Job Description
Senior Legal Counsel, Property (Hybrid/Flexibly located within Scotland)
It’s not every job where you make a difference for the people of Scotland. But it’s what’s behind every job here. The work we do keeps Scotland’s water flowing, from reservoir to tap – and from sewer to treatment plant.
Our operations span the length and breadth of Scotland, which generates a wealth of commercial, compliance, property and regulatory work that keeps our Legal team busy. In this role as Senior Legal Counsel, Property, you’ll be a key player in a team that provides specialist knowledge and expertise that helps us deliver Scotland’s most important natural resource: water.
What you’ll do
You’ll play a significant role in delivering a comprehensive legal service to Scottish Water, spanning legislative and regulatory compliance and the provision of advice across a broad range of practice areas. The goal, of course, is that Scottish Water remains legally compliant and effectively manages risk across the business.
In this role you will have a focus on delivering property legal services. This means you will be part of the team responsible for delivering a broad range of legal advice in areas such as supporting the acquisition of land and rights for Scottish Water’s Capital Programme, commercial leasing, property aspects of renewable energy transactions, complex title investigations and registrations, all with the aim of supporting Scottish Water in the delivery of its strategic ambitions.
But delivering legal services is not enough. We want to transform so the role will also involve a focus on continual improvement in terms of customer service, cost-efficiency, quality, and collaboration, both across Scottish Water and with our external legal providers and stakeholders. We want to embed preventative lawyering as a central pillar of how we operate, and you will play a significant role in making those things a reality.
What you’ll bring
You’ll be a Scottish-qualified solicitor with a current practising certificate.
You’ll have in-depth knowledge of a wide range of legal and regulatory matters with a practical and collaborative approach. You will have experience of having advised on complex title queries and registrations, land acquisitions and disposals and commercial leases. Ideally, you’ll have experience with the property aspects of renewable energy projects and have gained some of experience providing advice in the water industry, or another regulated industry.
A skilled communicator, you’ll have a knack for Knowing-Your-Audience. Whether you’re crafting written documentation, presenting to a group or facilitating a discussion, you know how to effectively get your message across, and you don’t get bogged down in “legalese” when speaking to a non-legal audience.
And in all your dealings with colleagues, customers and external parties, you’ll embody the Scottish Water Character – by being Bold, Responsible, Inspiring and Caring, both as a colleague and as a Leader.
Looking out for you
While the work we do is important, we know it’s not the only thing that matters. That’s why we make sure you have everything you need to find a good work-life balance.
This role will occasionally require you to work outside of normal working hours. But you’ll get plenty of time to recharge with 38 days of holiday every year (including public holidays) - you can even buy five more if you need a little extra time and a truly flexible approach to work/life balance. You can also take time off to volunteer in your community.
When it comes to major life events we have family-friendly policies around adoption, maternity, and parental leave. And for the everyday? We embrace flexible working.
For your future, there’s our defined benefit pension (the ‘know-what-you’ll-get-when-you-retire’ kind), and generous life assurance.
As for some nice extras? You can expect an annual company bonus. There is also access to SW Splash – handy rewards that can save you money on holidays, bills, and shopping.
The post is full time based on 35 hours per week with flexible working hours. Applications from those wishing to apply for any working patterns, or flexible working arrangements are welcome.
The not-so-small print
This role will be a Grade 8. If you’re new to Scottish Water, you’ll join us on a starting salary of £52,671. Performance-driven pay progression would then allow you to move through the range to a maximum of £72,218.
If you’re interested in this role – or know someone else who might be - we’ll be accepting applications until midnight on the 24th August 2025
Job offers at Scottish Water are conditional, and will be confirmed on completion of our pre-employment screening, e.g. referencing, criminal record checks, license checks, etc. Screening is conducted on our behalf by a third party, and must be completed before your start date. Don’t worry - we’ll only start these checks once you’ve accepted an offer.
A few final things worth knowing…
Research shows that some people avoid applying for jobs unless they can meet every single criteria. If you’re interested in this job, but don’t tick all the boxes, apply anyway! We hardly ever hire people who can do every part of a job from Day One. Everyone has a learning curve. So don’t rule yourself out!
Let us know if there are any changes we can make to our recruitment process to help you perform at your best. Lots of our people have disabilities or neurodiverse conditions (including some of our recruiters!). We're also aware that some people might be experiencing temporary challenges because of life events, like menopause. We’re very used to making adjustments, so please don’t be afraid to ask.
As part of our commitment to developing a flourishing Scotland, it’s important that all our employees are Scottish taxpayers. If you join us, your home address will need to be in Scotland. If you don’t already live here, you'll need to commit to moving here within your first three months.
Finally (finally!), candidates who haven’t submitted an application in the last 12 months will have their records removed from our recruitment database. You won’t need to do anything. Your data will be automatically deleted.
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