Senior Legal Advisor, Johannesburg

Are you an aspiring Senior Legal Counsel advisor? This role offers the opportunity to act as a strategic legal partner, providing embedded support across commercial, bid, and delivery teams to drive business objectives within a strong legal and governance framework. You will be involved across the full deal lifecycle, from opportunity and bid stages through to contract execution and delivery, working on both private and public sector engagements. With exposure to regulated and ICT-driven environments, you will play a key role in ensuring compliance, managing risk, and enabling effective business decision‑making.

What you’ll do:

Business Partnering and Strategic Deal Support

Act as a senior legal partner to the business, providing practical, commercially sound, and strategic legal guidance.

Support opportunity assessment, deal structuring, and bid participation.

Advise on tender documentation and commercial terms, including public sector RFPs where applicable.

Influence deal strategy and contribute to go / no-go decisions.

Ensure alignment with internal governance requirements, including Delegation of Authority and approval frameworks.

Identify legal and commercial risks early and propose pragmatic mitigation strategies.

Contracting and Negotiation

Draft, review, and negotiate complex commercial agreements, including master services agreements, customer contracts, supplier, partner, and subcontracting agreements, joint venture and consortium arrangements.

Ensure appropriate risk allocation, including liability, indemnities, service levels, pricing structures, and performance obligations.

Dispute Resolution and Claims Management

Advise on disputes, claims, and contract interpretation issues.

Support resolution strategies, including negotiation and settlement.

Manage external counsel to ensure cost‑effective and commercially sound outcomes.

Stakeholder Engagement

Work closely with business leadership, commercial teams, finance, procurement, and risk functions.

Engage directly with customers, partners, and external stakeholders, including public sector entities where applicable.

Provide clear, concise, and commercially relevant legal guidance to non‑legal stakeholders.

Legal Operations and Continuous Improvement

Assist with development of standard positions and support training and upskilling of business teams on legal and regulatory requirements.

Drive efficiencies in contracting and legal service delivery.

Strategic Risk and Deal Shaping

Provide strategic input into opportunity assessment, including go / no-go considerations within business.

Identify and elevate transactions that fall outside the organisation’s risk appetite.

Support evaluation of counterparties, partners, and deal structure.

Advise on legal and commercial risk across the contract lifecycle, including post‑award delivery, variations, and performance.

Regulatory, Compliance, Risk Management and Governance

Provide legal advice on inter alia corporate and commercial law, data protection and privacy, public sector procurement frameworks where relevant, including but not limited to the Public Finance Management Act and related Treasury regulations, industry-specific regulatory considerations applicable to the ICT sector.

Support the business in ensuring compliance with applicable laws, internal policies, and governance standards.

Identify and manage legal, regulatory, and reputational risks across transactions and operations.

Ensure compliance with internal governance frameworks, including Delegations of Authority and policy requirements.

Support governance forums with clear and actionable legal input.

Escalate material risks appropriately and provide clear recommendations.

Your expertise:

5+ years post‑qualification experience, preferably with experience in corporate or commercial legal environment.

Strong experience in commercial and corporate law.

Exposure to technology, ICT or regulated industries advantageous.

Qualifications:

LLB degree (admitted attorney essential)

Key Competencies

Commercially minded with strong business judgment.

Excellent drafting, negotiation, and analytical skills.

Ability to manage multiple complex matters under pressure.

Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills.

Pragmatic, adaptable, and solutions‑focused.

Personal Attributes

Confident, professional, and resilient.

Able to operate independently with minimal supervision.

High integrity and sound ethical judgment.

Team‑oriented with strong collaboration and influencing ability.

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