Job Description:
Senior Legal Counsel, Commercial
Kirkstall Forge, Leeds
Flexible/Hybrid Working
Competitive salary + Fantastic benefits
Permanent / 37.5 hours p/week
About Bupa…
Here you’ll be welcomed. We champion diversity and we understand the importance of our people representing the communities and customers we serve. You’ll find an inclusive environment where you can be yourself and where everyone is driven by the same purpose – helping people live longer, healthier, happier lives and making a better world.
Role Overview
The Senior Legal Counsel, Commercial is a member of the Commercial Legal team, which sits in the Commercial, Corporate & Property Legal directorate and is part of the wider BGUK Market Unit (“BGUK”) Legal team.
The Commercial Legal team is the centre of excellence for commercial contracts lawyers within BGUK. As part of the Commercial Legal team you will be accountable for providing legal advice to underpin delivery of Bupa’s business strategy and purpose, in particular ensuring that risks are being appropriately managed via diligent contracting. This will predominantly relate to procurement contracting within BGUK and Group businesses, corporate sales contracting within the Health Clinics business unit (“BU”) and digital initiatives.
What you'll do...
Provide professional, strategic and operational legal advice and assistance, in order to manage and mitigate contractual legal risks within Bupa, including:
1. Operational responsibility for a significant BU, namely Health Clinics, and a significant function, namely Procurement, within BGUK;
2. As an expert on procurement and large customer-facing contracts, providing advice and support to the business in drafting and negotiating agreements with suppliers and Clinics corporate customers and business partners, in order to achieve agreed business outcomes and ensure compliance with all applicable law and regulation, including Bupa’s own policies, guidance and procedures;
3. Working closely with the procurement team to deliver effective support and advice as a key team member in RFI, RFP and competitive tender processes;
4. Working closely with Health Clinics Sales and Digital teams to deliver effective support of Health Clinics corporate customer contracting and legal support for new Digital propositions (end to end where appropriate)
5. Developing, aligning with the business, and implementing legal strategy, policies and processes in order to mitigate legal risk for Bupa;
6. Providing an escalation point for complex technical queries and ensuring their effective and commercially sound resolution;
7. Making a strong contribution to the development of an effective, efficient, motivated and agile Commercial Legal team;
8. Procuring and co-ordinating high quality and cost-effective external legal advice where appropriate, seeking added value from Bupa’s external legal relationships;
What you'll bring...
9. Substantial experience of drafting and negotiating supplier and customer-facing agreements, including service, goods, consultancy, agency, high value material outsourcing deals and general commercial agreements, and advising on how to manage any associated risks and strengthen relationships with counterparties.
10. Good knowledge of data protection, competition law and IP advice for goods/ services agreements.
11. Exceptional commercial awareness. Strong drafting and negotiation skills. Good change management skills. Proven track record of adding value. Tenacious with a high attention to detail. Conscientious and hard working. Thrives in a dynamic environment. Demonstrated ability to act with good judgment and discretion, including handling sensitive matters appropriately.
12. Experience of making risk-based decisions in a complex operating environment with multiple competing demands. Understanding the balance between commercial mechanisms and contractual mechanisms to manage risks and being able to articulate those risks in an appropriate manner (using risk management frameworks).
13. Previous experience in an in-house legal department is an advantage, including experience of working autonomously or with a minimum of direction.
14. Ideally, experience of drafting and negotiation work for high value technology agreements, including hosted services & cloud, hardware, software, managed services and telco
15. Experience of a regulated financial services environment, and/or performance and supplier relationship management, and how to effectively manage termination and other remedies for poor performance, is an advantage
Why Bupa?
We are a health insurer and provider. With no shareholders, our customers are our focus. We reinvest profits into providing more and better healthcare for the benefit of current and future customers.
Our benefits are driven by what matters to our people. It’s important to us that these benefits support a work-life balance that keeps people healthy, both mentally and physically. As a Senior Legal Advisor, you’ll be eligible for:
16. 25 days holiday, increasing through length of service, with option to buy or sell
17. Bupa health insurance as a benefit in kind
18. An enhanced pension plan and life insurance
19. Annual performance-based bonus
20. Onsite gyms or local discounts where no onsite gym available
21. Various other benefits and online discounts