Commercial Legal Counsel

Company Description:

Who are McDonald’s? 

McDonald’s has run its business in the UK since 1974 and celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The business currently operates over 1,450 restaurants across the UK and Ireland, serving almost four million customers each day. McDonald’s is one of the UK’s largest private sector employers, employing over 177,000 people.

McDonald’s UK & Ireland has a proven track record of investing in the development of its employees and offering flexibility as part of its dedication to being a modern and progressive company. Every year, it invests over £40 million in developing people, giving every one of its employees the opportunity to take part in structured training.

McDonald’s buys ingredients from over 23,000 British and Irish farmers and spends over £1.1billion annually on its food and packaging requirements. McDonald’s is committed to supporting British and Irish farmers to ensure it can continue to source many of its ingredients from the UK and Ireland.

McDonald’s is a market leader in its field, striving for the highest standard of quality, speed and restaurant experience. Re-generation of our restaurant infrastructure, covering digital ordering, re-imaging and dual-point service make working at McDonald’s more exciting than ever! 

We are dedicated to using our scale for good: good for people, our industry and the planet. From bold recycling initiatives and sustainable sourcing efforts to our partnership with Ronald McDonald House Charities, we see every day as a chance to have a genuine impact on our customers, our people and our partners.

We're a people business just as much as we are a restaurant business. We strive to be the most inclusive brand in the world by building diverse teams who create delicious, feel good moments that are easy for everyone to enjoy. Joining McDonald's means thinking big every day and preparing for a career that can have impact around the world. 

Company Vision and Culture

Our Global vision is to build a better McDonald’s and in the UK and Ireland we are working hard to be the UK & Irelands best-loved restaurant company. 

McDonald’s is defined by its culture. Our culture shapes and informs everything we think and everything we do. Our culture influences the way we interact with each other, and how we interact with customers, franchisees and suppliers. Our culture motivates and inspires us to attract and retain great talent, creating positive, energising, exceptional working environment for us all.

Our values drive our culture and shape our beliefs, our priorities and our actions. They influence the decisions we make, how we treat one another and how we show up as a brand to the world.

Serve: We put our customers and our people first 
Inclusion: We open our doors to everyone
Integrity: We do the right thing
Community: We are good neighbours
Family: We get better together

Job Description:

The Opportunity 

We are seeking a bright, enthusiastic and well-organised lawyer to join our high performing, dynamic and friendly Legal team. The role would involve handling the full range of commercial legal matters in the UK and Ireland, supporting a number of departments across the business, including  ourDigital, Technology/IT, Marketing, HR and Supply Chain teams.  

What will my accountabilities be?

• Preparing, reviewing and negotiating a broad range of commercial agreements including technology contracts, goods and services agreements and data processing agreements.
• Working collaboratively with the IT and Digital teams to provide legal advice on a variety of matters, including preparing and negotiating SAAS agreements and MSAs with IT/Digital suppliers.
• Undertaking data protection related work, including advising on GDPR compliance within new projects and reviewing data protection provisions in contracts.  
• Providing day to day advice to colleagues across the business on a wide variety of other commercial issues including in respect to supply chain matters, marketing & IP matters, employment matters, and finance, tax and competition law matters. All of this will involve working collaboratively with legal and business colleagues to manage commercial transactions, identifying risks and providing solutions-driven, commercial advice.
• Proactively identifying legal trends and regulatory changes to enhance company policies and procedures, develop communication and training programmes and ensure awareness and compliance across the business.
• Participating and contributing to cross-functional working teams on projects involving strategic business initiatives and risk management strategies.
• Working with and managing external lawyers supporting the team on varying projects/matters.

What Team will I be part of and who are my customers?
The Legal Counsel position will serve as a member of the Legal Team supporting all departments across the McDonald’s UK and Ireland business, including the IT and Digital teams.

Qualifications:

What background do I need to have?

• You should be an English Law qualified solicitor with 3-6 years PQE.
• Having strong expertise in preparing, reviewing and negotiating commercial contracts (particularly in the IT/technology space ) is required.
• Having strong commercial acumen and an ability to work in a fast paced and dynamic environment are required 
• Prior in-house or secondment experience would be an advantage.

What attributes do I need to have?

• We have an amazing, supportive and collegiate team and we are looking for our next star lawyer!
• If you are a positive, pragmatic, and self-motivated lawyer, we want to hear from you.  We pride ourselves on being on a team of enthusiastic and curious people who are always keen to  learn and gain experience in new legal and business areas. 
• As a business of our size and scale, we move at pace, so you need to be a fast learner who is able to roll your sleeves up and get stuck into a variety of different areas and handle competing priorities.  The role would suit someone who enjoys working in a high performing team and directly with a wide range of business stakeholders to help find practical and sometimes creative solutions to challenges.
• You will need to be an effective communicator (including having strong drafting skills and the ability to clearly and concisely explain concepts to non-legal stakeholders); a strong relationship builder; efficient; and have the ability to see the big picture by providing commercially sound advice.
• People development and supporting team members to grow is part of working here so you need to be a strong team player who likes sharing knowledge.

Additional Information:

At McDonald’s we are People from all Walks of Life... 

People are at the heart of everything we do and they make the McDonald’s experience. We embrace diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture that means people can be their best authentic self in our restaurants and offices, which helps us to better serve our customers. 

We have a strong heritage of diversity and representation within our communities, which we are proud of. The diversity of our people, customers, Franchisees and suppliers give us strength. 

We do not tolerate inequality, injustice or discrimination of any kind.  These are hugely important issues and a brand with our reach and relevance means we have a very meaningful role to play. 

We also recognise our responsibility as a large employer to continue being active in our communities, helping to develop skills and drive aspirations that will help people to be more aware of the world of work and more successful within it, whether with McDonald’s or elsewhere." 

#LI-Hybrid