Lead Legal Counsel - Commercial in Guildford

Job description

At McLaren Racing, we’re not just here to try to take the chequered flag. We’re here to excite our fans, inspire our people and deliver for our partners. And we’re also committed to evolving our sport, our industry, and our technology, too.

Purpose of the Role:

To provide expert legal support across our F1, IndyCar and WEC teams on all commercial matters, with a strong focus on contract negotiation, stakeholder engagement, and hands-on legal work. This includes advising exec & senior stakeholders, managing external counsel, and providing sound advice on a wide variety of commercial matters.

Role Dimensions:

• Reporting to Director, Legal.

• Direct advisory role to the Commercial Executive & Senior Leadership Team.

• Key stakeholders include Partnerships, Licensing, and Marketing Directors.

• Management of external counsel.

Principal Accountabilities:

• Accountable for high quality, responsive legal provision across our F1, IndyCar and WEC teams on all commercial matters. This includes the UK and other jurisdictions, including McLaren’s IndyCar operations in the USA, to support all race series, across the broad range of commercial matters, including sponsorship and partnerships, intellectual property, and licensing.

• Support our Director, Legal in developing a high performing legal team, maintaining the culture, providing clear direction and quality feedback to work autonomously and deliver high quality legal support to our Commercial stakeholders.

• The successful candidate will be part of a multidisciplinary in-house legal team and may be expected to cover other areas of the legal team’s remit such as procurement, purchasing, project management, data protection, IP and trademark issues, as and when required.

• Providing timely advice and support to internal stakeholders, drafting and negotiating complex partnership, sponsorship and licensing agreements.

• Acting on behalf of the business with governing bodies as applicable to role.

• Management of any material disputes or litigation.

• Supporting the business in changes in the construct of the business.

• Keeping the business abreast of developments and changes in law and regulatory frameworks impacting the industry.

• Engaging and managing external counsel where necessary to provide additional specialist input.

• Providing training to management in respect of legal matters.

• Mentoring and developing staff.

Job requirements

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Qualified legal professional with significant post-qualification experience, gained in-house and/or in private practice but with preference for prior in-house experience.

• Extensive Commercial legal experience with demonstrable experience in a sports environment.

• Proven experience in successfully supporting a best in-class Commercial function with a robust, well-developed skillset.

• Strong team player with first class communication, negotiation, problem solving, research and organisational skills.

• Expert technical legal knowledge and skills and proven commercial and strategic capability.

• Vision, drive, and the ability to make things happen in a fast-paced, complex environment.

• Significant experience of drafting and negotiating complex agreements.

• Proven experience in dispute resolution and litigation.

• An experienced and highly capable legal professional with credibility at leadership level and the skill to challenge and influence to support business outcomes.

• Excellent communicator at all levels. Able to translate complexity into straightforward language.

Personal Attributes:

• Resilient, pragmatic and calm under pressure, able to manage demanding workload.

• Demonstrable commitment to the attributes of a high performing team – embodies our values, protects our culture, focuses on impact and outcomes, accepts accountability, committed, builds trust.

• Ability to lead, provide a view, take responsibility and ownership, including the ability to make difficult decisions and provide substantiated arguments.

• Commercial awareness of business issues, coupled with an active desire to get alongside our business, scanning the horizon for new service offerings to provide legal insight and support.

• Credible, pragmatic, persuasive, positive and constructive outlook and personable.

• Highly collaborative, commercial approach.

• Drive, determination and commitment to get things done.

• Embraces change and continuous improvement.

What can McLaren offer?

We constantly strive to be better tomorrow than we are today. Our ambition is to be the most pioneering and exhilarating racing team in the world, and our collective task is to set the standards for high performance in sport. We show up every day with energy and enthusiasm, ready to play our part.

We encourage and support diversity, equity and inclusion. We will actively promote a culture that values difference and eliminates discrimination in our workplace.

McLaren Racing is based at the iconic McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) near Woking. Here at McLaren, we offer hybrid working with 3 days a week based in the MTC.

Our state of the art, sustainable campus offers many facilities including a gym, restaurant and indoor and outdoor break-out areas, as well as direct access to park and common land. The MTC is connected to Woking mainline station via regular shuttle buses, from which London Waterloo is a 30 minute train ride.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including private healthcare, car schemes, life insurance and generous pension contributions.