Contracts and Procurement Lawyer

Are you a talented barrister, solicitor or legal executive (qualified in England and Wales) who is interested in commercial contracts and procurement work in a local government setting? Come and join our award-winning Legal Services team by the sea!

You will have a real impact providing legal solution-focused advice and guidance relating to commercial contracts and at all stages of the procurement process and managing your own varied caseload of contracts and procurement work. Our team works on many exciting projects. Examples of work we have carried out recently include acting on a contract to enable the City to host last year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup tournament, providing commercial law support to a range of historic building restoration projects, acting on construction projects for new social housing regeneration schemes, acting on a contract for a city-wide EV chargers scheme and contracts for a flood and coastal risk management scheme.

Contract: Permanent

Interview date: To be confirmed

Please contact Eleanor.Richards@brighton-hove.gov.uk if you would like to discuss these roles.

About the Role

We are looking to recruit a qualified lawyer with relevant contracts and procurement experience to support this area of work, working as part of a supportive and dynamic Contracts and Procurement team. Excellent client care, communication skills, a positive attitude and a willingness to develop in the role are essential. The Council is an existing Unitary Authority and the Legal Services team is recognised by Lexcel as an excellent, well-led service. We have had many award successes, including winning the 2024 LLG Legal Team of the year.

We can offer you a comprehensive benefits package including flexible working arrangements, a local government pension, minimum 26 days (pro rata) annual leave (plus bank holidays) and employee discount benefits. We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration.

We take diversity and inclusivity seriously and are looking to build a service which reflects the community which we represent. We are committed to attracting, retaining and developing our employees. We encourage applications from all suitably qualified candidates.

Encouraging a diverse workforce

Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.

Why work for us?

• be connected
• be confident
• be innovative and creative
• be diverse and inclusive
• be healthy and psychologically safe

For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.

How to apply

Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.

As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview.

Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.

AI advice for candidates

We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.

We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story.

All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you.

Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.

Additional information

Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only. Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.

Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.

Basis: Fixed Hours

Package: We are pleased to offer a wide range of benefits to support you and your wellbeing. You can read about them on our Why work for us pages.