Interim Legal Director / Senior Legal Lead
Location: Chiswick, London
Working Pattern: Hybrid – 2–3 days onsite per week
Start Date: September 2026
Contract: Initial term through December 2026, with potential extension into January/February 2027
Elevate Legal Talent is supporting a leading global consumer and hospitality business with the appointment of an experienced Interim Legal Director / Senior Legal Lead to help lead its legal function through an important transition period.
This is a particularly interesting opportunity for a senior in-house lawyer who enjoys being close to the business, building trusted stakeholder relationships and creating structure within an evolving legal environment.
The business is looking for someone who can step in as the senior legal point of contact, lead an interim legal team and provide pragmatic, commercially focused advice to senior business stakeholders across the UK and wider EMEA business.
The Role
You will provide senior legal leadership while working alongside two Corporate Counsel and a Legal Operations professional to establish a cohesive interim legal function.
Your responsibilities will include:
- Acting as the senior legal point of contact for the business during the transition
- Building trusted relationships with senior leaders and key business stakeholders
- Providing pragmatic, commercially focused legal advice across a broad range of business matters
- Supporting licensing and franchise arrangements, commercial and supply chain matters, sourcing activities, buy/sell agreements and general operational matters
- Working with the business to understand and prioritise its legal support requirements
- Providing oversight and direction to the wider interim legal team
- Establishing effective ways of working across the team
- Helping identify opportunities to improve legal processes, workflows and the overall legal operating model
- Supporting the transition from existing legal support arrangements to a more structured legal function
What We're Looking For:
We are seeking a senior lawyer who is comfortable operating as a business-facing legal leader, rather than solely as a technical legal specialist.
You will ideally have:
- Significant post-qualification experience gained in-house and/or within a leading commercial law firm
- Strong commercial, corporate or generalist legal experience
- Experience acting as a senior legal adviser or legal lead within a complex organisation
- Strong business partnering and stakeholder management skills
- Experience advising senior executives and business leaders
- A pragmatic, solutions-oriented approach to legal advice
- Experience working across multiple jurisdictions or within an international/EMEA environment
- The ability to quickly understand a business and establish credibility
- Experience leading, mentoring or coordinating lawyers is highly desirable
- Exposure to licensing, franchising, supply chain, procurement or consumer-facing businesses would be advantageous
The Opportunity
This is not simply a traditional interim legal assignment. You will have the opportunity to lead a legal team, establish trusted relationships with the business and help shape the foundations of an effective legal operating model within a highly recognised global consumer business.
If you are a senior in-house lawyer who enjoys combining legal expertise with leadership, business partnering and transformation, we'd be keen to hear from you.
You can apply now or contact Elevate Legal Talent for more information.
Interim Legal Director / Senior Legal Lead in Slough employer: Elevate Legal Talent
Elevate is an exceptional employer that champions flexibility and inclusivity, making it an ideal choice for experienced Patent Counsel seeking project-based work. With a strong commitment to employee growth and a diverse work culture, Elevate empowers its team members to thrive in a supportive environment while contributing to innovative legal solutions globally.
