Thales is a global technology leader with more than 83,000 employees on five continents. With over 7,500 people in the UK, operating across defence, space, aerospace, and digital security, we help build a future we can all trust. Thales supports the security and stability of our nation by providing extraordinary technology to our customers, as well as delivering social value to the UK with our products and services.
Job Title: Legal Counsel
Location: Belfast, United Kingdom - Hybrid
About Thales Cyber Security Products (CSP):
We are the worldwide leader in data protection, providing everything an organisation needs to protect and manage its data, identities and intellectual property – through encryption, advanced key management, tokenisation, and authentication and access management. Whether it’s securing the cloud, digital payments, blockchain or the Internet of Things, security professionals around the globe rely on Thales CSP to confidently accelerate their organisation’s digital transformation.
Job Overview
The Legal Counsel will play a key role in supporting CSP’s commercial contracting and procurement activities, project work and compliance initiatives. This role will partner closely with the business to provide pragmatic, solution-oriented legal advice while designing and implementing processes that ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and Group policies, and proactively mitigate legal and contractual risk in support of business objectives.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage and engage stakeholders across a complex corporate and matrixed environment.
- Provide high-quality, cost-effective, and commercially pragmatic legal advice in a timely and proactive manner, balancing business objectives with legal, regulatory and contractual risk.
- Advise on a broad range of commercial matters, including contracting, procurement, legal project work and data privacy.
- Support all commercial and procurement-related legal aspects of CSP’s business operations.
- Design, implement, and continuously improve legal processes to enhance service delivery and efficiency, including the development of self-service tools that enable the legal team to focus on higher-value work.
- Proactively monitor and manage contractual obligations, risks and any related claims.
- Uphold the integrity of the business by actively supporting and overseeing the implementation of the Group’s compliance framework, including policies relating to anti-corruption, antitrust, trade compliance (including export controls), and data privacy (including GDPR and CCPA).
Qualifications
- Qualified Attorney with a current practising certificate in England and Wales or an EU jurisdiction.
- Minimum of 2 years’ post-qualification legal experience, ideally with a strong focus on commercial transactions and contracts, gained both in a reputable law firm and in-house within a technology-driven organisation.
- Experience operating in a complex, fast-paced environment.
- Excellent communication, negotiation, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to engage effectively with stakeholders at all levels of the organisation.
- Demonstrated ability to work independently and collaboratively, managing multiple priorities and projects while meeting deadlines in a dynamic environment.
What We Offer:
- Competitive salary and benefits package.
- Opportunities for professional development and growth.
- A dynamic and innovative work environment.
- The chance to be part of a mission-driven organization committed to making a difference in the world.
Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the UK at the time of hire. This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship or for assuming sponsorship of an employment visa now or in the future.
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At Thales, we ensure equal opportunities, pay and working conditions for all. The benefits we offer include private medical insurance, buying or selling annual leave, cycle to work schemes, employee discounts, paid volunteering day, stocks and shares, annual bonus and much more depending on the role. Read more about our benefits here.
We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued for who they are and the unique strengths they bring. Discover more about our programmes, employee networks, wellbeing policies, and inclusive features here.
If this role isn’t quite right for you, we encourage you to join our talent community where your details will be shared with our recruitment teams for other potential opportunities. Join the Talent Community here.
Join Thales in the UK – Innovate with us and shape the future!
Skills Required
- Qualified Attorney with a current practising certificate in England and Wales or an EU jurisdiction
- Minimum of 2 years of post-qualification legal experience
- Experience with commercial transactions and contracts
- Experience gained in a reputable law firm and in-house within a technology-driven organisation
- Experience operating in a complex, fast-paced environment
- Excellent communication, negotiation, and problem-solving skills
- Ability to engage effectively with stakeholders at all organisational levels
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively while managing multiple priorities and projects
- Ability to meet deadlines in a dynamic environment
- Legal authorization to work in the UK at the time of hire
Thales Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Thales and has not been reviewed or approved by Thales.
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Retirement Support — Retirement plans with employer contributions and matches, profit sharing, and share purchase opportunities are emphasized across multiple regions. These elements are positioned as competitive components of total rewards.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Generous PTO that increases with tenure, paid holidays, and paid military, maternity, and paternity leave are described. This breadth supports work–life balance across locations.
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Flexible Benefits — Hybrid work options, flexible schedules, and parental supports such as childcare benefits and leave for sick children are available in several markets. Flexibility is presented as a core part of the employee experience.
Thales Insights
What We Do
Thales is a global high technology leader investing in digital and “deep tech” innovations – connectivity, big data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and quantum technology – to build a future we can all trust, which is vital to the development of our societies. The company provides solutions, services and products that help its customers – businesses, organisations and states – in the defence, aeronautics, space, transportation and digital identity and security markets to fulfil their critical missions, by placing humans at the heart of the decision-making process.
