Head Of Legal

Summary

Join YouGov's US business as their new Legal Director, reporting to the General Counsel in London. This role ensures the US business receives necessary legal counsel for sales and product development, maintaining efficient legal services. Responsibilities include advising leadership teams, providing commercial and IP advice, protecting US data, negotiating deals, managing a legal team, providing governance support, developing training resources, managing external counsel, and reporting to senior management. The ideal candidate is a qualified US attorney with significant in-house experience in commercial and IP matters, experience managing legal teams, and a passion for IP and data law. YouGov offers a competitive salary, remote work flexibility, comprehensive benefits, and the opportunity to work in a fast-growing, data-driven environment.

Requirements

• Qualified attorney and licensed to practise in any US state
• Must have significant knowledge and experience working in-house in an international team on commercial and IP matters
• Experience in managing a legal team
• Experience of providing legal and contractual advice to senior management in a large global organisation
• Must demonstrate passion and interest for IP and Data law and a willingness to continue to develop professional expertise in these areas to a high standard
• Excellent academics, including a law degree, j.d. or equivalent legal qualification
• Experience in an intellectual property or data centric business such as marketing, media, tech, advertising and/or publishing industry
• Some experience in drafting legal documents and reviewing commercial contracts to identify compliance risks
• A pragmatic and process driven approach to tasks and reporting
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills
• A commitment to YouGov values

Responsibilities

• Support the leadership teams in our US market with such local legal advice as they may require, working closely with other relevant functions as necessary
• Provide commercial and IP advice to US colleagues on the scope, meaning and interpretation of laws, regulations and guidance that are relevant to these markets
• Working closely with our Global DPO, ensure our US data is protected, and US data rights are respected
• Develop a good awareness of how we use copyright assets in our business and ensure we have methodologies in place for protecting those we create and use ourselves and clearing those that belong to third parties before we use them
• Provide a fully scoped commercial law advisory service to our Sales teams, including contract drafting and negotiation and, when necessary, dispute resolution
• Ensure that all our sales agreements reflect the commercial parameters of each deal, including ensuring the scope of the license granted reflects (a) the law (b) the price and (c) our future use of any relevant IP
• Further ensure that all sales and supplier contracts are concluded in a way that is consistent with all YouGov policies and approval thresholds
• Work with the General Counsel and colleagues from other markets to ensure the provision of a smooth and efficient legal service, including good matter management and the collection and curation of all business documents and records, ensuring the ongoing and increasing integration of the way YouGov receives legal advice and support across all products and regions
• Work with the General Counsel to lead, manage and develop a team of lawyers to support the delivery of the advice and support our US business
• Take responsibility for the day-to-day supervision of in-house lawyers in your region, ensuring they discharge their duties in accordance with their regulatory responsibilities and that they receive appropriate ongoing professional development
• Ensure your work and that of your team is at all times conducted in accordance with YouGov values and our team Purpose
• Provide legal input and expertise to other members of the Governance department as requested on all matters relating to Company Secretarial, Compliance, Communications Information Security, and M&A activity
• This may include reviewing and advising on due diligence for target companies and / or vendors, supporting post-acquisition integration work or providing specialist input into projects, audits or other work streams as requested
• Develop, deliver and maintain an appropriate suite of training resources so that relevant colleagues in the organisation know and understand how to manage and protect our people, assets and revenue
• Support the General Counsel with the management of our US external advisors
• This includes ensuring they know and understand our evolving business needs and strategy, that we know and understand the costs associated with their work at any one time and that there are good personal relationships between each firm and the members of the Legal & Data team
• Proactively advise the General Counsel if there is a need to change or retain additional US counsel
• Provide reports and updates as may be required by the General Counsel or Chief Governance and Compliance Officer from time to time
• Continually monitor new legislation and regulatory trends and developments in markets and areas relevance to your role
• Be an ambassador for YouGov within the global legal and data communities, attending events and contributing to discussion in such fora as are approved by the General Counsel

Benefits

• Paid vacation, holidays and sick days
• Flexible working arrangement available
• Group medical, dental and vision insurance
• Company-paid life and disability insurance
• Paid parental leave
• 401(k) with company match
• Ability to work remotely