Counsel in London

Who We Are: IMG is a leading global sports marketing agency, specializing in media rights management and sales, multi-channel content production and distribution, brand partnerships, strategic consulting, digital services, and events management. It powers growth of revenues, fanbases and IP for more than 200 federations, associations, events, and teams, including the National Football League, English Premier League, International Olympic Committee, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, ATP and WTA Tours, the AELTC (Wimbledon), Euroleague Basketball, CONMEBOL, DP World Tour, and The R&A, as well as UFC, WWE, and PBR.

Working Conditions: Permanent Contract, London, Chiswick Park, Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm

Purpose of the Role: Reporting to the VP, Counsel – Employment (EMEA and APAC), this role is responsible for providing expert, practical employment law advice across TKO's operations in EMEA (including the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and UAE) and APAC (including Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, and Singapore). You will serve as a trusted legal partner to HR and business leaders, delivering commercially focused, solution-oriented advice on a wide range of employment matters — from day-to-day employee relations to complex cross-border projects, restructurings, and regulatory compliance.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

• Strategic Advisory and Business Partnership: Act as a strategic employment law partner to HR teams and senior business stakeholders across EMEA and APAC, providing clear, actionable, and commercially sound advice. Build trusted, collaborative relationships across Legal, HR, Finance, Privacy, Compliance, Immigration, and Tax teams to coordinate effectively on cross-functional matters. Advise on a broad range of employment issues including recruitment, compensation and benefits, performance management, terminations, contingent workers, employee relations, and regulatory obligations.
• Employee Relations and Dispute Management: Advise on grievance, disciplinary, performance, and dismissal processes, and oversee internal investigations with appropriate rigour and sensitivity. Manage pre-litigation strategy and employment-related litigation across multiple jurisdictions, working with external counsel where required. Proactively identify and mitigate ER risk, driving commercially sensible outcomes from complex and difficult situations.
• Contracts, Agreements and Policies: Draft, review, analyse, and negotiate employment clauses in commercial agreements and bespoke employment arrangements, including staffing agreements, independent contractor arrangements, incentive schemes, volunteer worker agreements, and settlement agreements. Develop, update, and implement employment policies and procedures that are legally compliant, commercially appropriate, and operationally practical across multiple jurisdictions.
• Projects, Restructuring and M&As: Support employment-related aspects of reorganisations, business restructures, and M&A activity, including employee transfers and integrations across EMEA and APAC. Manage complex, multi-jurisdictional employment projects end-to-end, coordinating with in-house teams and external counsel across relevant jurisdictions. Advise on posted worker obligations, works council engagement, and regulatory notification requirements in connection with cross-border events and business operations.
• Compliance and Legal Developments: Monitor and proactively advise on legislative developments across EMEA and APAC. Develop and deliver training to HR and business teams on employment law topics, policies, and best practices.

Person Specification:

• Knowledge and Experience: Minimum 5 years' PQE as a qualified solicitor (English law), with a strong track record in employment law in a commercial setting. Substantive experience advising on UK employment law, together with significant exposure to multi-jurisdictional EMEA employment matters. Proven ability to handle both contentious and non-contentious employment matters. Experience in drafting employment documentation including policies and contracts. Employment law experience in a reputable law firm or in-house team at a multinational company; and demonstrating experience developing and implementing HR policies and procedures to manage risk while meeting business needs.
• Desirable: Experience advising on APAC employment law matters. Familiarity with works council processes and obligations across EU jurisdictions. Experience advising in a live events, media, entertainment, or sports business context.
• Skills and Abilities: Practical, business-oriented legal judgment, able to analyse complex, multi-jurisdictional situations and translate them into clear, workable solutions. Exceptional stakeholder management and communication skills, confident engaging with senior leaders, HR partners, and external counsel alike, both verbally and in writing, with a demonstrated ability to become a trusted advisor. Ability to handle a varied and demanding workload, prioritise effectively, and meet tight deadlines in a fast-paced environment. High degree of initiative and ownership, comfortable working independently and exercising sound judgment with appropriate escalation. Collaborative team player, genuinely invested in knowledge-sharing and in contributing to the broader success of the global legal team. Professional with ability to interact across all levels of a global organisation. AI literate and comfortable using AI-powered legal tools and technology to improve efficiency and output quality, and willing to adopt new ways of working as the legal function continues to evolve.
• Aptitudes/Personal Profile: Positive, proactive, and resilient, thriving in a dynamic, high-volume environment. Intellectually curious and committed to staying ahead of legal developments. Commercially minded with the confidence to push back constructively where needed. Collaborative with the ability to build rapport quickly across diverse teams and cultures. Disciplined, organised, and dependable, taking ownership of work and delivering to a high standard.

TKO is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where all employees are valued and respected.