About The Role
JOB TITLE: Senior Legal Counsel
LOCATION: Glasgow
REPORTS TO: Group General Counsel/Head of Legal
CONTRACT: Permanent, full time
Job Overview
This is an exciting opportunity to join GRAHAM as a Senior Legal Counsel at a time of continued growth and increasing diversity across our project portfolio. Acting as the primary legal adviser to your designated business unit, you’ll provide clear, commercially focused advice across a broad range of contentious and non-contentious matters, helping teams manage risk and deliver projects successfully.
As part of the Group Legal function, you’ll work closely with commercial, operational and project teams on live issues, new opportunities and strategic initiatives. You’ll take a proactive approach to identifying legal risk early, managing it effectively and escalating where appropriate, all in line with our legal strategy, governance framework and risk appetite.
Alongside your advisory role, you’ll contribute to the ongoing development of the legal function — helping to refine processes, templates and ways of working so we continue to deliver a consistent, high-quality legal service across the Group.
About the Role
In this role, you will:
· Provide practical, commercially focused legal advice across procurement, contracting, bids and live project delivery.
· Support the management of disputes and complex project issues, including claims, adjudications and litigation, working with external advisers where appropriate.
· Act as a trusted business partner to commercial and operational teams, translating legal complexity into clear, usable guidance.
· Identify, manage and escalate legal, contractual and regulatory risks in line with Group governance requirements.
· Manage and oversee external legal advisers to ensure quality, consistency and value for money.
· Contribute to the development and improvement of legal templates, playbooks, training and knowledge-sharing across the business.
· Support the wider Group Legal team through collaboration, mentoring and input into legal strategy and contracting approaches.
This job description is intended to give the post holder an appreciation of the role and the range of duties to be undertaken. It does not attempt to detail every activity. Specific tasks and objectives will be agreed with the post holder at regular intervals.
Experience & Skills
Essential
· Qualified Solicitor in England & Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, or Barrister or lawyer qualified in another comparable common-law jurisdiction.
· Strong construction, engineering or major projects experience, gained in private practice or an in-house environment.
· Operating at, or ready to step into, a Senior Legal Counsel-level role (for example, as a Senior Associate or equivalent).
· Solid experience working with standard form construction contracts (such as NEC or JCT), including negotiating risk allocation.
· Confident drafting, reviewing and negotiating both standard and bespoke agreements.
· Strong commercial judgement, with the ability to balance legal risk against delivery objectives.
· Comfortable working at pace, managing competing priorities and engaging with senior stakeholders.
Desirable Experience
· In-house experience within construction, engineering or infrastructure.
· Exposure to both contentious and non-contentious construction matters, including live project issues.
· Experience managing or instructing external legal advisers.
· Familiarity with operating within governance, compliance or risk management frameworks.
How You’ll Work
· You communicate clearly and confidently, tailoring advice to suit different teams and audiences.
· You take ownership of matters and move them forward, while knowing when to collaborate or escalate.
· You build strong, trusted relationships across the business and enjoy working as a partner to delivery teams.
· You bring a practical, commercially aware mindset and focus on solutions that support project outcomes.
· You stay organised, manage your time effectively and deliver high-quality work under pressure.
· You adapt well to change and remain calm and effective when priorities shift.
Our Commitment:
At GRAHAM, we are proud to say that we are a committed Equal Opportunities Employer and we aim to be the first choice for people from all backgrounds. We seek to promote respect for the individual and equality of opportunities. We believe that everyone should be treated solely on the basis of personal merit and contribution throughout their GRAHAM career journey and not on the value of artificial barriers, prejudices, or preferences.
If you require any adjustments or accommodations during the application or interview process, please let us know. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds.
We are dedicated to making our policies and guidance accessible to all applicants and employees. If you need this document in an alternative format, such as large print, audio, or braille, please contact us at:
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As a Disability Confident Employer, we guarantee an interview to disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for the role. If you would like to apply through the Disability Confident Interview Scheme, please contact Louise Hunter, Resourcing Manager, at:
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We are only able to consider applications from individuals who are eligible to live and work in the UK, as per Home Office regulations. Please check your eligibility with the regulations before applying. Individuals with a current time restricted right to work in the UK, should contact the Human Resources team in the first instance.
A basic disclosure may be requested if security clearance is required by 3rd party clients and a criminal record will not necessarily be a bar to obtaining a position. Our Access NI/Vetting and Barring Scheme Policy and Policy on the Recruitment of Ex-Offenders is available upon request.
GRAHAM reserves the right to carry out checks to ensure the validity of an applicant’s experience and/or qualifications and we expect all applicants to comply with any such requests for information. Failure to do so or evidence of any falsification of information will lead to either removal from the recruitment process or if already in employment potential termination of contract through the company disciplinary procedure.
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