Senior Counsel - Commercial & Legal Operations

Key areas of responsibility

• Lead the review, negotiation and execution of contracts with UK government and public sector customers, including frameworks, call-offs and direct awards (including QDCs).
• Partner with Revenue Operations and capture managers from opportunity qualification to signature, giving fast, risk-calibrated advice on bids, customer terms and go/no-go decisions.
• Handle post-award matters such as variations, extensions and conflicts of interest.

• Own the contracting framework for commercialising our hardware, software and enterprise offerings (e.g. subscription agreements, software licences, EULAs, software development agreements and standard conditions of sale).
• Negotiate bespoke agreements for large and strategic customers with clear positions on IP, liability, warranties, support, SLAs, data and security.
• Build and maintain templates, playbooks and fallback positions so sales teams can close standard deals without Legal and only genuine exceptions are escalated.
• Work with Product, Engineering and Finance to keep contract terms aligned with how products are built, priced, delivered and supported.

• Draft and negotiate teaming agreements, subcontracts and similar partner arrangements, ensuring customer obligations flow down.
• Own contracting with critical suppliers, ensuring terms support our upstream commitments.
• Manage regulatory compliance in supplier and customer relationships (e.g. screening and sanctions).

• Act as in-house expert on UK public procurement law, including the Procurement Act 2023 (PA23) and QDC regime, covering procedures, transparency, exclusion and contract modifications.
• Track regulatory change and translate it into practical guidance, templates and playbooks.

• Embed a newly introduced CLM system into the business.
• Build approval matrices and delegated authorities, and embed the playbooks and templates in the CLM.
• Make contracting faster and more scalable through automation and enterprise AI tools (e.g. Claude) for drafting, review and contract management.
• Report on key metrics such as turnaround times, bottlenecks and contract value.
• Train commercial teams on contracting best practice, such as defining clear deliverables, setting measurable acceptance criteria and managing changes to scope, price and timescales.

• Support our Legal Counsel, sharing knowledge and helping them develop.
• Escalate significant risks to the GC with a clear recommendation and manage external counsel cost-effectively.
• Support the GC on the commercial aspects of future M&A and other corporate transactions as required.
• Support non-UK contracting until local legal resource is in place, working with external counsel where appropriate.
• Cover other legal areas (e.g. export controls, security, data protection, NSIA, employment, corporate), working with specialists and external counsel.

Key skills, experience and behaviours

• Qualified solicitor in England & Wales (or equivalent), with 5-7 years' PQE.
• Significant practical experience of public sector contracting and regulated procurement, including the PA23's effect on bids, awards, frameworks, call-offs and contract changes.
• Experience negotiating complex commercial agreements (services, technology, supply, subcontracts, teaming) and running multiple matters in parallel.
• Strong understanding of IP in commercialisation, licensing and ownership.
• Experience of technology and product commercialisation contracting (e.g. SaaS, licensing, EULAs, software development, terms of sale), including building templates and playbooks for non-lawyers.
• Proven ability to get things done fast: pragmatic, commercial and decisive, working independently with sound judgement on when to escalate.
• Excellent communication and business partnering skills, with credibility among senior commercial colleagues.
• Proficient in, or genuinely enthusiastic about, using enterprise AI tools (e.g. Claude) to draft and manage contracts.
• Knowledge of legal operations tools (e.g. e-signature, workflow and matter management).
• Thrives in a fast-growth environment where priorities shift and processes are still being built.

• Experience in defence and/or CNI, including MOD contracting (DEFCONs, DEFFORMs, security conditions).
• Experience contracting for hardware and embedded products.
• Hands-on experience implementing a CLM system or other legal technology.
• Experience of security or NSIA considerations in contracting.
• Knowledge of export controls and international exports in commercial contracts (e.g. end-user undertakings, licence conditions and flow-down).
• Experience supporting multi-jurisdictional contracting, especially in the US.
• Experience working with and developing more junior lawyers.
• Experience in a scale-up or lean in-house legal team, with willingness to pick up adjacent areas of law.

Working at Rowden

About
What matters to us?  Our focus is on the end user. We exist to deliver the best possible outcomes for the users of our systems. Pace matters. The problems we solve are urgent.  Our diverse skills and backgrounds make us better. Our team prides itself on being inclusive and multidisciplinary. We are radically honest. Saying what we mean, even when it isn’t easy. We are pragmatists. We provide realistic, focused solutions that get to the point. We improve continuously. We are relentless in our drive to make things better.