Head of Legal

• Strategic legal partner driving business and compliance
• Builds and strengthens the legal team

About Our Client

For our client - a leading international organisation with a strong market presence and a complex operational footprint - we are conducting an executive search for a Head of Legal.

This role will serve as a key strategic partner to the Management Board, providing high-level legal leadership, shaping the company's risk posture, and overseeing all legal, regulatory and compliance matters across the Polish entity. The selected professional will play a critical role in safeguarding the business, enabling growth, and ensuring alignment with global corporate standards.

Job Description

• Provide strategic legal leadership to the Management Board and act as the primary legal advisor for critical business decisions
• Lead, develop and elevate the internal legal team to ensure capability, agility and alignment with business priorities
• Define the legal risk framework, identify exposure areas across the organisation and recommend effective mitigation strategies
• Monitor legislative and regulatory changes, assess their strategic and operational impact and advise the Board on required actions
• Deliver high-quality legal opinions and guidance to senior stakeholders with clear, pragmatic and business-relevant recommendations
• Partner with HR and senior business leaders on labour law matters, organisational changes, employee relations and compliance risks
• Lead key legal workstreams across strategic and operational projects, including transformations, process optimisation and commercial initiatives
• Ensure full compliance with national and EU regulations, with strong focus on labour law, corporate governance and internal controls
• Oversee contract negotiation, drafting and optimisation to safeguard the company's interests and support commercial objectives
• Manage cooperation with regulatory bodies, external law firms and supervisory authorities, including representation in labour-law matters
• Shape and maintain the organisation's internal policy and procedures framework to secure consistency, compliance and alignment with global standards

The Successful Applicant

• Master's degree in law combined with attorney-at-law qualifications
• Years of progressive experience in senior legal roles within complex, corporate and international organisations
• Deep expertise in labour law, regulatory matters and compliance frameworks, combined with strong understanding of broader business risk drivers
• Proven experience advising senior leadership and influencing decision-making at management-board level
• Ability to translate legal complexity into clear, actionable recommendations that enable business advancement and sound risk mitigation
• Strong team leadership capability supported by excellent communication, stakeholder management and negotiation skills
• High degree of independence, ownership and proactivity in navigating sensitive, time-critical or high-impact legal matters
• Very good command of English (B2/C1) with ability to operate effectively in an international corporate environment

What’s on Offer

• A Director role with direct impact on strategic decisions, organisational direction and legal-risk posture
• Opportunity to build, shape and further develop the internal legal function, compliance standards and governance framework
• Broad and influential remit covering labour law, contracts, business projects, compliance and advisory to all departments
• Hybrid working model
• Attractive bonus structure aligned with the seniority and impact of the role

Contact

Daria Krzysztal

Quote job ref

JN-012026-6918164