Senior Legal & Compliance Counsel, Strategic Functions

JOB PURPOSE:

As Senior Legal & Compliance Counsel, Strategic Functions, you will provide front-line legal support and drive a culture of compliance for key central support functions.  You will further create new and improve existing processes related to supporting these functions and clients, as well as manage central support and corporate governance for entities in the Bridgestone Europe, Middle East, India & Africa (“BSEMIA”) group and particularly, for our headquarters in Zaventem as well as other entities in Belgium.

WHAT YOU WILL DO:

As part of our departmental mission statement, “Focus on What Matters”, we expect teammates to ensure they provide the right level of service to our clients and keep top of mind ways to simplify legal and compliance deliverables.

You will support, through the drafting and negotiating of commercial contracts and the provision of legal advice, headquarter functions, including Procurement, Logistics & Supply Chain Management (LSCM), Human Resources, Manufacturing, and Finance (e.g., treasury and tax).  As the primary point of contact for some of these functions, you will provide timely, practical and effective legal and compliance advice and guidance and will also support your clients as they navigate commercial disputes, including litigation. You will also identify, develop and advance legal department processes, policies, tools and procedures to improve legal and compliance support in the region.

WHAT WE OFFER:

You will be part of a dynamic, diverse and international team of Strategic Functions supporting lawyers that is in full expansion and empowered to develop new ways of working and interacting more effectively with its clients. 

Reporting to the Legal Director responsible for Strategic Functions, you will have direct access to the Legal Leadership Team in a department of over 40 lawyers across EMIA.  You will have access to our Shared Service Center in India to handle less complex and recurring tasks, allowing you to focus on where you add the most value. And you will be able to tap into a global legal community of over 200 lawyers and compliance professionals across the world, offering plenty of training, coaching and personal development opportunities.

You will further have exposure to our EMIA Management and Supervisory Boards, as primary advisor on Belgian Corporate law matters. With your seat in our brand new, modern offices in BSEMIA’s headquarters in Zaventem, Belgium, you will sit in the heart of a successful international business with over 20.000 teammates in 30+ countries across our region. Also, we offer flex working up to 3 days per week

YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES:

Central Functions Support

• Serve as a business partner to multiple headquarters-based central functions including, but not limited to indirect procurement, logistics and supply chain management, human resources, manufacturing, mergers and acquisitions and finance (e.g., treasury and tax) by providing timely, practical, and risk-balanced legal advice and support including, but not limited to:
  • drafting, reviewing, and negotiating commercial contracts for the acquisition of goods and services across a wide variety of categories;
  • managing and resolving commercial legal disputes;
  • providing on the spot, day-to-day advice as operational and strategic decision-makers require.
• Act as the “go to” legal resource for questions regarding Belgian law for other members of the legal department.
• Maintain awareness of and communicate within the law department and to clients any changes or developments in relevant applicable laws and regulations, especially with respect to Belgian laws and regulations.

Compliance & Legal Operations

• Drive a culture of compliance within the company generally, and assigned clients specifically, by monitoring activities, assessing risk and providing training and education in areas of compliance and demonstrating uncompromising ethics.
• Assess and evaluate current policies and procedures within her/his areas of responsibility and the BSEMIA law department and proactively identify and implement improvements on an ongoing basis.
• Effectively manage the performance and costs of outside counsel, when retained, by establishing and achieving matter budgets, developing and implementing alternative fee arrangements and other cost-saving billing approaches, monitoring aggregate legal spend at the HQ level to ensure achievement of annual targets.

Corporate Governance

• Ensure compliance with all corporate formalities for all Bridgestone entities in Belgium  including, but not limited to, preparing materials for board meetings, drafting and filing company decisions and resolutions, nominations and dismissals, reviewing powers of attorneys and other corporate documents and by providing training to the legal representatives and directors of BSEMIA entities.
• Effectively direct and educate the Shared Service Center resources and department legal coordinator with respect to corporate formalities activities including activities required by branches and subsidiary entities in the EMIA sales region.
• Effectively use the company’s software platforms to support corporate governance efforts.

WHAT WE EXPECT FROM YOU:

• Master’s degree in law from a Belgian University
• Fluency in English and Dutch and the ability to communicate professionally in French
• Mastery of Belgian corporate and commercial law and regulations
• Minimum 5 years of relevant legal experience, of which preferably no less than three years in an international law firm or domestic business law firm and at least a couple of years of relevant in-house legal experience
• Previous experience in identifying and resolving legal issues and risks quickly and effectively while providing advice in a fast-paced environment
• Ability to offer pragmatic advice and solutions on short timelines with imperfect information and to act with agility to change course in the light of shifting priorities or changed circumstances.
• Proven ability to prioritize competing tasks, plan and act on self-directed projects, build trust and relationships within the law department and with teammates in other functions and roles and engage effectively with teammates at all levels of the corporate structure
• Outstanding written and oral communication skills
• Commercial awareness, curiosity and humility are essential characteristics
• High level of business and personal ethics

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Previous experience providing support on merger and acquisition transactions
• Preference is given to candidates with prior in-house experience.
• Excellent knowledge of MS Office Tools.

Qualified candidates for this important position will further need to demonstrate the following:

Bridgestone BEHAVIORS

• Agility – to work in a matrix and complex environment where change happens at a rapid pace
• Courage – to share ideas, think out of the box
• Ownership – to see the bigger picture and take ownership by thinking and acting beyond the role