General Legal Counsel Job at UpEnergy

We are recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Position: General Legal Counsel

Job Location: Remote
Job Type: Full time
Department: Finance

About the Role

• We seek a General Legal Counsel to lead our company from a legal perspective.
• The role will provide an opportunity to set up the legal team at UpEnergy and be part of our carbon project implementations.

Key Responsibilities
Legal:

• Build the Legal function across UpEnergy Group
• Maintain legal compliance and robust legal agreements for all activities covering commercial, corporate, employment, privacy, intellectual property and other key issues impacting the business
• Work with the Finance and Commercial / Country teams to negotiate and close project financing and commercial partnerships across Africa
• Work with Carbon team to provide legal support on the origination, due diligence and development of carbon projects, as well as the interpretation of carbon markets law
• Identify and manage legal risks and opportunities across relevant African jurisdictions and other relevant locations
• Understand, interpret and apply current laws and regulations as applicable to our activities
• Review and draft major contracts as well as develop templates and standard commercial agreements across our different geographical and operational areas of work
• Manage litigation / potential disputes arising with partners, customers, regulators, employees or other stakeholders of the business
• Select, manage and coordinate external legal counsel across 10+ jurisdictions while efficiently managing legal spend at central and country level
• Be a trusted advisor and thought partner to the Executive Management, the wider global management team as well as Country Directors and Heads of Departments across Africa, and provide proactive and actionable legal and strategic input on a range of complex business and regulatory issues.

Ethics:

• Design and develop programs to establish high ethical standards of conduct for the organization
• Communicate the organization's ethical standards and deliver employee training programs that raise awareness about ethics-related topics such as Anti-Bribery, Anti-Corruption, Antitrust, Conflicts of Interest, and others
• Monitor compliance with policies and investigate and remediate any non-compliant actions
• Ensure that policies reflect domestic and international legal requirements and industry-specific codes governing ethical standards and comply with transparency reporting requirements
• Maintain confidential reporting systems allowing employees, customers, contractors, and other stakeholders to disclose violations of the organization's ethical standards, violations of law, or policies without fear of retaliation.

Does This Sound Like You?

• 10+ years of professional legal experience in an international context
• Law degree from a top university and admitted to practice in at least one jurisdiction
• Legal experience in a carbon project organisation or in the carbon market is highly desirable
• Familiarity with carbon markets law and carbon industry practices is highly desirable
• High degree of professional flexibility and ability to coordinate many unrelated projects at the same time
• Highly professional and commercial approach to problem-solving
• Ability to build, manage and lead a team
• Outstanding interpersonal skills, including both verbal and written communication. You need to be an excellent and concise writer who can explain complex legal issues to non-lawyers in a quick and accurate manner.
• Self-starter who proactively takes responsibility and ownership of his/her projects, and is excited to be part of UpEnergy’s growth story.