Senior Legal Counsel

Want to do the best work of your life? With 24 million customers in 6 countries, make your mark at Europe’s leading media and entertainment brand. A workplace where you can proudly be yourself; our people make Sky a truly exciting and inclusive place to work.

This is a great opportunity for an employment lawyer as a Senior Legal Counsel within Sky’s in house HR Legal team.

We seek a motivated, collaborative and commercially minded lawyer who is able to support across the full breadth of employment law issues, primarily in UK & Ireland but with an increasing focus on Sky’s footprint in other jurisdictions. The role will offer a wide variety of cutting-edge work and provide first-class opportunities for development and growth, both within the team and more broadly across the department and the Sky Group.

Our team is part of the Sky Legal team with around 200 UK based lawyers. Sky is fast paced and challenging, but it’s also a people first business with friendly, amazing colleagues and real opportunities to grow your career.

You will have the opportunity to experience a wide range of work for multiple clients and stakeholders across the Sky Group. The variety of work is unique in the UK – ranging across the entire TMT sector from market leading Sports and News issues, to Sky Studios productions, to our key volume areas including our engineers, retail and contact centre populations.

This is an exciting time to join the HR Legal team. Sky is undertaking an ambitious transformation programme as it continues to deliver for customers and stay at the cutting edge of the media and entertainment markets. Our business is increasingly focused on large and strategic projects, and HR Legal have a key seat at the table in guiding and delivering this change.

The role will report into Stephen Hall, Head Counsel of the HR Legal team based in our West London offices. You will have the opportunity to help shape an effective and efficient HR Legal function that is fit for the future across the Sky Group.

What you’ll do:

• Provide clear, commercial and practical advice to HR, business leaders and internal lawyers regarding the full range of contentious and non-contentious employment law issues – primarily in UK&I but with an increasing international scope.
• Support HR and the business to deliver Sky’s ambitious transformation programme, working on and driving key strategic projects and other commercial priorities.
• Exposure to senior leadership providing timely, concise and effective advice on key HR projects and risks - with accountability for providing creative and risk-based solutions, and driving positive outcomes.
• Opportunity to work both independently and as a team - building effective relationships with HR and legal colleagues and the wider Sky businesses (including Sky Group and Comcast/NBC Universal).
• Coach and develop other team members within the HR Legal team and broader Sky Legal team – including supervising our Paralegals who conduct our employment tribunal litigation in house.
• Retain, instruct and manage the work of outside counsel in a manner which promotes efficiency and cost-effectiveness

What you’ll bring:

Essential:

• Extensive experience in UK employment law issues within a highly regarded law firm or equivalent in-house
• Experience of managing i) large scale restructuring projects and ii) projects with cross territory issues
• Ability to effectively supervise on tribunal claims

Desirable:

• In house experience
• Exposure to Telecommunications, Media Technology, and/or Entertainment industries o Experience of working with external and overseas counsel
• Experience of working with US stakeholders and parent companies

Skills:

• Commerciality – Ability to cut through complexity and provide creative, practical and risk based solutions
• Exceptional communication skills – Ability to clearly and effectively communicate advice to and manage a complex network of senior stakeholders
• Independent and pro-active – Ability to give legal advice quickly and independently, escalating at the appropriate time and driving matters forward
• Great team player – Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build rapport and establish trust and business partnering at all levels
• Growth – Optimistic, open minded and willing to support others in their development.

Team overview:

 Legal                                      

As a team, we pursue the highest standards and demonstrate commitment, integrity and judgement. We exist to add real value by sustainably providing the highest quality business-focussed legal expertise that keeps Sky competitive. Through our work we help to bring better content and innovation to all of our customers, better connecting them to more of what they love. Our vision is to create the Legal team of the future, together – operating at the heart of Sky, famous for adding value.

The Rewards:

There's one thing people can't stop talking about when it comes to #LifeAtSky: the perks. Here’s a taster:

• Sky Q, for the TV you love all in one place
• The magic of Sky Glass at an exclusive rate
• A generous pension package
• Private healthcare
• Discounted mobile and broadband
• A wide range of Sky VIP rewards and experiences

How you'll work:

We know the world has changed, and we want to offer our employees the chance to collaborate at our unique office spaces, whilst enjoying the convenience of working from home.

We've adopted a hybrid working approach to give more flexibility on where and how we work. You'll find out more about what this means for this role during the recruitment process.

Your office base:

Osterley:

Our Osterley Campus is a 10-minute walk from Syon Lane train station. Or you can hop on one of our free shuttle buses that run to and from Osterley, Gunnersbury, Ealing Broadway and South Ealing tube stations. There’s also plenty of bike shelters and showers.

On campus, you’ll find 13 subsidised restaurants, cafes, and a Waitrose. You can keep in shape at our subsidised gym, catch the latest shows and movies at our cinema, get your car washed and even get pampered at our beauty salon.

Inclusion:

At Sky we don’t just look at your CV. We’re more focused on who you are and your potential. We also know that everyone has a life outside work, so we’re happy to discuss flexible working.

We are a Disability Confident Accredited Employer, and welcome and encourage applications from all candidates. We will look to ensure a fair and consistent experience for all and will make reasonable adjustments to support you where appropriate. Please flag any adjustments you need to your recruiter as early as you can.

Why wait?

Apply now to build an amazing career and be part of a brilliant team. We can’t wait to hear from you.

To find out more about working with us, search #LifeAtSky on social media. A job you love to talk about.

Just so you know: if your application is successful, we’ll ask you to complete a criminal record check. And depending on the role you have applied for and the nature of any convictions you may have, we might have to withdraw the offer.