Head of Legal

At Roche you can show up as yourself, embraced for the unique qualities you bring. Our culture encourages personal expression, open dialogue, and genuine connections,  where you are valued, accepted and respected for who you are, allowing you to thrive both personally and professionally. This is how we aim to prevent, stop and cure diseases and ensure everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Join Roche, where every voice matters.

The Position

We are looking for a Head of Legal to join Roche Diagnostics Turkiye.

Based in Istanbul, Turkey, and reporting to the General Manager Türkiye and Head of MC Central Asia and Caucasus, you will be a key member of the Turkey Leadership Team. Beyond your core responsibilities, you will be jointly accountable for affiliate transformation, fostering an environment of trust, transparency, and patient centricity that inspires teams to grow, adapt, and excel in a fast-changing market. In this role, you will lead and oversee Legal, Regulatory, Quality,  SHE, & Security related activities across the affiliate and management center, ensuring that company policies and management systems are effectively implemented, aligned with organizational strategy, and continuously improved.

A natural leader and coach with a strong entrepreneurial and enterprise mindset, you will architect an environment that enables growth, fast decision-making, and cross-functional collaboration in a complex and volatile landscape. You will thrive in a fast-paced, high-performing organization, empowering your team to reach ambitious targets while partnering with peers to deliver overarching business goals. Acting as a central integrator across functions, you will ensure alignment with global and regional strategies, manage external stakeholders and legal partners, oversee contract and litigation processes, drive risk assessment, support audits, and coordinate with authorities and institutions.

What’s expected from you could be categorized as:

VACC Leadership

• As a visionary, connect the enterprise vision to people within the affiliate

• As an architect, formulate a strategy to reach our enterprise ambition and ensure affiliate architecture would be enabling factors to achieve those outcomes

• As a catalyst, remove roadblocks, encourage smart-risking taking, experimentation, and rapid learning

• As a coach, empower people to take business decisions

Accountabilities

• Develop and implement the company’s legal strategy in alignment with Roche's business priorities and goals

• Maintaining Roche’s license to operate by ensuring that the company complies with legal and regulatory requirements, including but not limited to antitrust, data privacy, public procurement, anti-bribery regulation, employment, and product liability

• Ensure the effectiveness of the Legal function in the oversight and management of all legal matters, including contracts, litigation, engagement, and communication with external legal, regulatory, or compliance bodies

• Partner with the business in tender processes by identifying and analyzing opportunities and mitigating legal risks; leading contract negotiation with key customers and/or stakeholders

• Advising on new aspects of the law, ensuring that the business is continuously compliant, taking into consideration new business models and digitalization (e.g. data sharing arrangements, e-commerce)

• Managing corporate law matters (e.g., board of directors meetings, appointment of directors, granting of powers of attorney, corporate law operations, commercial leases, delegations of authorities, inter-company agreements)

• Act as the single point of contact for all legal matters and, as needed, coordinate and assign actions to external counsel while ensuring quality and containing costs 

• Coordinating and aligning with the Roche Legal Regional and Global network to source and share best practices with regard to business challenges and opportunities

• Lead and develop a high-performing team by setting clear objectives, prioritizing work, and optimizing operational tasks in support of the business teams

• Representing the company at ARTED and other relevant institutions, including state authorities (e.g., MoH and KIK) 

• Acting as an internal hub to ensure that regulatory and quality-related topics align with company strategy, and driving active communication with internal stakeholders and functions

• Leading and coaching Regulatory and Quality functions to maintain Roche standards and ensure Roche Diagnostics Türkiye operates in full compliance with local regulations and requirements.

• Enabling and coaching Quality & Regulatory Affairs, Legal, and SHE team members on Roche Diagnostics Türkiye strategies to ensure alignment with Global and EMEA-LATAM product strategies, plans, objectives, and goals.

Abilities/Skills

• Identify and manage complexity through the ability to quickly understand and analyze facts and situations

• Ability to translate strategy into actionable plans and measurable outcomes

• Strong influence,  negotiation, and conflict-resolution skills

• Excellent prioritization and resource allocation skills

• Process improvement and operational excellence mindset

• Ability to challenge the status quo constructively and to proactively contribute to improvements in the business and in the legal department

• Strategic thinker and hands-on team player who thrives in a fast-paced environment

• High level of ownership, accountability, and resilience

• Learning agility and openness to feedback and continuous development

Experience

• Law degree from a reputable university and a qualified lawyer in Turkey

• Minimum of 10 years of progressive legal experience,  obtained via a combination of private practice and in-house, preferably in the medical device, biotech, or pharmaceutical industries

• Proven track record of managing complex legal and compliance issues

• In-depth knowledge of healthcare laws and regulations in Turkey

• Deep understanding of the Turkish market and culture

• High level of integrity, professionalism, and ethical standards

• Fluent in written and oral English

Who we are

A healthier future drives us to innovate. Together, more than 100’000 employees across the globe are dedicated to advance science, ensuring everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Our efforts result in more than 26 million people treated with our medicines and over 30 billion tests conducted using our Diagnostics products. We empower each other to explore new possibilities, foster creativity, and keep our ambitions high, so we can deliver life-changing healthcare solutions that make a global impact.

Let’s build a healthier future, together.

Roche is an Equal Opportunity Employer.