South Asia Legal Counsel

Kantar; Gurugram District; Hybrid; INR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Job summary

Kantar India is seeking a Pragmatic Legal Counsel to support our business in India, with advisory exposure to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. You will handle commercial contracting, data privacy, IP protection and employment matters, balancing risk with business priorities.

The role requires a qualified Indian lawyer with 3–5 years' post‑qualification experience, strong drafting and negotiation skills, and excellent professional English. Collaboration with global and regional teams is essential.

Qualifications

• Qualified lawyer admitted to practise in India.
• 3–5 years' post-qualification experience.
• Experience in commercial contracting and in‑house or large law firm exposure.

Responsibilities

• Act as a proactive legal adviser to business leaders and cross‑functional teams.
• Draft, review and negotiate client, supplier, subcontractor and data/privacy/commercial agreements.
• Advise on data privacy, IP, employment and regulatory matters relevant to India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Skills

Commercial contracting

Drafting & negotiation

English proficiency

Independent legal judgement

AI tools awareness

Education

Qualified lawyer in India

Tools

Harvey

Wordsmith

SAP

Job description

South Asia Legal Counsel India

About Kantar

Kantar is a leading data, insights and consulting company. We combine deep expertise in human understanding with advanced technology to help organizations understand how people think and act, and to support better decisions and sustainable growth.

The opportunity

We are seeking a Pragmatic Legal Counsel to support Kantar's business in India, with support to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The role combines commercial contracting for our market research, insights and related services with advisory work on data privacy, intellectual property and employment matters. The successful candidate will be pragmatic and comfortable balancing legal risk, local market realities and business priorities.

Key responsibilities

Commercial contracting and business partnering

• Act as a proactive and trusted legal adviser to business leaders and colleagues across Client Service, Finance, HR, Marketing, Procurement, Operations and Technology.
• Draft, review and negotiate client, supplier, subcontractor, partnership, data, technology and other commercial agreements.
• Identify material legal, commercial and operational risks, recommend proportionate mitigations, and clearly distinguish legal requirements from matters requiring business risk acceptance.
• Provide practical deal support that protects Kantar while facilitating timely contracting, revenue recognition and delivery.
• Advise on contract lifecycle issues, including change control, performance concerns, disputes, termination, renewals and the use of external counsel.

Risk, compliance and specialist advice

• Advise on privacy and data protection under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 and applicable Rules - including role alignment for processing activity - together with cross-border data transfers, information security, confidentiality, intellectual property, use of research deliverables and other compliance matters.
• Support employment-related matters across APAC, working closely with HR and local counsel on sensitive employee issues, investigations, workplace processes and regulatory engagement.
• Protect Kantar’s intellectual property and ensure appropriate ownership and license provisions for deliverables.
• Assess when matters require escalation to Senior leadership and prepare clear risk summaries and approval papers.
• Monitor legal and regulatory developments relevant to supported markets and translate them into practical guidance, templates and controls.

Regional collaboration and legal operations

• Support matters across APAC and, where needed, collaborate with Global Legal and specialist teams on cross-border projects.
• Develop and maintain templates, playbooks, FAQs, checklists and self-service guidance to improve consistency, reduce avoidable legal work and help business teams use approved contracting routes.
• Coordinate external counsel efficiently, including scoping instructions, monitoring spend and ensuring advice is practical and aligned with Kantar’s position.
• Contribute to legal training, knowledge sharing, process improvement, reporting and regional or global legal transformation initiatives.

Exposure to Legal Tools & Repositories

• Use Kantar-approved AI tools to improve the speed and quality of legal work, applying independent legal judgement to all AI-assisted output.
• Use only authorized tools and approved use cases in line with Kantar's Responsible AI, data classification, privacy, information security and intellectual property requirements; never upload Kantar, client, personal, confidential or restricted information to unapproved AI tools.
• Exposure to using legal tools and repositories such as Harvey, Wordsmith, SAP and similar platforms.

Skills and experience

• Qualified lawyer admitted to practise in India with 3-5 years' post-qualification experience, gained in a reputable law firm and/or in-house legal team, with strong commercial contracting experience.
• Experience supporting the India business is essential; multi-jurisdictional exposure is an advantage.
• Demonstrable exposure to intellectual property rights (IPR) and Data Privacy under Indian law, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 and applicable Rules, ideally in a data, insights, research, consulting or technology-enabled services environment.
• Exposure to working with highly regulated entities likes BFSI, NBFC etc.
• Some exposure to Indian employment and labor law matters is advantageous.
• Strong drafting and negotiation skills, with the ability to make complex legal issues clear, concise and commercially actionable.
• Excellent professional English, both written and spoken.

Ways of working

• This position requires involvement with Business Partners, Leadership team and day-in day-out negotiations with Client Counsel. The Job requires an individual who enjoys ACCOUNTABILITY, has a solution-oriented mindset.
• Pressure handling and expectation management is key, Individual needs to have a clear understanding of commercial implications from a legal and business standpoint.
• This is a role like no other, compelling and stimulating. Each case has new challenges and complexities but intellectually rewarding with an exposure to learn from a team of intelligent and sharp individuals locally and worldwide. Role & responsibilities