role requires translating complex legal issues into practical solutions that enable rapid, responsible growth, building an in-house function and managing external counsel across multiple jurisdictions.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of relevant legal experience.
• Experience advising senior management and boards.
• Strong background in commercial contracts and governance.
• Experience across multiple jurisdictions desirable.
• Ability to balance legal risk with commercial goals.

Responsibilities

• Act as principal legal advisor to CEO, senior management, and Board.
• Lead negotiation, drafting, review of major commercial agreements.
• Oversee corporate governance across entities and jurisdictions.
• Establish and oversee regulatory compliance framework.
• Manage external law firms and budget.
• Build and lead in-house legal team.
• Develop contract-management processes.
• Support strategic transactions from inception to execution.

Skills

Strategic legal advisory

Commercial contracts

Corporate governance

Regulatory compliance

IP & data protection

External counsel management

Leadership and mentoring

Education

Qualified lawyer with bar admission

Law degree (LLB/equivalent)

Job description

The Head of Legal will be the company's senior-most legal advisor and will work closely with the leadership team on strategic, commercial, regulatory, and corporate matters.

This is a business-facing leadership role, not simply a traditional legal counsel position. The successful candidate will be expected to understand the company's commercial objectives, identify legal and regulatory risks early, and provide practical solutions that allow the business to move quickly and responsibly.

The role will have responsibility for establishing the legal framework, processes, governance standards, and external counsel relationships required to support Kings Global's next phase of growth.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Legal Advisory

• Act as the principal legal advisor to the CEO, senior management, and Board.
• Provide clear, commercially practical advice on strategic business decisions.
• Identify legal and regulatory risks associated with new products, markets, partnerships, investments, and business initiatives.
• Participate in strategic transactions and major business decisions from inception through execution.
• Translate complex legal issues into clear business implications and actionable recommendations.

2. Commercial & Transactional Legal

• Lead negotiation, drafting, review, and execution of major commercial agreements.
• Advise on partnerships, joint ventures, strategic alliances, investments, acquisitions, and other corporate transactions.
• Oversee agreements with customers, vendors, technology providers, consultants, distributors, agents, and strategic partners.
• Develop appropriate contracting frameworks, templates, approval mechanisms, and negotiation playbooks.
• Ensure contractual obligations, liabilities, indemnities, warranties, IP provisions, and termination rights are appropriately managed.

3. Corporate Governance

• Oversee corporate governance and statutory legal requirements across relevant entities and jurisdictions.
• Advise the Board and management on corporate actions, resolutions, delegations, and governance matters.
• Work closely with the Company Secretary, finance, tax, and other relevant functions.
• Maintain appropriate corporate records and governance frameworks.
• Support restructuring, incorporation, financing, and other corporate initiatives as required.

4. Regulatory & Compliance

• Establish and oversee an effective legal and regulatory compliance framework.
• Monitor changes in laws and regulations relevant to Kings Global's businesses and markets.
• Advise management on regulatory exposure and emerging legal risks.
• Develop appropriate policies relating to areas such as anti-bribery and corruption, conflicts of interest, data protection, confidentiality, competition law, and ethical business conduct, as applicable.
• Coordinate with internal compliance teams and external advisors where specialized regulatory expertise is required.
• Oversee litigation, arbitration, regulatory proceedings, claims, notices, and other disputes.
• Develop strategies for dispute prevention, management, and resolution.
• Manage relationships with external law firms and counsel.
• Establish appropriate legal-risk reporting and escalation mechanisms.
• Work with insurance, finance, and business teams on material legal exposures.

6. Intellectual Property & Data

• Oversee protection and commercialisation of Kings Global's intellectual property and proprietary assets.
• Advise on trademarks, copyrights, technology, licensing, confidentiality, and IP ownership.
• Support the business on privacy, data protection, cybersecurity, and information-management issues where relevant.
• Ensure appropriate contractual protection for proprietary information and business-critical data.
• Build and lead the organization's in-house legal function.
• Determine appropriate internal legal capabilities and areas requiring external counsel.
• Recruit, mentor, and develop a high-performing legal team as the organization scales.
• Establish legal workflows, contract-management processes, matter tracking, knowledge management, and legal reporting.
• Introduce technology and automation where appropriate to improve efficiency and turnaround times.
• Establish clear service-level expectations for the legal function while maintaining appropriate risk controls.

8. External Counsel Management

• Build and manage relationships with leading law firms and specialist advisors across relevant jurisdictions.
• Select external counsel based on expertise, commercial understanding, responsiveness, and cost effectiveness.
• Manage legal budgets and external counsel spend.
• Ensure consistent legal strategy across multiple advisors and jurisdictions.

What We’re Looking For

• 15+ years of relevant legal experience, preferably with a combination of leading law-firm and in-house experience.
• Qualified lawyer with strong experience in the relevant jurisdiction(s).
• Demonstrated experience advising senior management and/or Boards.
• Strong experience in commercial contracts, corporate law, transactions, governance, and regulatory matters.
• Experience working across multiple jurisdictions or with international businesses is highly desirable.
• Experience building or scaling an in-house legal function would be an advantage.
• Experience with capital markets, public-company matters, or an IPO process would be an added advantage.
• Strong negotiation and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to balance legal risk with commercial objectives.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• High level of integrity, discretion, judgment, and confidentiality.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment with ambiguity and evolving priorities.

The ideal candidate will be:

Commercially minded - understands that the role of legal is to enable sustainable business growth, not simply identify risks.

Strategic - can anticipate legal issues before they become business problems and contribute meaningfully to long-term decisions.

Pragmatic - provides solutions and alternatives rather than simply identifying what cannot be done.

Decisive - comfortable making informed judgments and advising senior stakeholders on complex issues.

Collaborative - works effectively with business, finance, HR, operations, technology, compliance, and other functions.

Globally oriented - comfortable navigating different legal systems, cultures, and business environments.

High-integrity - trusted with highly sensitive commercial, corporate, and strategic information.