Legal Director, Company Secretary at Guinness Nigeria Plc

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Legal Director, Company Secretary

Reference ID: JR1070868
Location: Ikeja, Lagos
Employment Type: Full Time
Worker Type: Regular
Level: Level 3
Reports To: Managing Director, Nigeria with a dotted line to the General Counsel Africa

Context / Scope

• Welcome to the Diageo world of exciting possibilities, a world of celebrating life every day, everywhere.
• Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands across spirits and beer – a business built on the principles and foundations laid by the giants of the industry. Our ambition is to be the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer products company in the world.  Head quartered in the UK we were recently named the UK’s most admired company by Management Today.
• We place the consumer at the heart of our business. Using world-class marketing and innovation skills, we aim is to build and sustain strong brands that play a positive role in society.  The company is structured in a market-based model, to deliver greater strategic agility within individual countries to meet the diverse needs of consumers and customers, and to quickly identify and act on consumer trends to support growth.
• Employing some 30,000 people globally, we view diversity as one of the key enablers that helps our business to grow and our values, purpose and standards set the conditions for us to respect the unique contribution each person brings.
• We are an iconic company in Nigeria, renowned across the continent and internationally for our high-quality brands. We also believe in enriching the communities in which we operate through investment and positive, active participation. We have a rich heritage and a great track record of growth and strong performance.
• We have more than 800 Full-time employees working for Diageo in Nigeria and over 2000 Contractors.  In all that we do, we seek to bring out the best of our Diageo values and live our purpose to celebrate life every day everywhere. In Africa we create wealth both directly through our operations and indirectly through our broader value chains where we support development and growth in partnership with businesses and communities.
• In line with our global ambition and company purpose we have exciting plans for the future. To be a part of Diageo is to be a part of history – and to have the unrivalled opportunity to make your own mark in history.

Are you ready to join us on our journey to create history in Nigeria and beyond?
Financial:

• The most significant financial contribution is the effective management of legal risk e.g. through clear commercial advice to business functions, contract negotiation and documentation, management of litigation, training of staff and by driving ethical and compliant behaviours to drive sustainable growth
• Deliver cost effective advice to the business via rigorous and effective management of external advisors, as well as diligent monitoring and tracking of internal and external budgets to ensure internal overheads and external spend is carefully controlled.

Corporate Structure:

• Guinness Nigeria is a majority owned subsidiary of Diageo & is the largest total beverage alcohol (TBA) Company in Nigeria with a range of spirits, beer and non-alcoholic drinks, & is listed on the Nigerian Stock exchange.
• We operate from our Headquarters in Lagos with two breweries in Ogba, Lagos State & Benin, Edo State

Purpose of Role

• Provide leadership to the Guinness Nigeria business.
• Ensure that the right people with the right capabilities are in place to deliver our Performance Ambition. Cultivate talent in the Guinness Nigeria Legal function to build and support an engaged function, committed to personal growth and capability building, aligned behind and accountable for business performance, creating an inclusive environment where people can be themselves and leveraging the rich and multi-dimensional diversity of the team.
• Be an active member of the Diageo legal function and participate in Diageo legal function activities/meetings and initiatives.
• Oversight and management of all material legal, security and brand protection issues in Nigeria.
• Enable Guinness Nigeria to achieve its business objectives in a legally compliant way while unlocking commercial opportunity through good practice.
• Preserve value (financial and reputational) by minimising the risk of value leakage and litigation and maintaining compliance with laws and Guinness Nigeria’s Codes.
• Support Guinness Nigeria in developing best practice corporate governance, understanding Statement of Authorities.
• Ensure the Function’s activities are prioritised, and the Function is staffed internally and externally to maximise Guinness Nigeria’s business objectives and performance.

Leadership Responsibilities:

• Management and oversight of the entire end to end Legal Function agenda comprising Legal, Corporate Security, Brand Protection, Company Secretarial and Records Management
• Provide direct line management responsibility & inspiring leadership to a pro-active, committed and highly competent end to end Guinness Nigeria Legal team, comprising of Legal, Corporate Security, Brand Protection, Company Secretarial and Records Management.
• Proactively provide commercial and pragmatic legal advice and solutions for all aspects of Guinness Nigeria’s business.
• A proactive member of and lead advisor to the Guinness Nigeria Executive team as well as key advisor to the Guinness Nigeria Board of Directors.
• Be a lead driver in ensuring that Diageo/Guinness Nigeria’s codes and policies are adhered to & drive sustainable behaviours where the local laws may be less rigorous than the codes and policies, including provision of on-point training.
• Responsible for ensuring good corporate governance including advising on best practice and training across a number of functions.
• Responsible for all aspects of the Company’s compliance agenda and be the local subject matter expert for Company policies. 
• Work closely with the Diageo Legal Function to take advantage of appropriate functional experience and support.

Top Accountabilities

• Function as a highly effective legal and business partner.  Stay particularly close to the Guinness Nigeria Managing Director and Finance Director.
• Defend and protect GNPLC from avoidable litigations/ suites
• Provide & be fully accountable for oversight and management of the Guinness Nigeria Company Secretarial in managing the Company board, board committees and general meetings.
• Ensure that the Legal Function is an integral part of the Guinness Nigeria business (including visibility in-market) so it receives appropriate commercial and other functional inputs.
• Embed functional best practice in the business.
• Be accountable for Data privacy & “Know your Business Partner” (KYBP) enforcement.
• Provide specific legal Support on Tax, regional and national regulations that impact GNPLC commercial freedoms
• Achieve the right balance between hands – on “doing” of legal work, managing external lawyers and training of staff on relevant topics.

Qualifications and Experience Required

• Formal legal qualifications and training as required by law to work as a legal practitioner in Nigeria.
• Strong corporate and commercial law background, preferably with experience of senior in-house practice at a multi-national corporate in addition to experience at a leading private practice law firm.
• A strong working knowledge of the following legal areas – contracts, product liability, IP, employment, antitrust, litigation, corporate governance.
• A track record of effectively managing external lawyers generally and in relation to a large, outsourced litigation caseload.
• Strong, analytical, drafting and negotiating skills.
• Open and outward looking attitude.
• Strong inter-personal/communication skills.
• High degree of performance, potential and reliability.
• Ability to work confidently and stand ground with more senior managers.
• Strong commercial and pragmatic approach.
• Line management experience and strong coaching and leadership skills.
• Ability to impact and influence upwards.
• At least 15 years post qualification experience as a lawyer.

Barriers to Success in Role:

• Inability to constantly reprioritise and manage expectations from a large and demanding business in a role that interacts with a high proportion of senior level managers.
• Inability to understand and manage ambiguity and risk in an appropriate manner.
• Inability to gain trust of senior stakeholders as a “hands on” legal advisor, able to execute brilliantly as well as oversee team members
• Unwillingness to take and maintain strong positions with senior commercial management.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online