As part of the Diageo Global Business Operations (GBO) team, the GBO Senior Legal Counsel will provide senior level guidance to the GBO Head and Leadership team to help facilitate the GBO agenda in all regions and markets. The incumbent will evaluate risks and opportunities across GBO’s four sites (Bangalore, Budapest, Bogota and Manila) and Six Experience Teams (Commercial, Supplier, Data, FP&A, Finance and Employee) and lead an overall GBO-level legal governance framework.

Stakeholders And Impact

Provides senior leadership and strategic advice to the following:

• Head of Diageo GBO and the GBO leadership team, in particular the Global Experience Team Leads, GBO Finance & Strategy Director and GBO Change and Transformation Director, as well as Location Heads at Budapest, Bangalore, Manila and Bogota. Member of GBO Leadership team.
• The Global Counsel – Business Integrity and Commercial Ops, as well as the Group Global General Counsel & Company Secretary regarding areas of significant or systemic risk in GBO which could impact financial or reputational performance.
• Market Legal Directors and other market collaborators when it comes to GBO-related risks and ways of working that impact or interact with the markets.

Dimensions

Financial: Market Complexity

• GBO is Diageo’s business services organization housing 2,000 professionals based primarily out of our four main hubs in Bangalore, Budapest, Bogota and Manila. GBO owns and delivers strategic financial and business services critical to the day-to-day performance of 21 Diageo markets
• Scope of Leadership Impact (Direct & Indirect Reports)
• Team of circa. 15, across multiple geographies, with three direct reports based in Budapest, Bangalore and Bogota.

About The Role

• GBO is a multi-functional global shared services function established to liberate and equip Diageo markets in over 160 countries to deliver the Diageo Performance Ambition. GBO has a global network of centres located in the four cities mentioned. Each centre offers a deep understanding of processes providing a standardised approach across a wide array of both financial and business services, all focused on driving a more effective and efficient business operations for Diageo internal customers, markets and global functions. GBO is organised into Six major functional process (“Experience areas”) with ~ 2,000 FTEs and operating with a cost base of approx. £60m. The Teams are as follows:
• Commercial Experience caters to various customer service activities like order management and cash collections;
• Financial Experience covers general accounting, management and Statutory reporting, and Treasury Operations
• Supplier Experience involves processing and managing purchase orders, payments, indirect purchasing support and T&E management;
• Employee Experience provides recruitment, employee on-boarding, reward and payroll processes, among other things;
• Data Experience handles vendor and customer data, commercial and financial data and compliances including KYC/KYBP etc.
• FP&A provides Financial Planning, Analysis and Business Performance Management to Markets and Functions
• Support a diverse and matrixed area of business operational services from customer, finance, HR, commercial and procurement matters in various jurisdictions and advising on various aspects of the shared services operation including compliance, commercial, marketing, procurement, finance, supply chain, litigation, labor law, SEZ compliances, environmental and data privacy amongst others.
• Evaluate risks and opportunities across GBO Towers and establish an overall GBO-level legal governance framework.
• Deliver all the above in the most efficient way and in accordance with the Diageo’s IP new-mindsets and protocols. Provide legal support to Diageo in management of the IP portfolio, and find opportunities to reduce end-to-end legal costs by optimizing use of internal and external legal resources.
• Ensure direct and indirect reports providing day to day legal support to Towers have the benefit of being handled, developed and led by a senior lawyer with strong in-house management and leadership capabilities. Build ways to partner between the teams at different locations.
• Liaise with in-market lawyers, as appropriate, to get synergies and efficiencies of legal advice pertaining to different jurisdictions.

Leadership Capabilities. The principal leadership capabilities to be demonstrated by the Senior Counsel are:

• Inspire through Purpose

Builds open, trusting, and honest relationships, effectively leading and influencing a wide range of people at all levels of the organisation, with sensitivity to different cultures. Independent self-starter with strong pro-active relationship building skills and able to effectively contribute to the achievement of desired outcomes through and with others but knowing when to call for colleague involvement and engagement in matters

• Win through Execution

Insists on high standards of delivery, demonstrates deep personal accountability for great performance, and scans the environment and adapts plans. Ability to deliver great performance, judging when and where to intervene and get involved in the detail, staying focused on commercial priorities and material risk / reputational areas.

