Deputy General Counsel — Commercial and M&A

Zuru

Auckland

On-site

NZD 180,000 - 260,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Health Benefits

Global Opportunities

Competitive Remuneration

Lots of fruit, coffee, pals fridge

Job summary

ZURU is seeking a senior legal leader to drive global M&A delivery, cost reduction and AI-enabled drafting and review across the group. You will lead the in-house legal team, manage external counsel usage, and ensure compliance while enabling fast, high-quality deal execution.

This role requires a NZ practising certificate and proven cross-border negotiation capabilities. Based in Auckland, you will shape policy, governance and training, partnering with executives to scale legal support for

Qualifications

At least 10 years’ post-qualification experience with substantial hands-on M&A work.
Demonstrated experience implementing AI in a legal team.
Solicitor holding a New Zealand practising certificate; private practice and in-house M&A preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead, coach and develop the legal team to deliver high-quality work at scale.
Manage in-house vs external counsel and automate where possible while controlling spend.
Lead M&A and corporate transactions end-to-end, including drafting and negotiating documents.

Skills

M&A experience

AI in legal

Negotiation skills

Commercial contracting

Team leadership

Education

NZ practising certificate

Tools

Contract drafting tools

Job description

About ZURU

ZURU is on a mission to disrupt across industries, challenge the status quo and catalyst change through radical innovation and automation advances. This is in play in different pillars of the company: ZURU Toys are re-imagining what it means to play; ZURU Tech is shaping a better future by leading the next building revolution; ZURU Edge is pioneering new generation FMCG brands to better serve modern consumers.

ZURU has quickly grown to a team of over 5000 direct and indirect members across more than 30 international locations.

One of the largest toy companies in the world, globally recognised and award-winning brands include Bunch O Balloons, Mini Brands, XSHOT, Rainbocorns and Smashers. Our global FMCG brands include MONDAY Haircare, Rascals, NOOD, BONKERS, Gumi Yum Surprise, and more!

For more information, visit www.zuru.com.

Role Purpose:

Lead legal teams and reduce legal costs on a global basis. This role owns legal delivery on ZURU’s mergers, acquisitions and divestments end to end (drafting the transaction documents, running due diligence and closing) together with the commercial contracting that underpins the group’s global operations. You will be accountable for embedding AI into how the team drafts, reviews, negotiates, research and reports, so that legal work at ZURU gets faster and better as the business scales. You will also be a leader in managing and cutting legal costs. You will also provide legal support across a broad range of issues to ZURU globally and be responsible for ensuring that ZURU conducts its business in compliance with relevant laws and regulations.

Position Impact:

At 12 months, AI will be embedded in how the legal team drafts, reviews, negotiates, and reports — in day-to-day use by every member of the team, with measurable reductions in turnaround time and no compromise on privilege, confidentiality, or accuracy. M&A transactions will be run in-house end to end, with external counsel used narrowly and selectively. Outside legal spend on transaction work will be materially reduced.

Core Roles And Responsibilities:

Lead, coach and develop the legal team: set clear standards for quality, turnaround and commerciality, give direct feedback, run performance and development conversations, and raise the bar on what the team delivers as ZURU grows.
Assist in managing the legal function’s operating model: what is handled in-house, what goes to external counsel and what is automated, and manage legal spend against budget, including panel selection, rates, scoping, caps, and billing discipline.
Develop the group’s legal fee management structure across all work streams and regions around the world, so that fees are scoped, approved and tracked the same way in every market ZURU operates in.
Lead legal delivery on M&A and corporate transactions end to end: deal structuring; drafting and negotiating share and asset sale agreements and the full suite of transaction documents (term sheets, disclosure letters, warranties and indemnities, escrow, shareholders’ and subscription agreements, restraints, transitional services); scoping and running due diligence and reporting findings into deal terms and price; managing completion, conditions and post-completion integration; and obtaining regulatory and merger-control clearances where required.
Lead the legal team’s adoption of AI and own the roadmap for applying it across contract drafting and review, licencing, due diligence, litigation and document review, legal research, and matter reporting.
Build, test and maintain the team’s AI tooling, prompts, templates, clause libraries and playbooks; train the legal team and the wider business to use them properly; and drive adoption. Set the guardrails for AI-assisted legal work: privilege and confidentiality, data residency and retention, mandatory human review and verification, source citation, and the position ZURU takes on AI use by its external counsel, and keep them current as the technology and the law move.
Provide legal support for global marketing, sales, product design and development, concept acquisition and creative services groups.
Counsel on a broad range of legal issues, including licencing, marketing, advertising, promotions, social media, privacy, regulatory and compliance matters, and contract interpretation.
Negotiate and draft a variety of contracts, including in-licences with inventors and entertainment companies, and marketing and promotions agreements.
Coordinate with internal legal and non-legal resources as necessary to address legal and business issues; manage external legal resources.
Work directly with senior executives, advising them succinctly on legal issues.
Provide internal education and training on relevant legal issues.
Provide legal support and advice on licensing of brands.
Advise on legal aspects of company structuring (in partnership with the Tax team).
Participate in the definition and development of corporate policies, procedures and programmes; provide continuing counsel and guidance on legal matters and on the legal implications of business decisions.

Skills & Experience Required:

At least 10 years’ post-qualification experience with substantial hands- on M&A work on both the buy and sell side: drafting and negotiating the transaction documents, running and reporting on due diligence, and getting deals closed.
Demonstrated experience implementing AI in a legal team. You can point to specific workflows you have rebuilt (drafting, review, due diligence, document review, research, reporting), the tools you chose and why, how you got a team to adopt them, and the measurable result. You are comfortable building and iterating on prompts, templates and playbooks yourself, and you have a clear, defensible view on where AI should not be used.
Solicitor holding a New Zealand practising certificate. A mix of private practice and in-house M&A experience is preferred.
Strong negotiating skills on both legal and financial/commercial issues.
Broad general commercial contracting experience gained in a fast-moving, multi-jurisdictional business; comfortable owning high contract volume across supply, distribution, technology, services and licensing with limited external support.
Experience leading and developing a small legal team, including setting standards, holding people to them and lifting the performance of others.
Sound commercial judgement and the confidence to take a position under time pressure, including saying no and owning the call.
A natural ability and desire to work collaboratively with our team and business partners
Excellent communication skills and ability to engage at all levels of the organisation

What Success Looks Like In The First 12 Months:

AI is embedded in how the legal team drafts, reviews, negotiates and reports: in day-to-day use by every member of the team, with measurable reductions in turnaround time and no compromise on privilege, confidentiality or accuracy.
M&A transactions are run in-house end to end, with external counsel used narrowly and selectively for specialist and local-law issues rather than by default. Outside legal spend on transaction work is materially reduced.

LIFE@ZURU

ZURU is on a quest to reimagine tomorrow. Founded in 2003, ZURU Group has rapidly grown and now spans three core divisions—ZURU Toys, ZURU Edge (consumer goods) and ZURU Tech (construction).

At ZURU, we have cultivated a high-performing culture that encourages excellence. Our team works towards ambitious goals, learning, performing, and improving together, all while having fun. We empower talented individuals to do their best work every day.

At ZURU, you get out what you put in. You are responsible for driving your own career and we provide the platform to achieve it. As ZURU is on such a fast growth trajectory, there are opportunities here that you won’t find anywhere else.

Get to know us a little better by checking out @lifeatzuru on Instagram or www.zuru.com.

WHAT WE OFFER