Legal Counsel - Commercial (Operations)

Job Description

Life at Elvie - Meaningful work. Exceptional people

We're Elvie. We create smart products, new solutions, and a fair few taboo-busting conversations while we’re at it. Founded by Tania Boler in 2013, we develop extraordinary innovations designed to improve women’s lives. It's a fascinating and challenging area that requires us to solve problems that no one else has ever tackled before.

At Elvie, you’ll be surrounded by people who want to improve everything and everyone around them. People who are passionate about our mission. People who are driven to solve problems and constantly consider the best ways to improve the health and wellbeing of women.

Find out more about life at Elvie here.

We're deeply proud of our values, which are intrinsic to the way we behave every day. We take them seriously because we want our culture to thrive:

• We make an impact: We’re mission-driven and not afraid to break boundaries. We relentlessly focus on going the extra mile to solve problems.
• We’re fearless innovators: We are passionate, curious, and data-driven. We continuously embrace change and innovation.
• We’re in it together: we fail and learn fast — always as one team — and have fun along the way. We stay authentic and embrace our differences.

About the role:

Okay, we’ve waffled long enough. So let’s get to the good bit: You.

This is a new and exciting opportunity to join us as Legal Counsel for Operations. You will be the primary legal support to our operations team (covering supply chain, procurement, IT, facilities and customer care), and our data protection SME for all business areas.

Reporting to the Head of Legal, you will be the third hire into our growing legal team. This is a broad role, providing strategic legal advice on a wide variety of projects and challenges facing Elvie across all its countries of operation. You will be actively encouraged to partner closely with the business and add value while facilitating Elvie’s rapid growth and expansion. This is a highly visible and exciting role, offering exposure to all levels across the business, including C-suite. This is a great opportunity to make the role your own and work on exciting projects in a fast-paced, creative and fun environment.

Location: Hybrid working; a mix of working from our Bristol or London office & working remotely

Employment type: Permanent (please note, you must have the right to work in the UK)

Responsibilities:

• Operations
  • Negotiating high value and complex commercial agreements across our international supply chain including manufacturing, component sourcing, warehousing, and logistics;
  • Providing legal advice on trade compliance and the cross border movement of goods.
  • Supporting the operations and procurement team with vendor management (contract amendments, tenders etc);
  • Negotiating and advising on property agreements, IT and systems procurement and other outsourced services;
  • Supporting general queries from our customer care team
• Data protection:
  • Partner closely with the CTO and Head of Security to develop and deliver Elvie’s data protection strategy in line with evolving international legal requirements.
  • Design and roll out initiatives to address requirements and mitigate risks relating to GDPR, CCPA and other privacy legislation; such as data storage and transfers, DSARs, privacy and data protection policies, cookie management, customer consent, incident response and similar issues.
  • Provide pragmatic advice to the data analytics team, product engineers and software developers (in connection with wearable devices), marketing, HR and other teams in respect of data privacy and consent matters.
  • Draft, negotiate and advise on data protection-related documentation, including data processor agreements, data transfer agreements, privacy impact assessments and data-related clauses in commercial contracts.
• International markets: As a global role, you will act as legal adviser to our international teams based in the US and China, as well as our UK based teams
• Strategic projects: Acting as a business partner to help structure and provide legal advice on new strategic initiatives launched by the company from time to time
• Ad-hoc Advice: As part of a small legal team you will also provide legal support on a wider variety of corporate/commercial matters as required (e.g. advertising/marketing/consumer, litigation/disputes, retail/distribution agreements, technology, corporate and company secretarial matters).
• External counsel: Hiring and managing external counsel where appropriate and managing legal budgets relating to your areas of responsibility
• Legal Processes: Creating and improving legal processes, including developing contract templates, standard forms and legal issue checklists, and designing and implementing appropriate systems for the review, execution and management of contracts
• Training: Preparing and conducting legal education and training for different teams across the business, particularly on data compliance.

Requirements

• 4-6 PQE qualified lawyer in England & Wales (PQE is a guide only).
• A strong background in negotiating high-value complex commercial contracts
• Working knowledge of core international data protection laws (GDPR/CCPA)
• Experience in the US is a strong plus
• Trained and PQE experience in the commercial dept of a top-tier private practice firm, and ideally also had in-house experience (preferably in a start-up, tech, e-commerce and/or FMCG/consumer electronics business)
• Ability to work autonomously with little supervision, and deliver commercial/pragmatic solutions and concise advice
• Strong influencing and negotiating skills
• Excellent organisation and attention to detail, with the ability to juggle and prioritise a large number of competing matters and work to deadlines
• Self-motivated, independent and results-focused; with a willingness to roll up your sleeves, undertake a wide variety of tasks and to take ownership
• Adaptable and able to cope with change quickly

Most importantly, you must be keen to support the Elvie mission, and like the idea of working in a fast-paced start-up environment where you can share your future and be excited about what’s around the corner for us.

Benefits

We're on an exceptional journey. And we can offer you a genuinely purpose-led career with a culture built on trust, autonomy, and flexibility. In addition, we'll give you:

• Lots of flexibility: whether it’s working from home, doing the school run, or life admin, we understand that flexibility is essential, and we trust you to do the right thing for you and us
• Share options: we want everyone to have a stake in our success
• An annual discretionary bonus scheme
• 25 days’ annual leave, plus bank holidays
• 3 additional Elvie “in it together” bank holidays for 2022
• 8 extra life leave days; getting married, moving house, menopause or just things that you can’t put a label on that matter to you
• 5=10 leave: 10 days’ additional leave on your 5th and 10th years of service!
• £100 contribution to your home working set up to spend as you see fit
• An annual personal development allowance of £200 and unlimited access to our learning and development platform, Learnerbly
• Generous parental leave policies; maternity, paternity/partner, shared & adoption
• Healthcare plans, life insurance, and an employee assistance program for you and your family
• A tax-efficient group pension scheme
• Group income protection; protect your salary if you get sick
• A free Elvie trainer for you to keep or give away when you join
• Generous employee and friends & family discounts on Elvie products
• Wellbeing support from YuLife and access to SmartHealth app with unlimited GP appointments for you and your family, plus various well-being initiatives throughout the year
• Lovely offices in great locations, with drinks and snacks provided, along with fun social events

What you can expect after you’ve applied:

A member of our recruitment team will reach out to you after they have reviewed your application. You must ensure your application is completed correctly, and we strongly encourage you to add a cover letter or note to let us know why Elvie’s the right fit for you.

We would like to get to know you through your background, attitude, experience and understand your motivation to work with us. Our interview process varies depending on the position, but it typically looks like this:

• 20-minute video call with one of our recruiters
• 30-45 minute video call with the hiring manager
• 45-60 minute video interview with the team (some positions may require you to complete a task/presentation)
• For some positions, there may be an additional interview with one of senior our leadership team

This is undoubtedly a great time to join Elvie. You’ll have a voice, make an impact, and have the opportunity to mould your role. So be ready to learn, have fun, and be inspired by our passionate, talented team — and having a sense of humor helps too. 😉

We can’t wait to hear from you!