Puma Energy recruits 01 Legal Counsel

Main Purpose

Legal Counsel in charge of legal and contractual support for the Company’s entities and businesses in Afrique francophone, and occasional legal support on French language matters in Europe. Ideally bilingual lawyer, to provide legal support also to English speaking countries in West Africa.

Knowledge Skills and Abilities, Key Responsibilities

• Drafting, reviewing, negotiating and advising on a variety of commercial contracts, including in relation to bitumen supply, storage, retail, B2B fuel supply etc.;
• Supporting dispute prevention and resolution and management of claims and litigation issues;
• Supporting M&A transactions and joint ventures;
• Selecting and managing external counsel, including local counsel, advising on local and specialised issues;
• Keeping abreast of relevant legal and regulatory developments and facilitating sharing of knowledge and best-practice within wider legal team and more widely as relevant;
• Providing day-to-day legal advice on issues arising;
• Providing company secretarial support (legal entity management and corporate governance) in collaboration with the Company Secretary Africa;
• Supporting the Compliance function and initiatives;
• Advising on intercompany agreements;
• Working closely with relevant stakeholders in the region to ensure delivery of the Company’s business objectives and priorities, including evaluation of legal and commercial risks and enabling risk-based decisions;
• Advising senior leadership on key legal issues;
• Seeking opportunities for innovation and process improvement to increase overall efficiency of the services delivered by the legal function;
• Supporting the wider legal team objectives, including involvement in projects and initiatives.

Qualifications & Experience

• Qualified lawyer in a French law based jurisdiction.
• Minimum of 7 years’ experience gained at a high quality law firm and/or multinational company. Strong preference for solid law firm experience. Previous in-house experience in an international company of advantage.
• Experience of M&A, commodity sales contracts, litigation, commercial contracts and retail would be advantageous.
• Experience working across French Africa countries, in particular Bénin, Sénégal and Congo of advantage.
• Experience working in an international environment and matrix organisations.

Skills

• Strong legal skills, able to analyse and identify legal issues and devise solutions
• Strong business mindset and problem solving attitude, with strong aptitudes to identify and foster pragmatic approaches
• Ability to handle complex situations and transactions with little or no supervision
• Ability to influence and persuade key stakeholders, shareholder representatives and senior counterparties
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, agile environment and to manage workload and priorities as part of a team and work under pressure
• Strong communication skills, with an ability to communicate in a concise and clear manner
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work in a multinational, multicultural environment
• Fluency in French and English

Key Relationships and Department Overview

• TBC

Closing date: 21 August 2021.