Legal Counsel in Newbury

We’re looking for an experienced full-time In-House Legal Counsel to join the team supporting two very different, but equally entrepreneurial businesses — Signet Collection, our growing hospitality business, and Coterie, our fine wine and logistics business.

You’ll be our key UK legal resource across Signet and Coterie, working closely with our General Counsel in Taiwan, Executive Chair of Coterie and Managing Director of Signet, as well as our wider leadership teams. You’ll have a genuine seat at the table — helping shape decisions, structure deals, manage risk and, occasionally, explain to everyone why the thing they really, really want to do probably needs a slightly different approach.

This isn't a role where you'll spend your days buried in contracts. Although there will be contracts. Lots of them. You’ll also be involved in acquisitions, property, governance, employment, data protection, regulatory matters, disputes and pretty much anything else that requires a sensible legal head.

What will you actually be doing? A bit of everything, including:

• M&A, investments & corporate structuring: Supporting acquisitions, disposals, investments, due diligence, corporate structures and strategic transactions.
• Commercial contracts: Drafting, reviewing and negotiating supplier, customer, partnership, procurement, services and other strategic commercial agreements.
• Property & real estate: Supporting hotel acquisitions, disposals, leases, licences, developments, refurbishments and the many other joys of property law.
• Hospitality, wine & regulatory matters: Providing practical, commercial advice across the regulatory environments in which both businesses operate.
• Employment & people: Working alongside HR and senior leaders on employment-related legal matters, policies, employee relations and risk.
• Data, technology, cyber & AI: Advising on GDPR, data sharing, technology agreements, systems, AI and the increasingly interesting legal questions that come with them.
• Intellectual property, brand & reputation: Helping protect our brands, intellectual property, partnerships and commercial interests.
• Disputes, claims & insurance: Managing and resolving disputes, claims and incidents, bringing in external specialists when they're needed.
• Governance & company secretarial: Supporting boards, statutory requirements, corporate records and good governance — making sure we're doing the right things in the right way.

This is a hybrid role, where you can work across home, our soon to be live Mayfair office, and any Coterie or Signet location. We’re looking for someone who enjoys being close to the business and the people making things happen.

You’ll be a qualified solicitor in England & Wales, ideally with 10+ years’ PQE, with a strong grounding in both private practice and sophisticated in-house legal work. You’ll ideally bring experience across:

• Corporate and commercial law
• M&A and investments
• Property and real estate
• Commercial contracts
• Corporate governance

Experience in hospitality, hotels, leisure, property, luxury, wine, logistics or another fast-moving, consumer-facing environment would be fantastic. But actually, we're more interested in how you think than where you've worked.

Because the best lawyer for us won't just know the law. They'll understand the business.

You’ll probably fit in rather well if you...

• See solutions, not just problems.
• Think commercially.
• Are comfortable being independent.
• Know when something stays in the room.
• Don't panic when things get complicated.
• Can challenge people without being difficult.
• Are approachable, curious, resilient and have a sense of humour.

Because this isn't your standard in-house legal role. You'll have two businesses, multiple sectors, senior-level exposure and a genuinely varied workload — with the opportunity to build something rather than inherit a legal function that's been doing the same thing for 15 years.

You’ll have: Real influence, Variety, Senior exposure, Interesting problems, The chance to build, and an excellent starting salary and benefits package.

Ready for something a little different? If you’re an experienced lawyer looking for a role where you can combine strategic thinking with sleeves-rolled-up legal work, where commercial judgement matters just as much as legal knowledge, and where you can genuinely influence the direction of two growing businesses... We’d love to hear from you.