Senior Commercial Counsel in London

About the company: the company is a global consulting firm that partners with leaders to drive change and create value. With deep industry expertise, and enabled by advanced technology, the firm helps clients to deliver with greater confidence and certainty. With over 2,000 people across the UK, Europe, North America, Asia and Australia, the firm combines global insight with local understanding. The firm works across energy and resources, financial services, government and public sector, consumer products and retail, pharmaceuticals and life sciences, manufacturing, and technology, media and telecoms, with capabilities spanning strategy, transformation and operational excellence – all powered by advanced technology, data, AI and digital innovation.

Clients value the company’s collaborative approach and the way its teams integrate seamlessly – all working with a shared understanding of what matters most. The firm is known for its kind, curious experts who listen closely and care deeply about client success as they help clients transform energy markets, modernise financial platforms, expand telecoms and digital networks through advanced data analytics, enable digital services in government, and unlock growth in consumer sectors. Certified as a Great Place to Work around the world, the company has been recognised by the Financial Times in 22 categories of its UK Leading Management Consultants rankings, and by Forbes for four consecutive years as one of the World’s Best Management Consulting Firms.

Our Commercial Legal team are looking for an experienced Senior Commercial Counsel to join them. Commercial Legal partners with the business, providing specialised legal, commercial and risk management support to enable confident growth. Everything from shaping and negotiating client contracts, to data, technology and AI deals, partnerships and contract risk. This role will report into the Commercial Legal Director, working closely with the Legal & Business Integrity and the company Enablement teams and wider firm leadership. It is a senior, team-leadership role: you will lead and line-manage a team of commercial lawyers – setting priorities, overseeing their work and supporting their development – alongside running your own caseload.

What you will be doing:

• Leading and line-managing a team of commercial lawyers – allocating and overseeing work, managing performance, and supporting their development and progression.
• Acting as a senior lawyer in the Commercial Legal team, leading on complex digital deals (data, technology delivery, AI and cloud) across a broad range of commercial contracts.
• Supporting the wider Legal team and the company business with best practice guidance, continuous improvement and training.
• Preparing and negotiating contracts, working closely with the consultancy staff and engagement partner. These will include One-off Services Agreements, Framework Agreements, Licence Agreements, Sub-contracts, etc.
• Delivering contract risk analysis to the company’s senior management and arranging for escalation of higher risk contract items to the company’s wider Sector Lead group for approval.
• Critically evaluating, challenging and updating the company’s Contract Risk Scorecard positions.
• Liaising with the company’s insurance brokers to ensure client contract language during negotiation remains within coverage.
• Coaching, developing and supporting the lawyers in your team, helping them grow and progress their careers at the company.

This is a critical role in the company Commercial Legal team, working directly with partners and senior leadership across the firm, and coordinating with others across the company Enablement (People, Finance, Data, IT, Infosec and others).

Your skills and experience:

• Qualified solicitor or barrister in England & Wales or a commonwealth country, with a minimum of 6 years of post-qualification experience.
• Strong commercial law experience with deep, demonstrable expertise in digital contracting – cloud, data, AI and technology delivery and implementation. This digital experience is essential and central to the role.
• Confident negotiator with the skillset to handle complex discussions with large international clients, banks and their external law firm advisors.
• Understanding of international business practices and cultures.
• Proven ability to lead, line-manage and develop a team of lawyers, and to work effectively with senior stakeholders.
• Strong commercial risk assessment and sound, pragmatic judgement – able to identify, weigh and clearly articulate legal and commercial risk and make confident recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate complex legal and contractual issues for non-legal audiences and to deliver clear guidance and training.
• Highly organised and resilient, able to manage a varied caseload, prioritise effectively and deliver to deadlines in a fast-paced environment while overseeing the work of the team.
• A continuous-improvement mindset, including developing precedents, playbooks and best-practice guidance; familiarity with legal technology and contract lifecycle management (CLM) tools is an advantage.
• Working knowledge of the data protection and regulatory issues relevant to data, technology and AI contracting.

What a career at the company will give you:

• Putting People First: the company is a People First company and wellbeing is at the forefront of our culture. We recognise the importance of work-life balance and flexible working and provide our staff amazing benefits.
• Generous Annual Leave Policy: We provide our employees with 5 weeks of annual leave, fully available at the start of each year. In addition to this, we have introduced our 5-Year Recharge benefit which allows all employees an additional 2 weeks of paid leave after 5 years continuous service.
• Flexible Working: We have implemented a hybrid working policy and introduced more flexibility around taking unpaid leave.
• Corporate Responsibility Days: All our employees get 3 every year to help social and environmental causes and increase our impact on the communities that mean the most to us.
• Wellbeing Fund: We’ve introduced our annual People Fund to support this by offering every individual a fund to support and manage their wellbeing through an activity of their choice.
• Profit Share Scheme: All employees participate in the company Group Profit Share Scheme so everyone has a stake in the company’s success.

Diversity and Inclusion: We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe that creating an environment where everyone feels a sense of belonging is central to our culture and that diversity is paramount to driving creativity, innovation, and value for our clients and for our people.

An award-winning workplace: You can be a part of our ‘Great Place to Work’ – with our commitment to women and well-being in the workplace for all.

Using business as a force for good: We maintain high standards of environmental performance and transparency, which can be seen through our commitment to Net Zero with our SBTI-verified Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reduction targets and our support of the Better Business Act.

We report our progress publicly and ensure that we are also externally assessed and scored through organisations like CDP and EcoVadis - helping us to continually identify where we can improve. We have a long legacy of supporting the communities in which we work, and offer a variety of ways to contribute, by putting people first and creating impact that lasts.

Our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) agenda is about giving back to the communities in which we live and work by sharing our skills, talent and time.