Legal Counsel: Commercial and Dispute Resolution - Cape Town HQ at PepsiCo

What we're looking for

We’re looking for a Legal Counsel: Commercial and Dispute Resolution to join our team. Under the guidance and supervision of the Legal Director, this role supports the IT, supply chain (warehouse & logistics) & procurement (indirect) functions and has overall responsibility for dispute resolution for SA BU.  This role requires sound commercial acumen and commercial legal expertise, a high level of work ethic, independent functioning and excellent stakeholder management.

Key responsibilities are:

IT, Supply Chain & Procurement

• Advise, review and provide legal support in relation to supply chain & procurement as a single point of contact for functional leaders within the relevant functions.
• Represent legal as member of various project teams to advice on legal risks, enabled commercial solutions and all documentation requirements.
• Accountable to ensure all agreement are compliant with all relevant laws and codes of practice; draft and negotiate all related contractual commitments.
• Accountable to ensure all projects are compliant with all relevant laws and codes of practice; draft and negotiate all related contractual commitments
• Participate in any Functional LT structures within core role requirement.
• Lead development of tender processes and documentation in support thereof.
• Assume responsibility for development of colleagues identified as secondary support for role requirements to enable flexibility and backfill support;
• Support to Sector in key projects that impact the role client base.

Dispute Resolution

• Advise, review, negotiate and settle disputes with third parties;
• Instruct external legal counsel to support formal litigation both locally in the BU and also foreign territories;
• End-to-End management of litigation to conclusion to include any settlement before judgement, cross-functional input to effectively defend the company, proactive management of impact to business and the financial reporting.

Training

• Provide training to the wider business population on relevant topics to include annual face-to-face PepsiCo Anti-Bribery and Code of Conduct training. Develop processes and deliver training to business to enabled compliance with mandatory processes and to satisfy data mining Sector mandates.

Qualifications

• Solid commercial acumen and excellent drafting and negotiation skills for high-value legal documents (i.e. Supply Agreements, Service Agreements,  Settlement Agreements) using company templates as a base.

• Intellectual Property law experience an advantage, but basic IP law knowledge required.

• Ability to timely resolve instructions in support of a fast-moving consumer goods company that requires agility from support functions such as the legal department.

• Excellent communication skills, management of high volume of workload against constant competing priorities and stakeholders across all levels within the organization.

• Flexibility in working style to adapt to working with different lawyers and client groups
• Comfortable seeking guidance from senior lawyers frequently when dealing with ambiguity
• Good attention to detail and ability to learn quickly and execute consistently
• Adaptable to meet short deadlines and provide regular feedback to clients and legal colleagues
• Taking initiative and and display total ownership on matters with high-level of independency while seekin guidance from Senior lawyers as needed
• Minimum requirements: Have a good working understanding of Companies Act, Competition Law, solid commercial contract drafting skills, Litigation experience at minimum Magistrate court level (civil procedure), Consumer Protection Legislation,
• Preference for: FMCG experience, solid understanding and experience in supply chain & procurement
• Anti-Bribery Legislation knowledge is preferable.
• Must be adaptable to work in fast paced complex commercial environment with a high priority on attention to detail whilst working 
• Role requires incumbent to participate in contract negotiations and tenders alongside cross-functional senior managers and provide accurate and comprehensive legal support to business clients.