1UL SPAIN General Legal Counsel 

With 3.4 billion people in over 190 countries using our products every day, Unilever is a business that makes a real impact on the world. Work on brands that are loved and improve the lives of our consumers and the communities around us. We are driven by our purpose: to make sustainable living commonplace, and it is our belief that doing business the right way drives superior performance. At the heart of what we do is our people – we believe that when our people work with purpose, we will create a better business and a better world. 

At Unilever, your career will be a unique journey, grounded in our inclusive, collaborative, and flexible working environment. We don’t believe in the ‘one size fits all’ approach and instead we will equip you with the tools you need to shape your own future.

JOB PURPOSE

Find your purpose at Unilever. You will lead innovations, big and small, that will make our business win and grow. You will learn from brilliant business leaders and colleagues in a truly global and diverse culture to ultimately become a better you. If you are a lawyer who is passionate about delivering legal business partnering in a dynamic environment focused on innovation, clear growth priorities and creative solutions then this role is just for you.

WHAT WILL YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BE

• This role covers a broad range of legal support across all 4 Unilever Business Units (Personal Care, Home Care, Nutrition and Beauty & Wellbeing) in Spain.
• Business Partnering the business in Spain as the first point of contact for all legal matters including marketing, sales, distribution and supply chain related legal matters as well as corporate law, local litigation and compliance topics.
• Closely collaborate with Unilever’s dedicated global expert legal teams on topics such as data privacy, business integrity and competition law.  
• Provide legal advice and commercial risk analysis to the Spanish marketing and R&D teams on legality and support for product claims and marketing materials in line with all relevant local legal and regulatory laws and guidelines governing the products in collaboration with the Regulatory team and with the teams working globally and regionally on marketing asset development and product launches.
• Provide legal advice and trainings on legal topics including competition law issues.
• Coordinate and defend, in accordance with the business strategy, out-going and in-coming competitive challenges in respect of product claims, marketing campaigns etc.
• Coordinate and defend, in accordance with the business strategy in -coming and out-going litigation in collaboration with the global Litigation team.
• Provide strategic legal advice on initiatives and material agreements with customers and suppliers to ensure full compliance within the organization.
• Member of Spanish business Leadership team.
• Align legal strategy and exchange best practices with other Unilever lawyers in the 1 UL Europe region and, as necessary, also with the European legal team in the BG led EU markets and the global legal teams within Unilever to optimally manage and mitigate risk.
• Select and manage external counsel as and when required.
• Act as a mentor to select members of Unilever’s Powerhouse team who are co-located in Viladecans but don’t report to this role.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO SUCCEED

• Must be able to be pragmatic and quickly and agilely prioritize competing demands whilst leveraging internal expertise from colleagues within the broader Unilever legal team.
• Must be able to quickly assimilate information, scoping out legal risks and provide pragmatic, commercial advice to the business, with a solution orientated approach.
• Must be able to lead senior decision makers, including coordinating input from several business partners, such as R&D and Regulatory Affairs.
• Excellent communication skills both written and oral: ability to communicate with business partners
• Must consistently bring their best self to a role of strategic importance.
• Strong organizational and prioritization skills required in a role that has a significant range of contractual arrangements and innovative marketing models requiring broad-based business acumen.

Experiences & Qualifications

• Spanish qualified lawyer with 8+ years of post qualification experience of general marketing/commercial/corporate/compliance legal experience.
• Experience sitting on business leadership teams and/or providing counsel to senior business leaders.
• Experience working cross-functionally with multiple stakeholders.
• Broad-based legal experience supporting a consumer business, including drafting and negotiating a variety of commercial agreements with a specific knowledge on Spanish commercial law

Skills

• Legal expertise – broad based legal generalist skills with emphasis on commercial law
• Fluency in Spanish.
• Excellent English language skills are required. Additional language skills (Catalan) are desirable but not a pre-requisite.
• Problem solving - ability to analyze  & propose legally and commercially viable solutions.
• Business acumen – strategic understanding, application and execution.
• Stakeholder management - influence key stakeholders and act as an agent for change.
• Collaboration – working successfully with both business and cross-functional teams.
• Decision making - exhibits solid judgment and integrity.
• Risk management – demonstrates a successful combination of rigour and pragmatism.
• Project management - excellent organization, execution, and project management skills. 

Leadership

• Critical SOL (Standards of Leadership) Behaviors
  • PERSONAL MASTERY: Sets high standards for themselves. Has emotional intelligence to take feedback, manage mood and motivations, and build empathy for others.
  • PASSION FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE: Generates intensity and focus to motivate people to deliver results at speed. Takes personal responsibility and accountability for execution and results.
  • TALENT CATALYST: Invests in people – coaches individuals and teams to realize their full potential. Creates an inclusive climate, empowering everyone to be at their best.
  • PURPOSE & SERVICE: Has humility, understanding that leadership is service to others, inside and outside Unilever.
  • CONSUMER LOVE: Invests time inside and outside to understand the needs of consumers.
  • BUSINESS ACUMEN: Creates sustainable growth with purpose, engaging different partners across the system for change.

Unilever embraces diversity and encourages applicants from all walks of life! This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuing development of all employees regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity. 

This is an office-based role (Viladecans/Barcelona) and requires 40% of time attendance on site.

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.