Legal Counsel (Compliance) in London

Save the Children International has an exciting opportunity for a Legal Counsel (Compliance) to join our global team.

Team and Role Purpose

The role holder will be part of SCI’s Legal team, which is responsible for providing high quality, strategic legal advice and support to SCI’s Global Teams and across SCI’s 54 Country Offices, on legal issues across SCI and the wider Save the Children movement. In this role, the successful candidate will primarily support SCI’s Legal Compliance Team. This is a fantastic opportunity to join our brilliant, dynamic team of lawyers, where you’ll have the opportunity to be involved in fascinating, challenging and meaningful work as part of an innovative and ambitious organization whose mission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children, and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.

Role purpose

The role holder will be part of SCI’s Core Legal and Compliance team of 4.5 lawyers and two paralegals and will be expected to support the Head of Legal Compliance by providing pragmatic, solution orientated legal compliance advice to SCI’s high risk Country Office and to work in collaboration with SCI’s operations teams to develop and roll out frameworks to enable legal compliance across the organisation. The role holder will also be expected to advise the organization, and in particular SCI’s Global Teams, on legal and regulatory risk, and provide updates to the Audit & Risk Committee on certain legal compliance aspects as appropriate. This is a complex, interesting role, involving engagement with a variety of functions and stakeholders within Save the Children. In the event of a major humanitarian emergency or other organisational crisis, the role-holder will be expected to work outside the normal job description and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

Principal Accountabilities

• Delivering high quality and professional advice and support to SCI Country Offices and Global Teams on a diverse range of legal issues, including:
• Advising senior stakeholders across the organisation on legal, regulatory and compliance matters
• Supporting the Head of Legal Compliance with the team’s strategy and annual planning, including overseeing the development and roll out of compliance frameworks across the organisation
• Representing the Legal Team at other cross-functional meetings and on other committees as appropriate
• Preparing papers for SCI’s Audit & Risk Committee
• Leading on the development and delivery of training on legal compliance risks
• Managing potential disputes made against SCI and supporting with internal investigations as and when appropriate
• Leading on the compliance aspects of humanitarian responses
• Managing advice from and relationships with SCI’s external law firms and helping SCI stakeholders to interpret and apply such advice.
• Undertake line management as appropriate and / or proactively undertaken the mentoring of more junior members of the team.
• Carry out any other legal duties either additional to or instead of those outlined above which may be reasonably required.

Experience and Skills

Essential

• Senior level post-qualification experience gained in private practice or in-house in one or more of the following areas: sanctions, export controls, bribery laws, charity law, modern slavery or other regulatory areas or in dispute resolution
• Demonstrated ability to business partner with a function / team / client to understand their priorities and to come to pragmatic, legally appropriate solutions
• Sound judgement and ability to manage multiple stakeholders and tasks in a pressured environment.
• Skilled at applying technical expertise to solving problems in a practical way.
• Strong time management skills and ability to work efficiently to tight deadlines
• Strong inter-personal skills and proven ability to communicate technical and complex information and ideas effectively to different audiences
• Excellent spoken and written communication skills in English
• Calm disposition and positive outlook, particularly when working under pressure
• Team player with a full appreciation of collaboration
• Commitment to the mission, vision and values of Save the Children.

Desirable

• Knowledge of international development / humanitarian and / or charity sectors
• Experience working in an international organisation
• Experience operating in a range of jurisdictions, including instructing overseas counsel.
• In-house experience
• Ability to work in another of SCI’s core languages, aside from English (French, Arabic or Spanish) desirable but not essential
• UK or common law qualified lawyer or barrister
• Significant post-qualification experience years PQE

Education and Qualifications

• UK or common law qualified lawyer or barrister
• Significant post-qualification experience years PQE

Working at Save the Children International

Save the Children is the world's leading organisation for children, employing ~25,000 staff. We save children's lives. We fight for their rights. We help them fulfil their potential. Through our work in 116 countries, we put the most deprived and marginalised children first. We know that great people make a great organisation, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive environment where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued. The work here is challenging but is also immensely rewarding. At Save the Children, you will be in good company, working with talented, like-minded individuals who are determined to ensure that all children survive, learn, and are protected. Your contribution will help ensure children's voices are heard at the highest levels, and that we achieve our global strategy, Ambition for Children 2030, and reach every last child.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Equal Opportunities

DEI is core to our vision, values and global strategy. Save the Children is committed to creating a truly diverse, equitable and inclusive organisation, and one which will support us in our vision to ensure every child attains the right to survival, protection, development, and participation. We are committed to equal employment opportunities, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality, disability, marital or civil partnership status, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, caring or parental responsibilities, age, or beliefs and religion. We are committed to diversifying our staff to better represent the communities we serve and actively welcome underrepresented groups to apply. Reasonable adjustments will be made should any candidate invited to interview require this.

Application Information

Please attach a copy of your CV and cover letter with your application. A full copy of the role profile can be found at SCI Careers. It is recommended that you save a copy of the role profile as it will no longer be available after the advert closes. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and the job advert may be closed earlier than advertised subject to the volume of suitable applicants. Please submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.

Due to the high volume of applications we receive, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Candidates who are successfully shortlisted should expect to hear from us within 2 weeks of the advert deadline.

Our Recruitment Process

• Application review by our recruiting team based on your CV and cover letter
• Two-stage competency-based interviews with the hiring team
• Some recruitment may include an additional assessment or case study stage, or a third stage interview
• If successful, you will receive a conditional offer of employment, followed by your contract subject to passing background checks

We need to keep children and adults safe so our selection process includes rigorous background checks and reflects our commitment to the protection of children and adults from abuse. All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our Code of Conduct and all policies and procedures relating to Anti-Harassment, Health and Safety, Safeguarding, and DEI and Equal Opportunities.

Save the Children does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process.