POSITION: Head of Legal, Corporate & Governance

POSTING END DATE: 25/09/2024

LOCATION: Gaydon, Warwickshire (UK) / Hybrid

SALARY: Competitive

JLR is a House of Brands. Range Rover. Defender. Discovery. Jaguar. Truly distinct, global brands that embrace our modernist design philosophy and are emotionally compelling and unique. JLR’s Reimagine strategy - to realise our vision to be proud creators of the most desirable, modern luxury brands, for the most discerning of clients - is delivering a sustainability-rich vision of modern luxury by design and we are transforming our business to become carbon net zero across our supply chain, products, and operations by 2039.

WHAT TO EXPECT

This role provides the opportunity for a senior Solicitor, registered to practice in England and Wales, with considerable experience to provide strategic legal and commercial advice, leadership and direction to the JLR Group on a broad range of corporate and governance matters, including on a cross-border basis.

The successful candidate will be a key influential adviser to JLR providing input and support to help shape business strategies and objectives and must demonstrate exceptional leadership in managing a team of solicitors and company secretarial advisors to deliver a best in class legal and governance service.

The role will involve taking the lead in making key decisions about legal and commercial risks which affect the JLR business, and it is expected that the right candidate will become a key trusted adviser to senior management (including at board director level) with the ability to provide quick, commercially astute legal advice.

THE ROLE

Key Responsibilities

• Effectively leading and supervising a team of solicitors and company secretarial advisors
• Delivering complex legal advice and support on corporate (including finance) and governance matters across the JLR Group, including on a cross-border basis
• Advising, negotiating and approving a range of M&A transactions, investments, joint ventures / collaborations, commercial agreements, corporate finance arrangements and intra-group transactions
• Managing a high and demanding workload, with appropriate delegation to team members where relevant
• Supporting the development of JLR business strategy in relation to business expansion initiatives
• Ensuring the effective deployment of legal governance requirements and implementation of best practice throughout the JLR Group
• Working on a cross-Chapter basis to guide, shape and implement business strategies
• Understanding and being focused on the highly complex area of competition considerations in respect of work areas
• Leading and overseeing the review, creation and streamlining of new and existing processes around legislative horizon scanning and interpretation
• Cross-Chapter collaboration, building a strong network of stakeholders

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Essential Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Highly experienced and Solicitor registered to practice in England and Wales
• Extensive proven experience of working on M&A transactions, investments, joint ventures / collaborations, commercial agreements, corporate finance arrangements, intra-group transactions, governance compliance and best practice
• Experience gained at a large multinational business as a senior in-house lawyer
• Extensive experience of leading and supervising a team of solicitors and company secretarial advisors
• Highly effective prioritisation skills, with an ability to juggle a large and varied workload
• Excellent attention to detail with an ability to process information and present the output in a user-friendly way which is easily understandable by non-lawyers at all levels of the business
• Agile and flexible understanding that no two days are ever the same
• Lateral thinking and an analytical approach, with the ability to positively challenge business decisions

Desirable Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Experience of working in an in-house team
• Experience of working with global companies, with high value and complex contracts

Personal Profile

Essential

• Demonstrates our Creators' Code behaviours of Customer Love, Unity, Integrity, Growth and Impact
• Team player who is willing to take responsibility for their own workload, whilst providing leadership and support to other members of the team
• Able to deliver quality, consistency and attention to detail in a complex, highly demanding environment
• Strong communicator with a proven track record of demonstrating logic and analytical thinking, combined with business focused and pragmatic advice
• Comfortable challenging other members of the organisation in a positive way with strong influencing and engagement skills whilst building credibility and trust through experience and personal style
• Resilient and enthusiastic
• Able to engage effectively with stakeholders at all levels
• Willing to be flexible with working hours
• Willing to travel overseas when required
• Ability to work within an extremely time-constrained environment with competing priorities

Desirable

• A passion for the automotive industry and the potential of automotive technology
• A passion to influence the future growth of JLR

#WEAREJLR

At JLR, we are passionate about our people. They are at the heart of our business. We are committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive culture that is representative of our global customers and the society in which we live; a culture in which every one of our employees can bring their authentic self to work and reach their full potential.

You will find the opportunities to further your career with a world-class team, access to select two of our luxury premium vehicles to lease at an extremely favourable cost compared to traditional company car lease schemes, membership of a competitive pension plan, private medical cover (which includes travel insurance) and performance related bonus scheme. All this and more makes JLR the perfect place to continue your journey.

This role may offer the opportunity for hybrid working where you can split your time between working from home and in the office. At JLR, hybrid working is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement providing employees with more choice and flexibility around how, when and where they work, if suitable for their role. Further details can be discussed with the Hiring Manager at interview stage.

Please be aware that we may close this vacancy for applications before the stated deadline if we receive a high volume of interest. We strongly advise you to submit your application as early as possible.