Head of Legal SA & SSA

Welcome to Haleon. We’re a purpose-driven, world-class consumer company putting everyday health in the hands of millions. In just three years since our launch, we’ve grown, evolved and are now entering an exciting new chapter – one filled with bold ambitions and enormous opportunity.

Our trusted portfolio of brands – including Sensodyne®, Panadol®, Advil®, Voltaren®, Theraflu®, Otrivin®, and Centrum® – lead in resilient and growing categories. What sets us apart is our unique blend of deep human understanding and trusted science.

Now it’s time to fully realise the full potential of our business and our people. We do this through our Win as One strategy. It puts our purpose – to deliver better everyday health with humanity – at the heart of everything we do. It unites us, inspires us, and challenges us to be better every day, driven by our agile, performance-focused culture.

About the role

This role will directly report to MEA Legal Head, will be providing legal support to all Haleon South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa stakeholders from every level of seniority.  The role will be providing day-to-day legal support to business along with strategic guidance in order support business’ growth agenda, launches of innovative portfolio and managing the risk in high-risk markets.

The role will also need to be external facing due to highly-regulated nature of the country and complex market access environment, especially with the upcoming pipeline.  As a result, this role will often need to represent Haleon in government authorities (including Ministry of Health, Competition Authorities, Data Protection Regulator etc.) and attend meetings to support Haleon’s interest in the best way on-a-need basis.

Key responsibilities

Legal Advisory and Strategic Business Partnership

• End-to-end responsibility for all legal matters arising in the business clusters.
• Partnership with the business on supporting legal matters and providing legal counsel regarding Haleon business in the clusters.
• Liaison with Global legal and other functions on various legal and business matters.
• Provide analysis, legal advice and solutions on commercial, operational, R&D, QSC, governance and other matters, integrating legal knowledge with sound business judgment and right risk assessment capabilities.
• Negotiate, advise and execute local, multi-country or regional commercial and other contracts and other legal documents
• Review and interpret regional trends of pending and new legislation impacting the business to advise on strategic and proactive management of legal risks

Legal support on business development, new product launches and M&A activities.

Compliance/ Governance/Training

• Anticipate and proactively support the prevention and management of legal risks in the business clusters.
• Support Data Privacy compliance activities
• Develop local policies and practices on issues presenting potential legal risk
• Ensure corporate governance and lead corporate secretarial support for the legal entities in the clusters
• Educate client businesses on sound legal practices and new legislative developments

Litigation/Investigations

• Coordinate and lead litigation in the clusters.
• Support internal and external investigation teams

External Advocacy

• Represent Haleon in meetings with regulators and government bodies on issues touching upon HALEON business
• Participate in activities of the Trade Association where Haleon has membership

• Liaise with and support cross-functional collaboration and co-creation.
• Support the protection of intellectual property and anti-counterfeiting activities in the regional business clusters
• Participate in or lead special projects furthering development and embedding of best practices or expanded legal knowledge

Qualifications and skills

Essential

• Law degree from a leading SA or international Law schools or universities
• Law degree and necessary bar qualification in RSA
• Knowledge on RSA and SSA laws supported with an LLM or certificate program abroad
• 10-15 years’ experience with 5 years’ experience in a leadership role. FMCG experience.

Preferred

• Good leadership skills
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability and maturity to interact professionally with all levels of HALEON business and external stakeholders. (including public institutions and sector associations) in an effective manner.
• Strong sense of proactive and strategic risk assessment.
• Ability to manage complex issues and strong project management skills. 
• Ability to assess business priorities, multi-task and prioritize needs.
• Self-motivation capability and ability to operate without close oversight.
• Strong business acumen and pragmatism.
• High integrity and ethics standards.
• Experience in negotiating commercial contracts, with excellent drafting skills.

Please save a copy of the job description, as this may be helpful to refer to once the advert closes.

 Job Posting End Date

Equal Opportunities

Haleon are committed to mobilising our purpose in a way that represents the diverse consumers and communities who rely on our brands every day. It guides us in creating an inclusive culture, where different backgrounds and views are valued and respected – all in support of understanding and best serving the needs of our consumers and unleashing the full potential of our people. It’s important to us that Haleon is a place where all our employees feel they truly belong.

During the application process, we may ask you to share some personal information, which is entirely voluntary. This information ensures we meet certain regulatory and reporting obligations and supports the development, refinement, and execution of our inclusion and belonging programmes that are open to all Haleon employees. 

The personal information you provide will be kept confidential, used only for legitimate business purposes, and will never be used in making any employment decisions, including hiring decisions.

Adjustment or Accommodations Request

If you require a reasonable adjustment or accommodation or other assistance to apply for a job at Haleon at any stage of the application process, please let your recruiter know by providing them with a description of specific adjustments you are requesting. We’ll provide all reasonable adjustments to support you throughout the recruitment process and treat all information you provide us in confidence. 

Note to candidates

The Haleon recruitment team will contact you using a Haleon email account (@haleon.com). If you are not sure whether the email you received is from Haleon, please get in touch.