Legal Counsel Commercial

Ideal Standard International NV (the Company), part of the Villeroy & Boch Group, is looking to reinforce its legal department with a experienced counsel in support of the Group’s commercial interests and activities.

Reporting into the Senior Legal Counsel Commercial of the Group's Legal department based in Germany, the Legal Counsel Commercial will provide sound legal support, advice, guidance and safeguards across the business as a true value-add for the Group’s commercial teams.

The role is based in our Zaventem offices.

Mission and responsibilities

The candidate will take up a broad and diverse commercial role supporting the businesses’ day-to-day legal needs, mainly in the area of commercial law advice and contracts. The candidate may occasionally be requested to support in other matters in function of the business’ needs. Main interactions will be with the central procurement team and senior management.

The responsibilities include:

• Provide contract support (from initial negotiation to contract execution) on a wide range of commercial contracts, including supply chain, procurement, marketing, IT and customer contracts
• Advise on Intellectual Property matters (trademarks, designs, patents)
• Advise on regulatory matters including product quality, labelling and product liability matters
• Develop an internal network and support the Group’s commercial, marketing, procurement, manufacturing, finance and treasury (insurance) teams across Europe and the Middle-East
• Monitor and manage all commercial litigation across the Group
• Develop and maintain adequate databases/records of the Group’s commercial contracts and train the commercial teams on roles and responsibilities
• Support in commercial due diligence work as part of M&A transactions
• Work with the Group’s compliance department for competition, anti-corruption and data protection law matters
• Explore digitalisation options for the group legal department
• Establish relations with, manage and control the Group’s outside counsels in the commercial law area, their scope of work, fees and performance
• Deliver comprehensive and qualitative advice and reports to and entertain effective legal discussions with the EVP Sales, the EVP Marketing, the Chief Operations Officer, the General Counsel and other senior executives
• Follow up on changes in laws and regulations, assess their impact on the Group and recommend frameworks to comply

We are looking for

• a Master’s degree in Law, potentially with an additional degree or specialization in a relevant field
• 5+ years professional experience, either as a commercial lawyer or as in-house counsel in a multinational company focusing on commercial law
• The ability to handle any type of commercial legal matter and demonstrates tangible experience in civil, contract, commercial, IP and IT law
• A gatekeeper protecting the company while striving for the best commercial result for the company
• (as a strong asset) Familiarity with an industrial and/or third party manufacturing environment
• Impeccable English language skills. Dutch, French, German and/or Italian (spoken and written) are a plus.
• Strong project management skills with natural drive to challenge and able to initiate change
• The ability to manage and prioritise workload to ensure appropriate controls while driving forward strategic initiatives
• Good interpersonal and communication skills

Essential competencies

• Self-starter, ownership and natural leadership & drive to get things done
• Independent, pragmatic and results-oriented attitude
• Thinking big picture, yet understanding details
• Comfortable to work in a dynamic and at times ambiguous environment
• Open, constructive, flexible, hard worker with good personal balance
• Team player

Interested? We look forward to hearing from you!

Shortlisted candidates will be contacted within 2 weeks of application. All inquiries and applications will be treated with the utmost discretion.

NOTE TO RECRUITMENT AGENCIES: We do NOT accept unsolicited headhunter or agency resumes/CVS. Headhunters and recruitment agencies may NOT submit resumes/CVs through LinkedIn (or any other online platform) or directly to HR, managers and staff members. Ideal Standard is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited CVs or applications and explicitly reserve its right to contact candidates presented in such unsolicited CV or application.