Legal Specialist (French Speaker) at West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC)

Job Objective: Provide support on the day-to-day commercial contracting requirements for the group operations. The candidate will play a key role in supporting review and management of contracts in the organisation. This position requires a commercially minded legal professional with strong attention to detail and experience in commercial contracting

Reporting Line: Senior Manager Legal

Key Duties and Responsibilities

• Support with the day-to-day activities of the commercial contracts team
• Conduct KYC (Know Your Clients) and KYS (Know Your Supplier) reviews and support in client and supplier onboarding from a compliance and contracting perspective
• Undertake the review and advising on the day-to-day contracting requirements that relate to approval of standard (or variations) legal terms and conditions for the group purchase orders and sales orders
• Provide support on the creation of contracting terms for non-standard commercial contracts for the group business and guide the business to achieve the group business's intentions in line with the set legal policies
• Negotiate with external parties (clients or suppliers) on contracting terms, ensuring that the group is able to retain its contracting policies and terms of engagement as set out in the various policies
• Support with the management of the Contract Life Cycle Management across the group
• Highlight and engage with the legal operations team on any legal process improvements that will help in providing the required tools necessary for the provision of legal services by the commercial contracts to the group business
• Support with dispute/conflict resolutions in the contracting prior to the undertaking of debt collection process and/or litigation
• Perform any tasks as assigned by the supervisor

Minimum Qualifications

• Degree in Law from a reputable University
• Post-graduate diploma in Law or a master’s degree in law (or in any other field)
• Minimum 3-5 years’ experience in an in-house role or in practice
• Experience in the telecommunications and data centre industry will be an added advantage
• Bilingual and have excellent written and spoken proficiency in both English and French is a must

Experience and Skills

• Self-motivated, proactive and able to lead and work with teams in a multi-geographical environment
• Strong organisational skills to operate effectively in a fast-moving and dynamic environment
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence and form good working relationships at all levels
• Ability to communicate and function in a culturally diverse and change-oriented setting with good knowledge of the range of applicable laws and regulations in Africa and within the sectors of the group’s business
• Ability to communicate and interact with officials at all levels of government and/or in various enterprises
• Strong skills in drafting various legal documents and communicating complex issues clearly and concisely
• Ability to speedily grasp the essence, content and implications of the group’s business and the related contracting documents in order to be able to provide advice on them
• Ability to review under strict deadlines, long and complex transactions and other legal documents
• Negotiating skills and capacity to work with other professionals, including non-legal professionals, to develop innovative solutions to conflicting interests and positions
• Familiarity with the telecommunication sector, business strategy and various forms of funding and acquisitions is desirable
• Strong project management and execution skills, including the ability to think strategically while managing the details, and to make clear recommendations

Attributes

• Client-focused, relationship builder
• Integrity, honesty with high ethical standards
• Boundless, passionate and flexible
• Personal excellence, accuracy and attention to detail
• Collaborative, achieve results through teamwork and partnerships
• Willingness and ability to work under pressure, multi-task and think creatively
• Friendly, approachable, patient, persistent and an avid team-player
• Well-presented and professional