Regional Lead Counsel – Americas

JOB PROFILE

Job Position: Lead Employment Counsel – Americas

Function: Legal

Reports to: Senior Employment Counsel - Americas

Scope:  Spanish speaking LatAm

Location: Mexico City (Powerhouse)

Business Context

The Employment Legal function sits within the Corporate Centre and provides employment law support to enable Unilever to deliver its business objectives while appropriately managing risk.  This is a new team within the Legal function.   Unilever’s Legal function consists of around 400 lawyers and specialists globally.

We are looking to hire an expert Lead Counsel who can lead the provision legal support for the full range of employment law issues which impact Unilever’s business across Spanish speaking Latin America.    

Main Purpose

This is an exciting new role where the successful candidate will be expected to establish strong relationships with Human Resources colleagues and support them across the full range of contentious and non-contentious work.   The individual will be expected to operate with a high degree of autonomy and work with minimal supervision. The individual will also have the opportunity to help shape the future of the Employment Law team.

Lead employment law legal support across Spanish speaking Latin America

• Partner with HR teams and other stakeholders to provide support for all contentious and non-contentious employment law work.
• Working with the IR/ER team to provide advice on employee relations matters, including issues related to collective bargaining and trade unions.
• Providing expert advice and input in relation to global projects, policies and other initiatives.
• Supporting the Business Integrity team in relation to employment related investigations and other compliance issues.
• Responsibility for the engagement and use of outside counsel across the region, including managing to a budget.
• Proactively identifying, addressing and managing legal risk issues related to employment law.
• Keeping up to date on employment law developments and providing thought leadership as to the impact on Unilever
• Conducting training and building knowhow as required for both HR and non-HR colleagues.

Essential Skills & Relevant Experience

• Qualified lawyer in Mexico with significant experience advising organisations on employment law issues across Spanish speaking Latin America.
• Deep experience advising in relation to the full range of employment issues, including trade union and other collective issues, on a cross-border basis.
• Experience in working in a complex multinational organisation – either directly or on a secondment basis.
• Demonstrable experience of driving change
• Ability to operate and exercise judgement independently
• Ability to influence and manage multiple internal and external stakeholders.   Ability to deliver through others and with limited resources.
• Ability to engage on technical topics and communicate them in a clear and easy-to-understand manner.  
• Experience in preparing executive briefings and presentations.
• Ability to translate global strategies locally.
• Comfortable with uncertainty, able to exercise judgement in a fast-moving environment.
• Fluent in Spanish and English

Unilever is an organisation committed to equity, inclusion and diversity to drive our business results and create a better future, every day, for our diverse employees, global consumers, partners, and communities. We believe a diverse workforce allows us to match our growth ambitions and drive inclusion across the business. At Unilever we are interested in every individual bringing their ‘Whole Self’ to work and this includes you! Thus if you require any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at the time of your application so that we can support you through your recruitment journey.