Head Of Legal (Senior_Legal_Counsel)

About the Role

The Head of Legal will serve as a key strategic advisor to the Group and its various entities on all legal matters. This role requires a commercially astute and proactive legal professional with significant experience navigating complex legal issues across multiple jurisdictions and diverse business sectors.

The successful candidate will be responsible for providing expert legal counsel, mitigating risks, ensuring compliance, and supporting the Group's strategic objectives. This role is based in Cape Town.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Legal Advice: Provide strategic and proactive legal advice to the Group CEO, CFO, Board of Directors, and senior management on a wide range of legal and business matters, including corporate governance, commercial contracts, regulatory compliance, intellectual property, data privacy, litigation, and risk management.
2. Multi-Jurisdictional Expertise: Advise on legal frameworks and regulations across multiple geographies where the Group operates, ensuring compliance with local laws and international standards.
3. Diverse Business Sector Support: Provide legal support to the various entities within the Group, understanding the specific legal challenges and requirements of the online travel, SaaS, financial services payments, insurance, and customer operations services sectors.
4. Commercial Contract Management: Draft, review, negotiate, and manage a wide variety of commercial agreements.
5. Regulatory Compliance: Develop and implement robust compliance programs across the Group to ensure adherence to relevant laws, regulations, and industry standards, including data protection (e.g., GDPR, POPIA, PCI), consumer protection, financial services regulations, and travel industry regulations (e.g., IATA).
6. Risk Management: Identify, assess, and mitigate legal risks across the Group, developing and implementing policies and procedures to minimize potential liabilities.
7. Intellectual Property Protection: Advise on and manage the Group's intellectual property portfolio, including trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.
8. Data Privacy and Security: Provide expert legal advice on data privacy and security matters, ensuring compliance with relevant data protection laws and best practices (e.g., GDPR, POPIA, PCI).
9. Litigation and Dispute Resolution: Manage and oversee any litigation, arbitration, or other dispute resolution processes, working with external counsel where necessary.
10. Corporate Governance: Advise on corporate governance matters, ensuring compliance with relevant company laws and best practices.
11. Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) and Corporate Restructuring: Provide legal support and guidance on any potential M&A activities, corporate restructurings, or investments.
12. External Counsel Management: Select, instruct, and manage external legal counsel effectively, ensuring cost-efficiency and quality of service.
13. Legal Team Leadership (if applicable): Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing legal team, fostering a collaborative and results-oriented environment.
14. Policy Development: Develop, implement, and maintain internal legal policies and procedures.
15. Stakeholder Management: Build and maintain strong working relationships with internal stakeholders across all business units and external partners.
16. Legal Training and Awareness: Conduct legal training and awareness programs for employees on relevant legal and compliance matters.
17. Keeping Up-to-Date: Stay abreast of relevant legal developments, industry trends, and best practices.

Qualifications, Experience, and Skills

Qualified lawyer with a relevant law degree from a reputable university. Admission to practice law in at least one relevant jurisdiction is essential. Minimum of 8-10+ years of post-qualification experience, with a significant portion gained in an in-house legal role within a multinational organization. Proven experience in providing legal support to businesses operating in the online travel, SaaS, financial services payments, insurance, and/or customer operations services sectors is highly desirable. Strong understanding of multi-jurisdictional legal frameworks and experience managing legal issues across different countries. Demonstrable experience in drafting, reviewing, and negotiating complex commercial contracts. In-depth knowledge of data privacy laws (e.g., GDPR, POPIA) and compliance requirements. In-depth knowledge of consumer protection laws (e.g., Consumer Protection Act). Experience in managing litigation and dispute resolution processes. Strong understanding of corporate governance principles and best practices. Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and strategic thinking skills. Exceptional communication (both written and verbal) and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and build relationships at all levels. Strong commercial acumen and the ability to understand the business implications of legal advice. Ability to work independently, manage multiple priorities, and meet tight deadlines in a fast-paced environment. Proven leadership and team management skills (if applicable). High ethical standards and integrity. Proficiency in English is essential; additional language skills may be advantageous.

Personal Attributes

1. Proactive and solutions-oriented.
2. Highly organised and detail-oriented.
3. Resilient and adaptable to change.
4. Strong negotiation and influencing skills.
5. Ability to exercise sound judgment and make informed decisions.
6. Collaborative and team-oriented.
7. Results-driven with a focus on achieving business objectives.

Reporting Structure

This role reports directly to the Group CFO and will work closely with other members of the senior management team across the Group.