Senior Legal Counsel

Senior Legal Counsel

Ref: KA46652

A Japanese trading company based in the Netherlands is seeking a Senior Legal Counsel to join their Administration Department (Legal) in Amsterdam.

In this role, you will be responsible for drafting, reviewing, and negotiating a wide range of commercial agreements, supporting M&A transactions, ensuring compliance with applicable laws, and providing corporate legal support.

The ideal candidate should have expertise in commercial law, compliance, and M&A transactions.

ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS:

• (O) Eligible visa: Permanent residence, Spouse, Partner
• (X) NOT eligible: Student visa, requiring visa sponsorship, working holiday, Freelance

WORK TYPE: hybrid (2days working from home after 2month probation)

VISA SUPPORT: No

TYPE: full-time

WORKING HOURS: 9:00 - 17:30, Monday to Friday

SALARY: €70k - 85k depending on experience (Discretionary annual bonus. Commuting expenses in accordance with internal policies)

START: ASAP

LOCATION: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Senior Legal Counsel Main Responsibilities:

• Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of commercial agreements, including supply, distribution, service, guarantees, indemnities, and NDAs
• Support M&A transactions, including reviewing due diligence reports, structuring, drafting, and reviewing transaction documents
• Post-merger integration support from legal perspective
• Ensure compliance with applicable laws at national, EU, and international level
• Provide guidance on corporate governance, data protection (GDPR), anti-bribery, international sanctions, export controls and trade compliance
• Support in internal investigations
• Advise on general corporate matters, including board resolutions, corporate filings, and internal policies
• Liaising with notaries and corporate registers
• Act as trusted advisor to business units and collaborate with internal teams (e.g. HR, accounting) and liaise with external advisors, regulatory bodies. Collaborate with headquarters and group companies, such as exchange of information and cooperation with the legal teams in the headquarters or other regions
• Support for the aforementioned tasks for group companies in Europe
• Draft and conduct internal training and awareness programs
• Instruct and manage external legal advisors for specialized matters
• Monitor legal spend and ensure cost-effective legal support
• Internal approval process for the aforementioned matters

Senior Legal Counsel Ideal Candidate:

• 7+ years of post-qualification experience, ideally a mix of:

- Private practice at a reputable law firm (especially in corporate/M&A or commercial law); and

- In-house legal experience in a multinational or international corporate environment in a role involving contract negotiation, risk management, governance, and regulatory compliance across multiple jurisdictions

• Proven track record in:

- Drafting and negotiating complex commercial contracts

- Supporting M&A transactions from due diligence to closing

- Advising on compliance programs and risk mitigation

• Business level fluency in English
• Japanese or Dutch skills would be advantageous

Educational background

• Law degree from a reputable university
• Qualified to practice law in the Netherlands (or in another EU jurisdiction, the USA, Japan or the UK)
• Basic management skills (e.g. mentorship, team leader, management of a small team)
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, multicultural environment
• Ability to work independently while collaborating across functions and geographies
• Ability to influence at all levels and across functions

All applicants for the Senior Legal Counsel must have the right to work in the country as the Company is not able to offer visa support.

We regret that we cannot accept applications from Working holiday visa, Graduate or Student visa holders.

When contacting us, please include the job reference number (Ref: KA46652) at the top of your message.

If your application is successful, you will be contacted within two business days. We regret that due to the high volume of applications we receive we cannot provide feedback on individual CVs.