Senior Legal Counsel - Francophone at Airtel

Why Airtel Africa?

• At Airtel Africa, we act with passion, energy, and a can-do attitude. Innovation with an entrepreneurial spirit drive us. If you like “ordinary”, then we are not for you.
• We champion diversity. We anticipate, adapt, and deliver solutions that enrich the lives of communities we serve. we roll up our sleeves to win with our customers.
• By choosing Airtel, you choose to be part of a winning team. All this in addition to a brilliant opportunity to build a career in your field of expertise, across our different operating companies in Africa.

Overall Responsibility:

• Will partner closely with the Chief Legal Officer, Regional Director Francophone Africa and Opco Legal teams, C-suite and other senior executives in the formulation of business and legal strategies for the organization
• Will provide legal advice and business required support to Regional Director, C-suite and other senior executives to effectively manage risk, and assist them in meeting their strategic and business objectives
• Will serve as primary contact in the legal department to various Africa functional teams (e.g., Marketing, Finance, HR et al), to ensure a harmonized, risk-free and strategic evolution of that business unit
• Will be required to oversee a team of Opco lawyers and staff and external counsels – Partner with Opco legal director to execute upon objectives and achieve measurable results in support of business – Manage litigation and provide strategic direction to business partners
• Will support the business with special projects or initiatives such as M&A activity and roll-out of new strategic projects by functions

Key Accountabilities:

• Managing/attending board meetings,
• Briefing Regional Operations Directors and other Exco members,
• Managing cross-Opco and shareholder legal matters, including liaising with head office
• Assist, support and guide Opco legal directors in respect of all aspects of legal department management and activity
• Ensuring optimal quality of legal service provided (standards, timeliness, accuracy…)
• Act on internal audit findings and recommendations as and when required in order to close gaps in compliance and governance
• Identifying areas of development and address as required
• Rendering both contractual and strategic advice,
• Partnering with business owners to ensure productive and robust alliances,
• Commercial risk management and entity structuring.  
• Handling Group-level disputes, including managing outside counsel and pre-litigation and litigation management responsibilities; monitoring and managing Opco litigation portfolio
• Responsible for orderly strategic and project management of Opco jurisdictions

What will make you successful?

• Minimum 7 years of professional experience
• Degree in Civil law – Common law desirable but not compulsory
• Bilingual (English/French)
• Trained and graduation in civil law – knowledge of common law principles and possibly prior experience
• Applied knowledge of OHADA laws and procedures
• Prior professional experience with an international law firm
• Previous exposure to a variety of African francophone markets and jurisdictions
• Experience in developing strong business partnerships with senior executives
• Ability to evaluate issues from legal and business perspectives with a practical, business-oriented, common sense approach to complex problem solving
• Effectively balance risk and opportunity, thinking creatively to enable the business to make smart decisions
• Excellent attention to detail and judgment
• Unimpeachable integrity; and
• Flexibility, adaptability.