Senior Counsel

About Us 

Orion Worldwide is a global media company that generates value for our business partners. As the industry has evolved over the past two decades, so have we expanding our global reach and product offering to deliver value for the worlds best brands, across nearly every category. The very best ideas are developed by people with diversity of background, thought and experience working together to develop customized solutions that best address our partners needs. A five-time winner of "Most Inclusive Climate" at the IPG Inclusion Awards, we scale our recruiting efforts beyond the traditional advertising candidate pool to find people who possess the passion, innovative thinking and collaborative skills needed to achieve our business goals and assist in cultivating a culture in which we can all be proud. 

Position Summary:

Orion is looking for a talented, business-oriented Senior Commercial Counsel to join its legal team. This is a senior legal role supporting the Orion business which is expected to deliver best-in-class, commercially focused legal solutions and expertise throughout EMEA and APAC regions.  

This role forms part of the IPG Mediabrands legal team, as well as reporting into the Orion business, and close collaboration with this group as well as the IPG corporate legal teams and outside counsel is expected. The role will also partner with our business leaders and agency business teams, as well as supporting the broader agency relationships with advertising clients, partners and vendors.

This position requires a strong emphasis on commercial transactions and an ability to draft and negotiate and manage a high volume of agreements relating to advertising/marketing services with Orion. This role will provide legal support on a variety of media buying models and manage the legal team in a global media trading environment.

An ability to manage a high volume of agreements and assignments and to adapt flexibly to frequent business and market changes is expected. While some projects will require working as a team and a spirit of collaboration is critical, the candidate must also have experience working independently to provide legal advice and services directly to business leaders and be comfortable negotiating directly with clients and vendors.  

This role reports to the Global Legal Counsel, Orion based in New York, and the Legal Director, EMEA, APAC & LATAM, IPG Mediabrands, based in London.

Key Responsibilities

• Managing complex negotiations with clients and vendors and liaising with key executives including Agency CFOs & CEOS, MDs & Account Directors and IPG group finance controllers.
• Managing a variety of media buying models in a global media trading environment, in collaboration with Magna and IPG Mediabrands.
• Standardizing, developing and rolling out templates, processes, training materials and legal guidance where possible to EMEA and APAC markets, to improve efficiency of legal services to the regions and maintain best practice.
• Educating, advising, and counselling management on legal issues and risks related to business decisions.
• Managing external counsels in a variety of EMEA markets.

• Supporting the Global Head of Compliance and Control on new growth products to recommend new resources, vendor and client contract terms and model compliance to support launches in EMEA and APAC.
• Implementing a contract management solution to track contract requests, managing deal pipeline and completions across all markets.
• Offering legal and regulatory compliance support across the business with opportunities to develop new, more effective working methods and practices.
• Supporting the group privacy teams and agencies to manage GDPR compliance across existing and new product development
• Collaborating with agency business units including Finance and Compliance as and when required as well as US counsel and external counsel as and when required.

Desired Skills & Experience

We are looking for a dynamic, commercial, confident self-starter able to demonstrate a thorough knowledge of commercial contracts and management of a diverse and challenging range of commercial matters. The ideal candidate should also be able to demonstrate the following skills:

• Several years PQE, be qualified in the UK (or international equivalent), have trained in a leading law firm and have experience preferably in an advertising agency, advertising/marketing compliance department of a company, or law firm dedicated to servicing such business.  
• Able to demonstrate a thorough knowledge of commercial contracts including revenue related activity and good working knowledge of media buying & privacy matters.
• Can use strategic thinking and excellent business judgment to provide practical legal advice to senior management.
• Ability to handle multiple complex matters in pressurised time constraints across numerous markets and time zones.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to work collaboratively and advise various internal clients at differing levels of seniority and strength and confidence to manage external advertiser relationships.
• Significant contract negotiation and drafting experience.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, both written and verbal. 
• Technologically & digitally literate.
• Capability to understand business objectives and applicable risks/rewards.
• International working experience/sensitivity to other cultures.