Sole Legal Counsel/Head of Legal

We’ve been exclusively instructed on a Head of Legal/Sole Counsel role with an international engineering business.

The business is at an exciting point in its growth, with an increasing proportion of its work coming from international markets and ambitious plans to build a more established global footprint over the next 3–5 years.

This is a fantastic opportunity for a Senior Legal Counsel looking to step into their first Head of Legal/Sole Counsel role and build the legal function as the business grows.

You’ll work closely with the Operations Director and have regular access to senior leadership across Finance, Sales and the wider business. This is not a back-seat legal role, you’ll be involved in the commercial conversations and decisions shaping the next stage of the company’s growth.

The role is based in Bristol and required 3 days a week in the office.

The Role

• Lead legal support for international growth and new market entry
• Advise on overseas structures, subsidiaries, branches and permanent establishment considerations
• Work closely with Finance, Tax, Sales and Operations across a growing number of international jurisdictions
• Act as a pragmatic legal and commercial adviser to Directors and senior stakeholders
• Oversee corporate, governance, compliance and wider legal risk
• Support the contracts team on complex customer, supplier, partner and commercial agreements
• Manage and coordinate external counsel in the UK and internationally
• Build greater structure and visibility around legal matters across the business
• Introduce and improve legal processes, systems and reporting
• Explore how legal tech and AI can help create a scalable and efficient legal function

Skills Required

• Qualified solicitor or barrister in England & Wales
• Ideally around 6–8+ years’ PQE
• Strong commercial legal background with broad business judgement
• In-house experience, or a clear understanding of working closely with commercial stakeholders
• Comfortable operating autonomously and taking ownership of a broad legal remit
• Commercial and pragmatic – able to assess risk in the context of the wider business
• Collaborative, personable and comfortable working directly with senior leadership
• Able to manage multiple workstreams and know when to bring in external specialists
• Exposure to engineering, energy, oil & gas, infrastructure or another international B2B environment
• Experience establishing or improving legal processes and systems
• Interest in legal technology, AI and improving ways of working

The role is based in Bristol , with a hybrid working model of typically 3 days per week in the office .

This is particularly suited to someone who wants more than another Senior Legal Counsel position, someone looking for the opportunity to take ownership, build, and grow as the business develops .

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