Legal Counsel - Middle East & Africa

The opportunity

We are seeking a motivated and enthusiastic Legal Counsel to join our team. In this role, you will be providing full-spectrum legal support across Corporate Functions and Business Units including Grid Integration, Grid Automation, High Voltage, Transformers, and Services.

How you’ll make an impact            

• Drafting, reviewing, negotiating, interpreting and advising on legal documents and contracts in collaboration with the business to achieve the best commercial outcome whilst mitigating risk
• Providing strategic legal advice on a broad range of matters including contract law, litigation, transactions/anti-trust, compliance, intellectual property, employment/labor, corporate governance, ethics and others.
• Developing close working relationships with Hitachi Energy’s internal customers including commercial business teams and supply chain functions
• Reviewing policies and other documents from vendors, customers and other third parties ensuring compliance with policies.
• Researching, analyzing, and interpreting laws, statutes, and regulations.
• Developing awareness of legal issues and their implications across all areas of the business.    
• Advising on claims liability, legal rights and obligations and overseeing disputes and litigation matters.
• Supporting business units in managing contractual claims and advise on the resolution of disputes or litigation through external advisors when necessary.
• Participating in and promoting activities to ensure employees conduct business in compliance with the internal Hitachi Energy directives and applicable local laws.
• Proactively developing effective legal strategies and practical solutions to address legal issues.
• Monitoring legal affairs, including but not limited to litigations and activity reports.
• Drafting and reviewing of Request for Quotations and input to Pre-Qualification Questionnaire, tender preparation, risks identification, risk review, negotiations of contracts, framework agreements, partnerships, settlements, etc. all in coordination with key internal stakeholders.
• Planning and coordinating legal training.
• Facilitating the sharing of best practices and ensuring harmonized and standardized processes are applied across Hitachi Energy to deliver consistent and optimized support to the business.
• Assisting with the implementation and the monitoring of integrity across Hitachi Energy and act as a personal role-model in this regard.
• Responsible for ensuring compliance with applicable external and internal regulations, procedures, and guidelines. Support Corporate Legal and Compliance functions responsible to avoid non-compliance.
• Supporting the implementation of the Code of Ethic and Business Conduct and assisting with the resolution of integrity-related issues and other actions
• You will be responsible for ensuring compliance with applicable external and internal regulations, procedures, and guidelines. 
• Living Hitachi Energy’s core values safety and integrity, which means taking responsibility for your own actions while caring for your colleagues and the business.

Your background      

• Bachelor’s degree in law.
• A qualified lawyer with a minimum of 10 years of post-qualification experience
• Ideally 5+ years of experience as in-house legal counsel or in legal practice relating to major utilities construction/engineering projects with a successful track record of handling complex international corporation and commercial transactions.
• Strong experience in contract law and commercial negotiations.
• Good analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Well-developed communication and interpersonal skills including team spirit as well as the ability to influence people at all levels.
• High level of integrity and ethical standards.
• Proficiency in Arabic is a plus.
• Bar admission is preferred but not mandatory.
• Proficiency in both spoken & written English is required.