Executive Head: Legal Affairs - Commercial at Vodafone Global Enterprise

Role Purpose/Business Unit:

• Senior legal professional responsible for providing legal advice and support to various Vodacom business units on a range of commercial legal matters. 

Your responsibilities will include:

• Responsible for providing accurate, effective, and timely legal advice, analysis and support at an expert level on complex matters of significant strategic and/or financial value to Vodacom in relation to various commercial arrangements of a diverse nature, including in relation to provision of goods/ services, intellectual property, agreements in the satellite communications space.
• This includes providing advice (verbally and in writing), negotiating and drafting agreements, and in the event of litigation, ensuring that the litigation is managed efficiently and effectively and that appropriate expertise is available to ensure success and mitigation of risks.
• Negotiating complex transactions and commercial arrangements and providing legal advice regarding these transactions and arrangements to senior business leaders.
• Liaise with, and collate input required for commercial agreements from other departments (for example, Technology, IT, Strategy, Compliance, Finance, Tax and Marketing teams, etc.).
• To the extent that an agreement/arrangement is required to operate as part of a procurement or Supply Chain Management (“SCM”) process, support the SCM team from a legal perspective.
• Draft and update contract templates and clause libraries in line with best practice and Vodacom’s requirements.
• Where product or service development requires innovative contractual arrangements, conceptualise and deploy innovative methods for contracting whilst balancing Vodacom's business/commercial interests with legal risks in relation to non-traditional telecommunications products and services and new platforms and capabilities.
• Provide legal support during the design, implementation and roll-out of products and services, ensuring compliance with all relevant legislation.
• Keep business stakeholders updated and briefed on key projects and risk management concerns.
• Ability to influence stakeholders to take the most desirable course of action from a legal perspective whilst meeting commercial objectives.
• Ensure that all legal matters are reported and managed in accordance with Vodacom’s  governance requirements and policies.
• Actively participate in the broader Vodafone and Vodacom Group legal communities (including the legal teams in various other Vodacom Markets) for the sharing of learnings and best practices across markets and for synergy benefits to accrue.
• Keep Managing Executive: Legal Affairs and Chief Officer for Legal, Risk, Compliance and Privacy informed /involved on major or complex issues.

The ideal candidate for this role will have:

• LLB Degree and admitted attorney with a minimum of 10 years post qualification experience within a major law firm and/or a major corporation operating within the telecommunications, media and/or digital sector.
• Experience working in the legal department of a telecommunications company desirable.
• Extensive commercial law experience, including extensive legal drafting and negotiation skills.
• Significant experience in dealing with legal and regulatory issues, licensing, laws impacting competition, intellectual property etc. in the telecommunications, media and/or digital sector.

Core Competencies:

• Comprehensive knowledge of industry practices, laws and regulations relevant to South Africa, including but not limited to intellectual property legislation, the Competition Act, the Electronic Communications Ac,; the Consumer Protection Act and applicable Privacy laws.
• Excellent drafting and negotiation skills.
• Highly developed decision-making, collaboration and interpersonal skills.
• Team player with strong persuasive skills.
• Strategic thinking, analytical skills and attention to detail.
• A practical, solutions-focused, engaging approach whilst maintaining a high degree of professionalism, ethics and integrity.
• An agile (think on your feet and flexible around business priorities), hands-on professional with a strong sense of initiative, pro-activity and an investigative mind-set.
• Advice and recommendations will impact new product and/or services development and operating practices as well as client relationships, requiring a strong understanding of digital transformation and emerging technologies.
• Commercial acumen. Customer focused. Ability to understand trade-offs/balance between business risk and legal compliance. Ability to weigh up risks and benefits and make judgement calls.
• External perspective, i.e., anticipate market changes and recommend viable solutions.
• Proactive stakeholder engagement.
• Proactive awareness and communication of legal and / or regulatory developments within the telecommunications and technology industries.