Associate Counsel, New Categories

at  British American Tobacco

BAT is evolving at pace - truly like no other organisation. To achieve the ambition we have set for ourselves, we are looking for colleagues who are ready to live our Values every day. Come be a part of this journey!

ROLE POSITIONING AND OBJECTIVES

The Associate Counsel is responsible for:

• Delivering and ensuring the legal team delivers high quality and timely legal support to the company through the application of excellent counselling, drafting and time management skills.
• Supporting the legal team in drafting contracts and maintaining contract templates.
• Providing pragmatic advice and support to the company and relevant functions, locally and globally.
• Ensuring robust corporate governance is in place for internal compliance.
• Supporting legal and regulatory risks of the company’s business operations in all aspects and safeguarding the company’s legitimate business rights to pursue strategic objectives.
• Ensuring efficient administration and management of the New Categories legal team agreements portfolio.

The Associate Counsel is a member of the New Categories legal team (part of Business, Integrity and Compliance (BIC) Legal team) and is based in Malaysia, reporting to the Legal Counsel. The job holder will be working in a dynamic, fast-paced environment and will be expected to engage confidently and effectively with local and global stakeholders. The job holder will provide contract management support and dedicated specialist legal and commercial advice and expertise to all relevant functions, as advised from time to time, on agreements.
Reports to: Legal Counsel
Geographic Scope: Global

WHAT YOU WILL BE ACCOUNTABLE FOR

i) Business

• Act as commercial counsel to the New Categories business, with a focus on all aspects of third-party procurement, supplier relationships and distribution, as well as providing strategic input to support New Categories business initiatives.
• Structure, negotiate, draft, and advise on execution of New Categories transactions including distribution agreements, partnering agreements and manufacturing or supply agreements and non-disclosure agreements.
• Understand the structure of New Categories agreements and advising stakeholders on general legal questions related to these agreements.
• Provide guidance on application of Group policies, procedures and governance to proposed and operational third party and intra-group New Categories arrangements involving Nicoventures Trading and other Nicoventures/BAT group entities.
• Support the implementation of new business processes.
• Support the New Categories Legal team with its plans of bringing efficiencies in relation to the negotiation of commercial contracts, the administration and management of its contract portfolio (and such other portfolios maintained or required to be maintained by the team) and its SharePoint/Teams site as first point of call for its key stakeholders.
• Support the overall contract management system and processes including drafting, negotiating and executing contracts pursuant to the company’s contract management policy.
• Ensure proper corporate governance in place for internal compliance, including by advising on the presentation of proposed New Categories transactional matters for consideration and approval by the New Categories leadership team or other appropriate board or committee.
• Organise and collect materials in response to scheduled audits or general information requests from stakeholders (including data mining).
• Ensure collaboration and contribution of subject matter experts, managing communication with internal/external stakeholders during projects or contracting process and collaborating with legal and business teams to drive initiatives / contracts to conclusion and follow-up on required contributions.
• Maintain accurate records, reports, project metrics etc. and trackers (including for contractual terms) using meticulous attention to detail and organisation.
• Proactively support to drive corporate strategies in Legal driven areas as a member of the BIC Legal team.
• Create and maintain a database of relevant work product and general advice.
• Ensure good information flows between business contacts, Legal and other business partners about business initiatives to ensure agreements are executed within the required timeframe to best support the business needs.

ii) People

• Embrace the company’s values, vision, and culture by actively applying these to the role and advocating these with colleagues.
• Demonstrate excellence in own work by improving technical and managerial skills as identified and agreed in personal development plan.
• Proactively seek to identify opportunities to create legal awareness and working to improve the company’s position. Job Advert
• Demonstrate personal and professional experience by: ❖ sharing best practices and knowledge efficiently; and ❖ concentrating at being lawyers at the heart of the business.
• Establish strong links with the Global Legal community and contribute to the success of the Legal function.
• Proactively engage and work cross-functionally and effectively with stakeholders globally to fully understand and support their business needs.
• Keep abreast of developments in the relevant areas of law and to advise functions and stakeholders of the legal impact, when appropriate.
• Identify opportunities to develop and apply standardized processes and documentation to support simplification, improve productivity and reduce complexity.
• Work closely within the BIC Legal team to support a ‘One Team’ concept.
• Demonstrate continuous improvement and development of self by always ensuring behaviour aligns with the company’s Values.
• Support the team’s initiative in building an Interconnected Team within the Ops and Commercial Legal Team.

At BAT we are committed to our Purpose of creating A Better Tomorrow. This is what drives our people and our passion for innovation. See what is possible for you at BAT.

• Global Top Employer with 53,000 BAT people across more than 180 markets.
• Brands sold in over 200 markets, made in 44 factories in 42 countries.
• Newly established Tech Hubs building world-class capabilities for innovation in 4 strategic locations.
• Diversity leader in the Financial Times and International Women’s Day Best Practice winner.
• Seal Award winner – one of 50 most sustainable companies