Legal Counsel

**The Opportunity**:
Be the first in-house Legal Counsel, establishing and scaling the legal function from a currently light workload to a mature, business-partnering capability as the company grows. The role suits a pragmatic, hands-on advisor who can operate autonomously and build simple, scalable processes.

**Key Responsibilities**:

- Commercial Contracts: Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of agreements including supply (buyers/suppliers), distribution/reseller, IT/SaaS, IP & trademarks, advertising/marketing, influencer, promotion, sponsorship, leases, data protection (DPA), NDAs, and MOUs.
- Playbooks & Templates: Create and maintain templates, fallbacks, and negotiation playbooks to speed turnaround while controlling risk.
- Contract Lifecycle: Maintain contract and IP registers, renewal calendars, notice periods, and key obligations; ensure trademark and other IP renewals are actioned on time.
- External Counsel Management: Instruct and manage outside counsel and third parties as needed; build a lean preferred panel and control legal spend.
- Insurance & Risk: Liaise with insurers on coverage queries, endorsements, claims, and policy renewals; track renewals and maintain documentation.
- Marketing & Product Support: Review campaigns, claims, promotions, and content for legal/compliance risks; advise on consumer, advertising, and competition considerations.
- Data Protection & Privacy: Advise on privacy frameworks (e.g., PDPA/GDPR-aligned practices), including DPAs, SCCs, data maps, consent/retention, and coordinate incident response.
- Dispute & Litigation Triage: Coordinate pre-dispute assessments, responses, and cost-effective resolution strategies; manage external counsel for any litigation.
- Trade & Operations: Support logistics, import/export, maritime/shipping, and warehousing matters; review terms with carriers, 3PLs, and freight providers.
- Governance & Policies: Draft practical policies/SOPs (contracting authority matrix, document retention, code of conduct, anti-bribery, gifts/hospitality, conflicts, dawn-raid guidance).
- Training & Enablement: Deliver short trainings to commercial teams (contract basics, marketing compliance, privacy-by-design) and publish quick checklists.
- Stakeholder Collaboration: Partner with cross-functional teams to support deals and projects; provide rapid, pragmatic advice aligned to business goals.
- Reporting: Provide concise monthly updates on contract pipeline, renewals, disputes, and key risks.

**First 90-180 Days (Success Outcomes)**:

- Build a contract and IP inventory with renewal/obligation calendars.
- Roll out core templates (NDA, MSA/Supply, DPA, SoW, Marketing/Influencer, Promotion, Sponsorship).
- Publish playbooks and an approval/authority matrix.
- Implement a simple CLM/tracker (spreadsheet or tool) with KPIs (cycle time, renewal risk, spend).
- Set up a lean external counsel panel and a matter intake process.
- Deliver at least two trainings for commercial/marketing teams.

**Qualifications**:

- 5-10 years PQE (Singapore or common-law jurisdiction); in-house experience strongly preferred.
- Strong grounding in contract, corporate, and commercial law, with experience in IP/trademarks, media/advertising, data protection/privacy, and ideally maritime/logistics.
- Proven ability to draft and negotiate end-to-end commercial agreements in clear, business-friendly language.
- Comfortable coordinating external counsel and supporting activity across multiple regions.
- Coach-able, dependable, trustworthy, hardworking; proactive with a can-do mindset in a fast-moving environment.
- Excellent researching, drafting, and communication skills; strong stakeholder management across sales, marketing, operations, and finance.
- Nice to have: experience in manufacturing/contract manufacturing, distribution/retail, automotive/tires; exposure to product liability/warranty and competition/antitrust basics; familiarity with CLM or legal-ops tooling.