Sole Legal Counsel

Sole Legal Counsel | £70,000–£90,000

London (hybrid) | 18-month FTC (Maternity Cover)

All the relevant skills, qualifications and experience that a successful applicant will need are listed in the following description.

An opportunity to hold sole responsibility for a company's entire legal function, reporting directly to the CEO.

We're recruiting a Sole Legal Counsel for a growing, independent power company that develops and operates renewable and thermal energy assets across sub-Saharan Africa. The current Legal Counsel is going on maternity leave, and this role will be the only in-house legal resource in the business for the duration, working closely with the CEO, CFO and wider executive team, and with a close-knit team of 13 in the London office.

This isn't a supporting role. You'll manage the company's day-to-day legal requirements and lead on a broad and varied remit, including:

• Reviewing, drafting and negotiating a wide range of corporate, commercial and transactional documentation, including SPAs, shareholders' agreements, joint development and other project development agreements, facility and finance documents, term sheets, NDAs and other commercial contracts
• Providing legal support on M&A, project development, financing and other corporate transactions, including managing legal workstreams, due diligence, transaction documents and signing/completion processes
• Liaising with, instructing and managing external legal counsel and other advisers, including determining when specialist external advice is required
• Providing practical, commercial legal advice to the CEO, CFO and wider team on day-to-day legal, contractual, compliance and regulatory matters
• Engaging with the company's external stakeholders, counterparties and advisers as required
• Managing the company's corporate governance requirements, including preparing and reviewing board and shareholder documentation, maintaining corporate records and supporting quarterly board meetings

The team is small, supportive and genuinely close-knit, with a flat structure and an entrepreneurial, get-stuck-in mentality. People here work across functions rather than in silos, and there's a strong sense of shared purpose in the company's mission to expand access to power across Africa.

We're looking for:

• A fully qualified lawyer with at least 6 years' PQE; qualification in England & Wales is preferred, though other common law jurisdictions will be considered
• Strong corporate and commercial experience, ideally with exposure to M&A, energy, infrastructure, projects and/or finance transactions, as well as corporate governance
• Previous in-house experience, particularly within a small legal team or a role requiring a high degree of autonomy, would be advantageous
• Comfortable operating independently as the sole in-house legal resource, with the judgement to identify legal risk and know when to bring in external advice
• Commercial and pragmatic, with the ability to build trust quickly as adviser to senior management
• Availability to start in October 2026

On offer: a salary of £75,000–£90,000, 25 days' holiday, private medical healthcare, and genuine ownership of a legal function that reports at CEO level. xwzovoh

Hybrid working, with three days a week (Tuesday to Thursday) in the London office.