Head of Legal

Role Summary Responsibilities: You will lead Costello Medical’s global Legal Team, providing pragmatic, commercially focused advice across commercial contracts, compliance, data protection, employment law, risk and governance. You will run the Legal Team as a well-designed, measurable service to the company, build a sustainable team, and give colleagues the clear legal advice they need to make well-informed decisions.

Salary: In the region of £100,000 to £120,000, dependent on experience.

Benefits: Discretionary profit share bonuses paid twice per year, hybrid and flexible working options, generous holiday allowance, private medical insurance, critical illness cover, income protection, full funding for external training, and more.

Role Type: Full-time, permanent role.

Start Date: We have start dates available every month of the year, including December 2026 and throughout 2027. Please state your availability within the application form.

Application Deadlines: Whilst there are no set application deadlines, we strongly recommend applying as early as possible. The role will close when a suitable candidate is found.

Location: This role is available in our Global Headquarters in Cambridge, with opportunities to travel to our other UK offices.

About the Role: As Head of Legal and the highest point of legal advice in the organisation, you will lead Costello Medical’s global Legal Team at an important stage in the company’s international growth. You will hold overall responsibility for the team’s performance and development, ensuring that legal support is responsive, proportionate and aligned with our commercial objectives and values. The role spans commercial contracting, global compliance and data protection, corporate governance, intellectual property, employment law and the legal aspects of enterprise risk. You will combine sound legal judgement with a pragmatic, solution-focused approach, building trusted relationships across the company to understand colleagues’ needs and deliver an excellent service. You will also develop scalable processes, playbooks and training that protect the company while enabling international growth, innovation and new service offerings.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Leading, developing and motivating a high-performing Legal Team, with clear accountability and effective resourcing.
• Designing, measuring and optimising the Legal service by clear process design and defined responsibilities, effective collaboration with internal and external partners, measuring the quality of the service and taking a data-driven approach to service improvement.
• Overseeing the timely review, drafting, negotiation and lifecycle management of client, supplier and other commercial agreements, including NDAs, MSAs, leases and office fit-out contracts.
• Developing and embedding pragmatic contract playbooks, templates, workflows and escalation routes that improve consistency, turnaround times and risk-based decision-making, as well as acting as the key decision-maker for contracting issues outside of playbooks.
• Advising senior leaders and the Board on legal risks, regulatory obligations, the legal requirements of good corporate governance, and maintaining clear records and reporting.
• Ensuring proportionate global compliance across areas including data protection, privacy, healthcare communications, pharmacovigilance compliance, anti-bribery, competition, employment and emerging AI regulation.
• Protecting the company’s intellectual property and overseeing disputes, litigation, regulatory enquiries, insurance matters and other material legal risks.
• Supporting international expansion, new entities, partnerships, innovations and service offerings with timely advice on legal structures, local requirements and commercial risk.
• Managing external counsel and the Legal Team budget to secure high-quality, cost-effective specialist support.
• Building legal capability across the company through accessible guidance, training and self-service tools, while fostering an ethical culture and compliance with contractual commitments.
• Supporting with the management of employee incentive schemes.
• Alongside our Operations, Finance and External Engagement Directors, building and delivering the Legal Team’s strategy, priorities and service model in alignment with the company’s long-term goals.

Hybrid Working Policy: We believe that having face-to-face time in the office holds many benefits and is central to ensuring that the community we have created, where people have a workplace they belong to and feel part of, is never lost. At the same time, we recognise that homeworking can improve work life balance, reduce commuting times and costs, and provide the opportunity to juggle personal commitments. Therefore, we offer flexible working arrangements that allow our colleagues who have passed probation to work from home up to half their time, measured across a 2-week rolling period.

About Costello Medical: Costello Medical is a rapidly growing, employee-owned global healthcare agency specialising in medical communications, market access, and health economic and outcomes research. We work with a wide range of clients, including the industry’s most successful pharmaceutical and medical technology companies, patient and public health bodies, and charitable organisations. We have been listed in the Top 100 Best Companies to Work For list since 2017, the Boston Globe’s Top Places to Work list in 2025, and were proud to receive B Corporation accreditation in 2022. We are also a certified Disability Confident and menopause friendly workplace.

About You: We are looking for a legal leader who combines excellent technical judgement with strong commercial acumen and a practical, solution-oriented approach. You will be comfortable operating across a broad and evolving remit, communicating complex issues clearly and building trusted relationships at every level of the business. You will see Legal as a highly effective advisory service to the wider company. You will be motivated by new ventures and commercial challenges that you can help enable through pragmatic legal advice. You will take pride in delivering an excellent, innovative service to colleagues, clients and suppliers, while maintaining high ethical standards, appropriate challenge and a clear focus on the company’s best interests.

Essential requirements for the role are: A qualified solicitor, barrister or Chartered Legal Executive in England.