General Counsel Business Operations Legal Team at Unilever

The advertised position, based in South Africa, fits-into the wider legal team as follows:

• Member of the global Business Operations Legal team and member of the South African legal team.
• Based in South Africa, reporting to the Global Business Operations GC, with an indirect reporting line to the South Africa General Counsel.
• Focus on supporting, as legal business partner, Africa procurement and supply chain, and global sustainability initiatives, as well as global buying officers and related support functions such as operations, human resources and finance team members.
• Member of the broader global legal function, cooperating with: Africa lawyers’ network, category lawyers, supply chain network lawyers, patent/IP specialists and other legal colleagues.
• Strong emphasis on supporting the regional and global procurement teams in the drafting / checking of bespoke and heavily modified contracts across a wide range of subject matter.

What You Will Do From Day-to-day

The successful candidate will be a person who:

• Is able to exercise sound judgment in assuming responsibility for legal, risk management and compliance advice.
• Is comfortable, with low levels of supervision/escalation of queries, to draft, review and redraft through to completion a wide range of commercial contracts. Common subject matter areas are inter-company agreements, MOUs, consultancy agreements, materials purchase agreements, supplier claims (delay, quality) leases, long term services (e.g., power purchase, build own operate), logistics and warehousing contracts, manufacturing outsourcing (3PM) contracts and settlement agreements. This role involves close interfaces with the procurement teams leading these types of deals.
• Is comfortable, with low levels of supervision/escalation of queries, to draft, review and redraft through to completion a range of industrial relations and human resources documents. Common subject matter areas are recognition agreements, contractor agreements and settlement agreements. This role involves close interfaces with the human resources teams leading these types of deals. This also covers the legal support of any industrial action.
• Will delegate to and supervise the work of multiple legal process outsourcing resources within the relevant areas of work.
• Provides, appropriate to the job level, clear hands-on, business-oriented support for major procurement transactions in Africa and globally.
• Identifies legal risks and helps the business navigate them, providing creative but legally compliant solutions.
• Provides concise guidance and advice on escalated legal and risk issues.
• Creates clear risk analysis and guidance for a non-legal audience.
• Provides clear instructions to external legal service providers, contract support lawyers and law firms.
• Enhances procurement, UniOps and supply chain ways of working by establishing good governance practices and providing support and training to ensure compliance.
• Implements capability-building initiatives for the business and across the legal function to drive excellence and efficiency.
• Actively promotes and facilitates close collaboration between local legal teams in the markets with the Business Operations legal team in supporting Business Operations activities and projects.
• The job scope is inherently dynamic, responding as needed to the major events of the day e.g., conflicts, pandemics.

Key Interfaces

Within Legal – General Counsel Business Operations, South Africa General Counsel, Africa General Counsel, Business Operations Legal core team and network lawyers, Africa business lawyers, other business lawyers, lawyers in Corporate and Transactions team and in Category/Patents.

Within Business – Business Operations managers and directors, and cross-functional colleagues in compliance, tax, finance, insurance, HR etc.

Critical success Factors for the Job

• Academic degree in Law, bar qualification, at least 10-12 years of experience in legal advisory and drafting work.
• Strong English language drafting and legal advisory skills.
• Strong demonstrated business acumen, ability to argue with conviction points at-table.
• Experience of drafting and negotiating complex contracts, including some of the following: direct experience of international sales transaction, logistics, warehousing, real estate and equipment leasing, logistics and warehousing contracts, manufacturing outsourcing (3PM) contracts, structured transactions and renewable power projects, and other transactions related to raw materials and finished goods supply contracts.
• An exceptional ability to collaborate and communicate with others, both internally and externally.
• Sound cross-cultural skills, emotional maturity.
• Ability to handle multiple assignments and manage major projects to successful completion.
• Self-motivated.
• Mental agility, and a mental willingness to learn and understand unfamiliar areas of work.
• Ability to work with both colleagues and internal clients across multiple time zones and jurisdictions.