Legal Director Corporate Legal - FTC in London

To lead and manage all corporate and compliance matters across Sage, providing high quality legal advice on a multi-jurisdictional basis to a variety of Sage stakeholders. Provide best-in-class legal advice in a leadership context on all legal compliance and non-transactional corporate matters, adopting a collaborative business partnering approach. This is a 12 month FTC for maternity cover. This is a hybrid role, 3 days per week from the London office.

Overview

This is a senior leadership role within Sage’s Legal team, responsible for leading the company’s legal compliance strategy and advising on a broad range of corporate and regulatory matters. Working closely with senior business leaders, you’ll help ensure Sage operates in line with its legal obligations while balancing commercial priorities and supporting strategic business objectives.

Responsibilities

• You’ll provide expert legal advice on corporate governance, regulatory compliance and non-transactional corporate matters, acting as a trusted advisor to senior leaders across the business.
• You’ll lead the development and delivery of Sage’s legal compliance strategy, ensuring legal risks are effectively managed and aligned with the organisation’s risk appetite.
• The role includes partnering with business stakeholders to interpret and apply evolving regulations, supporting sensitive corporate matters such as investigations and employment issues, and overseeing the company’s policy framework and business due diligence processes.
• You’ll work closely with Risk & Controls and Company Secretariat teams to ensure a coordinated approach to governance, compliance and legal risk management.
• You’ll play a key role in leading and developing the Compliance team, fostering a high-performing and collaborative culture, while supporting broader corporate activities where required.
• Managing external legal counsel, driving cost-effective legal support and contributing to the wider strategy and development of the Office of the General Counsel will also form part of the role.

Qualifications

We’re looking for a highly experienced legal leader with deep expertise in compliance, corporate law and governance, ideally within the technology sector. You should have strong knowledge of emerging technology regulations, including the EU AI Act, DORA and the EU Data Act, have experience of advising on general compliance issues such as sanctions, anti-bribery and competition law, and be able to provide commercially pragmatic advice on complex legal issues. You’ll be an excellent communicator and relationship builder, comfortable influencing senior executives and leading cross‑functional initiatives across a global organisation. Strong leadership, project management and stakeholder management skills are essential, together with the ability to exercise strong judgment in balancing legal risk with commercial outcomes. The ideal candidate will be a UK‑qualified lawyer with at least six years’ post‑qualification experience in a corporate or compliance legal environment. Experience across wider legal disciplines such as SaaS, cloud, commercial contracts or data privacy, would be highly advantageous.

Location: London, Hybrid