Junior Legal and Risk Council

Legal and Risk Counsel

Department: Legal, Risk and Compliance
Location: Gauteng 
Employment type: Permanent
Remuneration: R35k to R45k 

Position overview

The Legal and Risk Counsel will provide commercially practical legal advice while supporting the organisation's governance, regulatory compliance and enterprise-risk-management activities.

The position requires a legal professional who can independently review and negotiate commercial agreements, identify legal and operational risks, develop appropriate controls and communicate complex legal matters clearly to management and operational stakeholders.

Key responsibilities

Legal advisory and contracts

• Provide legal advice on commercial, corporate, employment and operational matters.
• Draft, review and negotiate commercial agreements, including supplier, customer, service-level, procurement, distribution, confidentiality and lease agreements.
• Identify contractual risks and recommend commercially appropriate amendments and safeguards.
• Develop and maintain standard agreements, contract templates and approval procedures.
• Monitor contractual obligations, renewal dates and material areas of exposure.
• Support commercial negotiations and advise management on proposed transactions.
• Maintain organised and accurate legal and contractual records.

Risk management

• Coordinate legal and operational risk assessments across the organisation.
• Develop, maintain and periodically review enterprise and departmental risk registers.
• Work with stakeholders to establish risk controls, mitigation plans, responsible owners and completion dates.
• Monitor outstanding risk actions and escalate significant exposures.
• Prepare risk reports and recommendations for executive management and relevant governance committees.
• Promote consistent risk-management practices across the organisation.

Compliance and governance

• Monitor compliance with applicable legislation, regulations, licence conditions and internal policies.
• Maintain a legal and regulatory compliance register.
• Advise on legislation including the Companies Act, POPIA, PAIA, FICA, the Consumer Protection Act, Competition Act and applicable employment legislation.
• Monitor legislative developments and communicate their operational implications.
• Draft, review and implement governance, legal and compliance policies.
• Support corporate-governance processes, including delegations of authority and committee reporting.
• Provide guidance on King IV principles where applicable.
• Assist with internal and external audits, regulatory reviews and corrective-action monitoring.

Disputes and investigations

• Manage legal disputes, claims and litigation matters.
• Instruct and manage external attorneys, counsel and specialist advisers where required.
• Conduct or support workplace, ethics, fraud and compliance investigations.
• Evaluate legal exposure and recommend appropriate resolution strategies.
• Maintain privileged and confidential investigation records.
• Support disciplinary and dispute-resolution processes where legal input is required.

Data protection and ethics

• Support compliance with POPIA and PAIA requirements.
• Assist with privacy-impact assessments, information requests and data-breach responses.
• Provide guidance on conflicts of interest, ethical conduct and whistleblowing matters.
• Develop and deliver legal, risk and compliance awareness training.

Minimum requirements

• LLB degree from a recognised South African institution.
• Admission as an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa.
• Current good standing with the Legal Practice Council.
• [Confirm] Minimum three to five years' relevant legal experience.
• Demonstrated commercial-contract drafting, review and negotiation experience.
• Practical exposure to corporate governance, regulatory compliance and risk management.
• Experience managing disputes, investigations or external legal advisers.
• Strong knowledge of South African commercial and corporate legislation.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Valid driver's licence and willingness to travel where required.

Advantageous experience

• Post-admission in-house legal experience.
• Experience within a regulated, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, healthcare, financial-services or other compliance-intensive environment.
• Enterprise risk-management or compliance certification.
• Experience preparing reports for executive, board, audit or risk committees.
• Exposure to regulatory inspections and governance audits.
• Knowledge of insurance claims and policy management.

Core competencies

• Commercial judgement
• Legal drafting and negotiation
• Risk identification and mitigation
• Regulatory interpretation
• Corporate governance
• Investigation and dispute management
• Analytical problem-solving
• Stakeholder influence
• Professional integrity and confidentiality
• Strong planning and document-management ability
• Ability to work independently and meet deadlines

Key performance indicators

• Quality and turnaround time of contract reviews.
• Reduction of avoidable contractual and legal exposure.
• Completion of risk-mitigation actions by agreed deadlines.
• Accuracy and currency of legal, compliance and risk registers.
• Resolution of disputes within approved cost and risk parameters.
• Closure of audit and regulatory findings.
• Compliance-training completion and policy implementation.
• Quality and timeliness of management and committee reporting.