Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets.

We are more than 36,000 people, in over 70 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.

Role description:

Provide business-focused Legal, Compliance & Privacy (‘LCP’) support to the United Kingdom & Ireland (‘UK&I’) Board of Directors and Country lead aligned with the Arcadis and the country’s strategic objectives. 

The General Counsel role includes a 0.1 FTE UK&I Compliance Governance role and a 0.1 FTE UK&I Privacy Governance role. 

Role Location: United Kingdom & Ireland  

Reporting Lines: General Counsel, UK&I reports directly to the Global Legal Operations Director with a dotted reporting line into the UK&I Country Lead. There are also dotted reporting lines into the Global Compliance Officer and the Global Privacy Officer.

There are (currently) 9 direct reports being the LCP team members in the UK&I.
 

Role accountabilities:

Act as a business partner to support the country management team in decision-making

• Act as LCP Business Partner to the country management team – acting as an analytical and strategic thought partner and being timely involved in key decisions and topics that are related to cross-cutting country strategic decisions.
• Establish influential relationships and build knowledge of the country-specific priorities and challenges to support the strategic priorities of Arcadis. 
• Develop and maintain strong project-related and commercial understanding, actively participate in business processes, and support all LCP-relevant initiatives and programs.

Lead on all country legal matters

• Proactively manage LCP issues related to Arcadis’ UK&I business and support management and other stakeholders with constructive and pragmatic legal advice.
• Anticipate, effectively communicate, and mitigate LCP risks and identify opportunities relating to current business and business strategies.  
• Lead and line management the UK&I LCP team including managing resources and performance issues and supporting a People First approach to the retention and growth of the team members.
• Work with the key stakeholders on litigation management, dispute resolution, and settlement negotiations.
• Maintain structures and processes to ensure the UK&I business is well advised on and works within existing and new legislation, regulatory, governance, and contractual requirements. 
• Working closely with the Global Legal Operations Director to manage relationships with outside legal and other service providers ensuring all external legal spend is aligned with efforts to ensure efficiency of spend.

Add value through leveraging the global LCP team

• Proactively provide insights around country-specific LCP risks and topics drawing knowledge from the wider LCP team, the GBAs, and in close collaboration with the LCP Centers of Expertise (‘CoE’) and/or LCP Communities of Practice (‘CoP’).
• Participate with the wider LCP team and take an active role in group-wide LCP initiatives as agreed with the Global Legal Operations Director.
• Promote standardization and automation and avoid customization (save for where needed for local legal requirements). 
• Ensure alignment with the strategy of the global LCP function and provide relevant information, data, theme spotting, and reporting appropriate to the LCP function.

United Kingdom & Ireland Compliance (0.1 FTE governance role)

• Work with the UK&I Compliance Officer as Business Partners to the country management team on compliance matters in conjunction with the Global Compliance Officer. 
• Actively support in implementing the Global Compliance Program and support compliance initiatives consistently across the UK&I.

United Kingdom & Ireland Privacy (0.1 FTE governance role)

• Work with the UK&I Privacy Officer as Business Partners to the country management team on privacy matters in conjunction with the Global Privacy Officer.
• Actively participate in implementing the Global Privacy Program and support privacy initiatives consistently across the UK&I.  
• Oversee the PIA process embedding in UK&I and privacy-related internal audits.  

Accountability, Culture & Compliance

• Role model and engage on core values and behaviors (including the AGBP and the Six Privacy Rules).
• Leverage best practices across the UK&I.  
• Safeguard compliance with relevant laws and regulations, increase awareness, and provide or signpost additional training where needed in the UK&I. 

Key shared Accountabilities: 

• Together with the country management team, enable the opportunities and identify and manage LCP risks to support the growth and strategic ambitions of the UK&I business and the Arcadis Group. 
• Establish trusted and influential relationships with senior leaders on strategic priorities.
• Provide front-line advisory and drive initiatives with a strategic LCP or business impact through the United Kingdom & Ireland.  

Qualifications & Experience:

The candidate should have a relevant master’s degree, demonstrated progressive leadership experience in a legal capacity, and be qualified to practice law in the UK&I.

Further, the candidate should have: 

• Proven experience as a strong business partner with excellent business and operations knowledge. Experience of working in and the dynamics of a matrix organization is desirable (but not essential);
• A strong grasp of all major components of an LCP function (such as relevant governance and pursuit processes) and an ability and desire to drive operational excellence, including motivating and developing remote networks and teams;
• Excellent stakeholder management with the ability to work closely with senior leaders across the business; and
• High-level communication skills and expertise in consulting, coaching, and presenting in a clear and concise manner.

Why Arcadis?

We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It’s why we are pioneering a skills-based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.

You’ll do meaningful work, and no matter what role, you’ll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark, on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.

Together, we can create a lasting legacy.

Join Arcadis. Create a Legacy.

Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day, which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people.

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