Legal Manager-Customer Contracting

A.P. Moller Maersk; Mumbai; On-site; INR 4,500,000 - 7,500,000; Full time

Job summary

A.P. Moller Maersk in Mumbai seeks an experienced Legal Manager to lead a team of 5–10 legal professionals supporting review and negotiation of customer contracts across our international shipping business.

You will combine strong commercial contracting expertise with people leadership, maintain high standards, and drive process improvements. The role emphasizes use of AI to enable efficient, scalable contracting while ensuring risk controls across multiple jurisdictions.

Qualifications

• Law degree with strong grounding in commercial and contract law.
• Fluent written and spoken English for drafting sophisticated agreements.
• Significant experience in commercial contract drafting, review and negotiation.
• Previous people-management experience with development of professionals.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach and develop a team of 5–10 legal professionals in customer contract review and negotiation.
• Oversee review, drafting and negotiation of ocean transportation and international logistics contracts.
• Ensure adherence to contracting policies, templates and risk parameters.
• Collaborate with commercial, product and other teams to resolve issues and close agreements.
• Drive process improvements and adoption of AI-enabled tooling with appropriate human review.

Skills

Legal leadership

Contract drafting and negotiation

Commercial contracting

People management

English proficiency

Education

Law degree

Job description

Job Summary:

We are looking for an experienced Legal Manager to lead a team of approximately 5 to 10 legal professionals supporting the review and negotiation of customer contracts across our international shipping business.

The team primarily handles agreements relating to the international transportation, while also supporting contracts covering other logistics and supply chain services. It is a high-volume, fast paced environment, involving multiple customers at the same time, different stakeholders and legal considerations across multiple jurisdictions (including the United States and Europe).

This is a hands‑on leadership role. The successful candidate will combine strong commercial contracting expertise with proven people leadership, sound judgment and a practical understanding of the shipping and logistics industry. The Legal Manager will be expected not only to advise on more complex contractual matters, but also to develop the team, maintain high standards of quality and consistency, improve ways of working, and use technology and AI to enable an increasingly efficient and scalable contracting function.

Key Responsibilities:

People Leadership

• Lead, coach and develop a team of approximately 5 to 10 legal professionals responsible for customer contract review and negotiation.
• Set clear priorities and expectations and ensure effective allocation of work across the team.
• Provide guidance and escalation support on complex negotiations and contractual issues while developing the team's ability to operate independently.
• Establish and maintain high standards for quality, consistency, responsiveness and commercial judgment.
• Help the team develop strong capabilities in the effective and responsible use of AI tools, including appropriate human review and validation of AI-supported work.

Customer Contracting

• Oversee the review, drafting and negotiation of customer contracts, primarily relating to ocean transportation and international logistics services.
• Personally support or lead negotiations involving complex, high‑value, strategically important or escalated contracts.
• Ensure adherence to applicable contracting policies, templates, playbooks, approval processes and risk parameters.
• Work closely with commercial, product and other legal teams to resolve contractual issues and support timely conclusion of customer agreements.

Technology & AI

• Manage a high-volume contracting environment, balancing turnaround expectations with appropriate legal quality and risk management.
• Continuously improve contracting processes, including workflows, templates, playbooks, escalation mechanisms and standard positions.
• Use data and operational insights to identify recurring negotiation issues, bottlenecks and opportunities for standardization or automation.

Candidate Profile

The successful candidate must have:

• A law degree and strong professional grounding in commercial and contract law.
• Fluent written and spoken English, with the ability to draft and negotiate sophisticated commercial agreements in English.
• Significant experience in commercial contract drafting, review and negotiation.
• Previous people-management experience, including direct responsibility for managing and developing professionals.
• Strong commercial judgment and the ability to distinguish material legal risks from issues that can reasonably be managed or accepted.
• Ability to operate effectively in a high-volume, fast-moving multinational environment, managing competing priorities without compromising critical legal standards and dealing with contracts or stakeholders across multiple jurisdictions.
• Demonstrated willingness and ability to use AI-enabled tools and technology as part of day‑to‑day legal work.
• A strong process and continuous‑improvement mindset.

It is also highly desirable:

• Previous experience in the shipping, transportation or logistics industry, in particular:
• Ocean carriers;
• freight forwarders and NVOCCs; and
• airlines or air‑cargo businesses.

• Candidates from adjacent sectors may also be highly relevant where they have meaningful exposure to international transportation, trade or logistics, for example:
• marine insurance;
• commodities and international trading;
• conglomerates with substantial international logistics procurement activities; and
• general logistics and transportation businesses; and
• candidates without direct industry experience, but with strong commercial contracting expertise together and credible understanding of the shipping/logistics business.

We are looking for a leader who is:

• coaches a team member through a difficult negotiation rather than simply taking over the matter;
• make sound and pragmatic decisions when legal and commercial considerations compete;
• maintain quality and consistency across a large volume of negotiations;
• recognize which matters require escalation and which can be resolved by the team;
• communicate effectively with senior stakeholders across cultures and jurisdictions; and
• use technology and AI confidently while maintaining appropriate legal judgment and accountability.