Legal Counsel

JOB DESCRIPTION – GENERAL COUNSEL

Employment Type

Full-time

Location

Remote in India preferred, or Chennai, with travel as required for business purposes

Reporting

Jointly to Founder/MD Office and Chief Financial Officer

Experience Required

Minimum 12 years of post-qualification corporate legal experience

ROLE OVERVIEW

A reputed services organization headquartered in Singapore, operating across jurisdictions and combining services delivery with regulated, customer-facing training operations, seeks a commercially astute General Counsel to lead its legal, contracting, compliance, and governance functions. Reporting jointly to the Founder/MD Office and Chief Financial Officer, the General Counsel will provide commercially practical, governance-focused advice on legal risk, commercial contracts, regulatory matters, cross-border operations, and stakeholder-facing issues, while supporting disciplined and sustainable growth.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

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Lead the legal aspects of the organization’s commercial contracting framework, including drafting, review, negotiation, approval support, and lifecycle governance for key agreements such as MSAs, SOWs, NDAs, vendor and procurement agreements, licensing and SaaS agreements, partnership agreements, and employment-related contracts.

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Advise on legal matters relating to service delivery, customer onboarding, trainee and participant documentation, fee, refund and cancellation terms, service levels, complaints, and dispute resolution.

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Provide legal support for domestic and international business transactions and other strategic commercial initiatives.

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Provide practical, decision-oriented advice to the Founder/MD Office, CFO, executive leadership, and business teams on corporate, commercial, regulatory, employment, and governance matters.

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Support the development and implementation of a risk-based compliance framework covering applicable laws, regulatory obligations, data privacy requirements, policies, controls, training, monitoring, investigations, and remediation, in coordination with management and functional teams.

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Provide legal support for M&A transactions, investments, restructuring, and strategic partnerships, including due diligence, negotiation, documentation, signing, closing, and post-closing matters.

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Provide legal support for corporate governance activities, including Board and committee processes, preparation of resolutions and minutes, maintenance of statutory records, and coordination of statutory filings.

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Identify, assess, and communicate material legal and regulatory risks to the Founder/MD Office, CFO, and relevant members of leadership, and recommend proportionate mitigation, escalation, and remediation strategies.

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Select, instruct, and manage external legal counsel across jurisdictions, including coordination of scope, performance, and fee arrangements in consultation with the CFO and relevant leadership.

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Oversee legal aspects of disputes, arbitration, litigation, investigations, and legal notices, including legal strategy, coordination with external counsel, and reporting of material exposure to the Founder/MD Office, CFO, and relevant members of leadership, subject to appropriate internal approvals.

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Contribute to the development of a scalable legal operating model, including matter prioritization, service standards, external counsel coordination, contract governance, templates, policies, SOPs, reporting, and the future development of the in-house legal team.

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Conduct legal awareness and compliance training for relevant stakeholders.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

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LL.B. and/or LL.M. from a reputed university in India, Singapore, the United Kingdom, or the United States. Additional professionally relevant certifications in corporate law, governance, taxation, or compliance would be an advantage.

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Minimum 12 years of post-qualification corporate legal experience, including substantial in-house experience in a services, training, education-adjacent, technology-enabled, or multinational organization.

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Strong knowledge of corporate, commercial, contract, employment, and regulatory law.

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Demonstrated experience negotiating complex international commercial contracts.

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Demonstrated ability to lead cross-border legal matters and manage local counsel across Asia-Pacific and the United States. Exposure to the Middle East, Europe, and/or the United Kingdom would be an advantage; deep expertise in each jurisdiction is not required.

KEY SKILLS

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Contract drafting and negotiation

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Legal research and analytical ability

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Commercial acumen and risk assessment

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Executive presence and the ability to influence the Founder/MD Office, CFO, Board, senior leadership, and cross-functional stakeholders through clear, pragmatic advice.

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Strong verbal and written communication

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Ability to independently manage multiple priorities

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High integrity, professionalism, and attention to detail

PREFERRED BACKGROUND

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Experience in multinational organizations, global capability centers, services, training, education-adjacent, or other regulated customer-facing businesses.

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Exposure to cross-border transactions and international regulatory compliance.

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Exposure to legal matters involving trainees, students, participants, or customers, including service terms, disclosures, data handling, complaints, refunds, and dispute resolution.

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Experience using contract lifecycle management (CLM) tools.