Full-Time Senior Legal Counsel

Job Description

As a Senior legal counsel for CE (France) and Lead Privacy Counsel you will provide broad legal advice and assistance to the business in CE for all French speaking countries (e.g. France, Belgium, Luxembourg) and will work together as part of the Go-To Market team with legal colleagues to address legal issues across the globe.

As a Senior Legal Counsel you will be responsible for negotiating, drafting and reviewing a broad range of agreements and assisting with disputes. You may also be asked to assist the Unit4 French business with day to day legal advice on corporate, HR and finance matters.

As Lead Privacy Counsel you will oversee Unit4’s approach to data protection matters under GDPR and in other jurisdictions. You will take responsibility for driving Unit4’s approach to data protection and AI matters as this field expands and as Unit4 finds more uses for AI and machine learning within its product set working closely with our R&D team as well as our Chief Data Officer and other teams around Unit4.

As part of the global legal team, you will enhance legal awareness in the business, by providing training and advising management on relevant legal development that could affect our business. You will be involved in strategic projects critical to the business and engage directly with senior executives (including with respect to AI as mentioned above). 

You will be part of a global legal team of around 12 people. Unit4 is growing fast and advancing its technology into many new areas which provides for a great number of exciting projects where legal is leading the business in best practice and compliant ways of transacting business.

Key Responsibilities

• Commercial Contracts:
  • Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of commercial contracts, including SaaS (sales) agreements, service agreements, non-disclosure agreements, and joint venture agreements.
  • Provide legal advice on contract interpretation and dispute resolution.
• French Commercial Law:
  • Advise on French commercial law matters, including corporate governance, competition law, and consumer protection.
  • Stay up-to-date on French legal developments and provide training to internal stakeholders.
• Privacy, Data Protection and AI:
  • Advise on all aspects of data privacy and protection compliance, including GDPR, e-Privacy Directive, and local data protection laws.
  • Conduct data privacy impact assessments (DPIAs) and provide guidance on data minimization and retention policies.
  • Manage data breach response processes (working closely with the CISO) and coordinate with relevant stakeholders.
  • Represent the company in data protection audits and investigations.
  • Involvement in company’s AI committee and all related projects.

Education

French Law Degree (preferably masters level) (IP law, Economic law or Business law)

Knowledge and Skills

• Strong project management skills;
• Excellent presentation skills in both informal and formal situations;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in French and English;
• Good interpersonal skills and relationship management skills;
• Self-starter so therefore also a quick learner;
• Team player;
• Ability to work collaboratively with senior staff in management and other disciplines;
• Committed to excellent performance and a practical understanding of how to deliver results;
• Be hands on and have a Can Do mentality;
• Energetic individual with unusual initiative;
• Ability to work under pressure and be flexible;
• Strong work ethic and enthusiastic about new challenges; and
• Creative thinker and resourceful problem solver.

Experience

• Qualified to practice law in France;
• A minimum of 5 years post qualification experience;
• Experience in private law firm; and
• In-house experience in a globally operating IT/tech company.