• Invest in Talent

Build and coach diverse team to unlock performance & growth. Create an inclusive environment where everyone can be at their best. Instill agility and resilience in the team.Top Accountabilities

• Business Partnering
• Enable achievement of company’s objectives of GBO by pro-active fit for purpose legal support & advice that delivers brilliant execution & outcome-orientated solutions while appropriately managing and mitigating the associated legal risks and driving holistic performance to protect and maintain reputation.
• Act as the primary legal function’s leadership level business partner for GBO Head and Tower leaders, collaborating closely as necessary with other legal colleagues in Diageo markets, Global Legal Function SMEs, in particular HR, Data Privacy and Corporate Secretarial [and working closely with Data and Technology (D&T) and Information Security functional leaderships].
• Risk Management
• Support critical compliance and ethics agenda and embed practices which drive well-rounded performance to protect and maintain reputation in relation to GBO activities across markets, with pro-active input to address key business risks and handle issues to mitigate impact. Be the critical link in ensuring regulatory, statutory compliances – with focus on labour laws, as well as policies and processes that need streamlining and implementation across Towers and GBO locations.
• Key aspects will be to i) identify legal risks in Towers and introduce controls and approval metrics; ii) review and assess the inter-company recharge frameworks from regulatory and tax perspective, [in consultation with GBO Tax Governance team] and iii) provide legal advice to GBO Towers on requests from internal market customers relating to products and process provided by GBO to Diageo markets across jurisdictions.
• Cost Management
• Responsible for legal budget, must be confident in leading and delivering against budgetary targets, working with Finance and Global Legal Operations team and influencing the business.
• The role should contribute to overhead and cost-savings by effectively handling end-to-end legal spend incurred by/on behalf of the Towers it supports across multiple jurisdictions and take ownership of the relationship with certain external legal counsel.
• Legal Function Leadership
• Work closely with Lead Counsels in Bangalore and Budapest and Line Manager and coach, empower and lead indirect reports.
• Liaise with other market lawyers and relevant specialist lawyers and governance leads within Diageo, in particular Data Privacy Officer, Global Corporate Secretarial, HR & D&T Offices.
• Create the conditions for an engaged legal team, committed to personal growth and capability building, aligned behind and accountable for delivering performance vital to enable delivery of commercial business objectives.

Essential Professional Qualifications & Experience:

• Senior lawyer admitted to practice in leading global jurisdiction, with extensive commercial in- house experience gained (minimum of 8+ years PQE in a legal role) and extensive experience of leading teams and transactions in multiple common law or civil law jurisdictions.
• Experience of effectively leading, managing and motivating a team of colleagues and subordinates in multiple jurisdictions, and across different fields. It is crucial the person is capable of driving individual performance and a team dynamic/aspirations.

Key Functional Capabilities

Critical Thinking and Execution

• Ability to think strategically across different topics, and identify priorities; and to be flexible when changes are required.
• Ability to communicate strategy, vision, risks and opportunities clearly and succinctly; and a consistent track record to simplify complexities to enable execution.
• Capable of holding individuals and teams to account and driving towards execution of the commercial agenda, while holding the balance with legal, reputational, operational and commercial risk.

Cross-border Commercial Legal Experience

• Consistent track record of handling complex legal issues and dealing effectively with external legal service partners across different areas.
• Excellence in provision of legal leadership and advice across multiple countries, ensuring that sophisticated legal issues and risks are appropriately communicated and mitigated; proven ability to work in the commercial environment, to identify business critical issues and prioritise workload to align with business needs.
• Leadership and execution experience in both developed and emerging markets.

Professional And Interpersonal Skills

• Excellent analytical, drafting and negotiating skills, strong commercial and pragmatic approach – applies extensive knowledge of the law and understanding of the business, with proven track record to generate respect from both the business and colleagues for judgement, approach & commitment
• Excellent interpersonal/communication skills; significant experience of effective engagement at a senior level, always creating a good impression and being approachable, including taking an active role in coaching colleagues across the business; viewed as both a mentor and crucial reference point
• Experience leading or handling complex litigation and disputes, including the instruction and managing of external legal advisors

Management Capabilities

• Excellent professionalism, commitment and integrity, passion for and experience of inspiring and leading people; Confident in and sensitive to different cultures and a passion for Diageo’s success
• Ability to delegate, while maintaining sufficient involvement to lead and influence effectively.