Principal Corporate Counsel

Join Microsoft’s Global Deal Team in EMEA -- a high-performing, distributed legal organization within Corporate, External and Legal Affairs (CELA), a community of 2,000+ legal and compliance professionals. The team supports complex enterprise transactions with Microsoft’s largest and most strategic customers in the private sector. The Principal Corporate Counsel role helps drive revenue and accelerate deal velocity through strategic legal leadership, direct engagement on high-impact negotiations, operational excellence, and innovative use of technology and AI, while navigating the regulatory, cultural, and contracting diversity of multiple jurisdictions and languages. The role is based in London and involves some international travel.

Your primary responsibility will be supporting business teams that are responsible for pursuing and closing strategic and complex commercial transactions with Microsoft’s most important customers. You will partner with sales, operations, finance, product and engineering, marketing, and security/trust stakeholders to align customer expectations with Microsoft’s risk posture, policies, and compliance obligations. The role collaborates closely with regional Legal Affairs teams who are subject matter experts in the EMEA markets and their regulations and who lead public sector matters and non-deal workstreams.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond. 

• Provide legal support for complex technology transactions by developing negotiation strategies, solving problems creatively, and coordinating CELA and business team subject matter experts.
• Provide strategic advice on newly emerging information technology business models, including AI, while staying updated on rules, regulations, and other statutory requirements relating to Microsoft business.
• Draft, negotiate, and structure integrated agreements encompassing sales, procurement, strategic partnerships, investments, and other innovative business models, addressing legal issues such as commercial contracts, intellectual property, and data protection.
• Guide escalations to appropriate senior leaders to take smart and well-informed risks to meet customer needs.
• You will communicate in ways that create clarity and advance negotiations and projects to achieve closure of open issues. You will provide practical and strategic advice to business clients and CELA colleagues.
• You will ensure a coordinated legal voice through broad collaboration across groups, management and leaders. This will involve organizing and simplifying complex issues and recommending clear courses of action.

Required Qualifications

• Juris Doctor (JD) or equivalent law degree AND experience working in a law firm or in-house roles specializing in complex transactions including technology transactions, M&A, business development, or related work managing complex transactions involving multiple stakeholders.
• Active license to practice law in a jurisdiction or ability to meet admission requirements in a relevant jurisdiction. 

Preferred Qualifications

• Well experienced in advising on technology transactions (e.g., cloud services, software licensing, SaaS, professional services, strategic partnerships, and/or AI models and solutions). 
• Deal strategy skills, with experience of successfully advising on large-scale, nuanced transactions that involve multiple strategic, operational, and legal dimensions and the requirement to meet deadlines in the face of competing priorities.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and drive action in a fast-paced, highly matrixed environment, applying strong legal judgment and a pragmatic approach while balancing business goals, risk tolerance, and stakeholder priorities.
• Teamplayer with ability to work with cross-functional teams to solve complex issues, invest in others, and collaborate closely to generate consensus across diverse points of view.
• Ability to quickly develop expertise in new and emerging areas, analyse novel and complex legal issues, and apply learning effectively as legal, regulatory, and business environments evolve. 
• Additional language skills (e.g. Spanish) would be a plus.

#CELA

Legal Counsel IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across United Kingdom is £ 100,100.00 - £ 150,100.00 per year. Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation.

Find additional benefits and pay information here:
https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/corporate-pay/united-kingdom-corporate-pay.html

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.