Procurement and Commercial Senior Legal Counsel
Location: RG7 4PR, located between Reading and Basingstoke, with free onsite parking.
Package: Competitive leadership salary depending on experience, performance-related bonus, flexible benefit scheme.
Let us introduce the role
We have an opportunity for an experienced Senior Legal Counsel to lead our procurement and commercial side of the legal function.
You will provide strategy, leadership, and business-orientated legal advice to facilitate AWE’s mission.
In this role you will be involved in:
* Setting Legal procurement and commercial strategy, policy and processes.
* Advise the Company on the legal effects of its relationships with others.
* Advise the Company on the most effective legal structures and contracts to achieve its aims.
* Represent the Company in its dealings with third parties, whether directly or indirectly, in one or more of commercial discussions and disputes management.
* Manage the provision by others (including other staff and external advisers) of such advice.
Some of the Key Responsibilities
* Lead the development of the Legal strategy for AWE’s commercial and procurement matters.
* Lead members of the legal team in providing technical commercial and procurement legal advice to colleagues in the wider organisation.
* Manage the provision of drafting and negotiation of standard and bespoke contract documents and assisting in contract management (including for example variations, novation and termination).
* Influence and facilitate best practice in AWE’s commercial and procurement function including assisting the organisation in implementation of the Procurement Act 2023.
* Provide legal support to AWE’s external property programme and managing commercial aspects of real estate acquisition and management.
* Apply legal oversight on internal and external public sector governance processes associated with contract placement, including through contributing as a legal advisor to submissions to the Ministry of Defence, Cabinet Office and other oversight bodies.
* Managing the resolution of disputes and preparing reports on those disputes to the Ministry of Defence.
* Advising on risk associated with procurement and commercial practice in support of managing the supply chain for a large public sector defence organisation.
* Advising on specialist Procurement legislation and regulations that impact on the defence sector and the public sector, including the Single Source Contract Regulations 2014, the Defence Reform Act 2014 and the Subsidy Control Act 2022.
* Analysing legislative and case law developments.
* Assessing and implementing improvements in legal and compliance processes.
* Managing the provision of external legal advice.
* Assisting with training of colleagues on legal matters.
* Managing other team members in the Commercial section of the AWE Legal team and assisting in appropriate strategic resource planning.
* Act as an advocate for high personal standards in environment, safety, health, security and quality.
Whilst not to be considered a tick list, we’d like you to have experience in some of the following:
* Currently admitted as a solicitor or barrister to practise in at least one jurisdiction of the United Kingdom.
* Wide knowledge of English law especially in relation to contract law.
* Management of staff in own line of management, other staff and external providers in the provision of legal advice.
* Applying legal oversight at appropriate levels to complex situations.
* Strong relationship building skills and ability to influence at senior level.
* Experience of advising on one or more areas of law relevant to the Company (construction, government contracting, defence-sector).
Some reasons we think you’ll love it here:
* 9-day working fortnight – meaning you get every other Friday off work, in addition to 270 hours of annual leave.
* Market leading contributory pension scheme (we will pay between 9% and 13% of your pensionable pay depending on your contributions).
* Family friendly policies: Maternity Leave - 39 Weeks Full Pay and Paternity Leave - 4 Weeks Full Pay.
* Opportunities for Professional Career Development including funding for annual membership of a relevant professional body.
* Employee Assistance Programme and Occupational Health Services.
* Life Assurance (4 x annual salary).
* Discounts – access to savings on a wide range of everyday spending.
* Special Leave Policy including paid time off for volunteering, public service (including reserve forces) and caring.
All candidates must be willing and able to obtain and maintain the correct security clearance for this role.
Please note that you must be a British Citizen to apply for a role with us.
Our ambition is to create workplaces where we recognise and celebrate differences, encourage diverse contributions and our employees feel able to be themselves at work. We strive to create a genuine culture of openness and inclusion and encourage diverse applicants.
About AWE
If you’re looking for a role with excitement, intrigue and something that really makes a difference then now is the time to join AWE. We are at the start of a once in a generation – possibly two generations – programme to design and produce a replacement warhead for the UK’s continuous at sea deterrent. We will do this while continuing to deliver the Trident programme as well as managing ambitious state-of-the-art capital and construction projects – some of which have never been done before.
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