Senior Legal Counsel

Overview

The Senior Legal Counsel – EMEA is a senior individual contributor role based in Switzerland that provides dedicated legal support to the Assistant General Counsel – EMEA and the regional Legal team. The role supports one geographic region and works closely with commercial, operational, and functional stakeholders through a structured, scalable delivery model.

The role focuses on the execution and delivery of commercial legal support at scale, handling a high volume of matters across multiple Waters business units, including Waters Material Sciences, Waters Advanced Diagnostics, Waters BioSciences, and Waters Analytical Sciences. The Senior Legal Counsel plays a critical role in enabling timely, consistent, and high quality legal support through effective use of templates, playbooks, and defined processes.

Operating within an established enterprise risk framework, the role exercises sound judgment within defined parameters, escalating complex, novel, or high risk matters to the Assistant General Counsel – EMEA as appropriate. The role also partners closely with Legal Operations and global Legal colleagues to continuously improve ways of working and service delivery.

 

Application closing date: Sunday, 1 November 2026

Responsibilities

Commercial Legal Execution

• Provide day to day legal support on a wide range of commercial transactions, including customer agreements, channel partner arrangements, pricing related terms, tenders, and related matters.
• Support commercial activities across all Waters business units aligned to the assigned region.
• Draft, review, and negotiate agreements using approved templates, playbooks, and standard positions.
• Apply practical, business focused judgment to support timely execution while managing legal risk within defined parameters.

Volume Management & Scalable Delivery

• Manage and execute a high volume of commercial legal work efficiently and consistently.
• Apply established triage and prioritization models to assess incoming matters and support timely routing and resolution.
• Contribute to maintaining turnaround times and service levels agreed with regional stakeholders.
• Identify opportunities to standardize, simplify, or streamline legal support to improve efficiency and reduce friction.

Collaboration with Regional Legal Leadership

• Work closely with the Assistant General Counsel – EMEA to support regional priorities and deliver aligned legal guidance.
• Understand when matters can be handled independently versus those requiring escalation due to risk, complexity, or business impact.
• Support workload allocation decisions and flex capacity based on regional demand and priorities.

Process, Tools & Legal Operations

• Leverage contract lifecycle management tools, templates, playbooks, and other Legal Operations resources to deliver consistent outcomes.
• Partner with Legal Operations to support continuous improvement initiatives, data accuracy, and reporting requirements.
• Provide feedback on recurring issues, bottlenecks, or process gaps to inform improvements to legal ways of working.

Risk Awareness & Governance

• Identify legal and compliance risks in the course of commercial support and escalate appropriately.
• Ensure work aligns with enterprise policies, governance standards, and approved risk positions.
• Support audits, reviews, or reporting activities as required.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience operating at Senior Legal Counsel (or equivalent) level in a commercial or in house legal environment.
• Strong experience with commercial contracts and business support, preferably in regulated, technology driven, or multinational organizations.
• Experience working with global or regional stakeholders across geographies.
• Ability to manage high volumes of work with strong attention to detail and prioritization.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
• Law degree required; admission to practice law in a relevant jurisdiction preferred.