Senior lawyer (Commercial)

Salary: Starting at £91,163.00, dependant on experience

Department: Corporate Legal & Governance

Reports to: Controller of Corporate Legal & Governance

Location: London / Leeds

Duration: 12-month secondment maternity cover

Lead on major commercial agreements and provide expert legal guidance in a cutting-edge media landscape.

There is nowhere quite like Channel 4. Publicly owned yet commercially funded, it occupies a unique place in the UK's media landscape. Channel 4 was created to be a disruptive, innovative force in UK broadcasting and its role is to represent unheard voices, challenge with purpose, and reinvent entertainment. It broadcasts across the whole of the UK via a network of 6 television channels including Channel 4, E4, E4 Extra, More4, Film4 and 4seven and via its streaming platform, which is the UK’s biggest streaming service. Film4 co-produces feature films for the UK and global market.  Launched in 2020, Channel 4’s digital content studio 4Studio - with a remit to create social-first branded content for young audiences - became the UK’s most viewed social branded content partner within its first year and has driven C4 to become the No.1 social channel for 18-34s.

It’s the job of Corporate Legal & Governance to make sure the organisation has full legal support for all areas (except programme and film commissions and acquisitions, which are dealt with by separate teams). This very wide remit means we advise, negotiate and contract deals for teams including 4Sales, 4Creative, 4Studio, Channel 4 Ventures (C4V), Indie Growth Fund (IGF), Procurement, Distribution and Platform Partnerships and Technology. We’re also the team that looks after Channel 4’s regulatory obligations including Data Protection and Freedom of Information as well as providing the Corporation Secretarial function for the Channel 4 Board.

The Corporate Legal & Governance team currently comprises 13 lawyers together with team support.  

We’re looking for a highly skilled and experienced interim senior commercial lawyer to provide support on all corporate and commercial legal matters, including in particular being the lead adviser for the Distribution and Partnerships team and providing support across both the Technology and Procurement teams.

Key responsibilities

You will be working as part of a team of lawyers principally supporting on general commercial contractual arrangements, but you will also assist on a wide variety of other legal matters including brand protection and regulatory matters.

Types of work will include:

• Lead lawyer responsible for drafting and negotiating agreements with our distribution partners (for instance, working with pay platforms such as Sky and Virgin, manufacturers such as Samsung and across all our distribution estates).  
• Providing accurate, relevant and timely advice to internal stakeholders across the business on a variety of commercial matters, including in particular to the Distribution and Partnerships Team and Technology Teams.
• Drafting, reviewing and negotiating commercial contracts across a wide range of areas including distribution, technology, e-commerce and procurement agreements. 
• Providing support for junior lawyers assisting on commercial contracts.
• Contributing to know-how and maintenance of template agreements as and when required.
• Assisting with the execution of commercial deals and portfolio management.
• Supporting and advising on brand protection and AI-related matters.

Knowledge, skills and experience

Essential

Technical & professional skills

• UK qualified commercial lawyer, with PQE experience and with a track record of delivering high-quality work and ability to prioritise through excellent organisation and ability to understand key business drivers
• Sound knowledge of a wide range of commercial contracts matters, including in particular distribution, technology and brand protection matters
• Strong technical legal skills, with experience in a broad range of commercial contracts, highly solutions-focused and agile, able to see the bigger picture
• Exercise strong commercial judgment
• Excellent drafting and negotiating skills
• In-house experience preferable but not essential

Autonomy/judgement/decision making

• Able to work autonomously and as part of a team
• Excellent planning and organising ability in managing a demanding workload
• Adaptable and able to work on a variety of matters at any one time whilst managing expectations of all relevant stakeholders

Relationship management (internal, external, 3rd parties)

• Proactive and able to work well as part of a team and with demanding internal and external stakeholders
• Ability to delegate to and support more junior lawyers in the team
• Willing to take on any type of work and a “can do” attitude
• Able to communicate effectively and clearly both verbally and in writing
• Able to respond speedily and prioritise effectively

Complexity/problem solving

• Able to deal with a range of complex matters at any one time
• Able to demonstrate understanding of issues affecting Channel 4 and its remit
• Able to balance commercial and legal imperatives when dealing with internal and external stakeholders
• Excellent attention to detail

Secondment policy
 
This role is advertised as a secondment meaning that if successful you would move into this role for a defined time period.

If you are currently a permanent employee, you will receive an acting-up allowance for the duration of your secondment, which will be the difference between your current basic salary and the salary of the role you are seconded into, or will be calculated as per our Acting-Up Policy. Please note that your basic salary will remain unchanged during the secondment.

If you are currently on a fixed-term contract your contract end date and salary will be changed for the duration of the advertised secondment.

The employer reserves the right to close the listing and stop accepting applications sooner than the original deadline. Therefore we strongly recommend applying at the earliest opportunity.

We welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are under-represented in the creative industries. 

Please state in your application that you found this role through Creative Access.