Senior Counsel – Commercial Transactions Europe & Africa

JOB DESCRIPTION

Senior Counsel – Commercial Transactions Europe & Africa

What can you expect?

Adient (NYSE: ADNT) is a global leader in automotive seating. With 70,000+ employees in 29 countries, Adient operates more than 200 manufacturing/assembly plants worldwide. We produce and deliver automotive seating for all major OEMs. From complete seating systems to individual foam, trim and metal components, our expertise spans every step of the automotive seat-making process. Our integrated, in-house skills allow us to take our products from research and design to engineering and manufacturing — and into millions of vehicles every year. For more information, visit www.adient.com.

The Senior Counsel will serve as a member of Adient’s Commercial Transactions Team providing support for commercial transactions for Adient’s business, primarily in the Europe & Africa region, with a focus on drafting and reviewing sales, procurement, and other commercial agreements as well as corporate and entity management matters. This role requires providing sound judgment and advice on material matters pertaining to Adient’s procurement, sales and corporate activities; while demonstrating the ability to assist the Legal Department and business leads in strategic initiatives for the organization with a hands-on, consultative approach.  As a member of the Commercial Transactions Team, this attorney is expected to provide legal expertise and an organizational perspective to drive risk management strategy and ensure alignment to the company’s goals, culture, core values and future organizational requirements. This position reports to the Executive Director & Associate General Counsel for Europe & Africa. 

At Adient, we are proud to offer hybrid working to our employees, which involves being able to work remotely for up to 3 days per week based on the agreement within specific department.

What will your responsibilities be?

• Review, draft and negotiate various types of sales and procurement contracts with varying degrees of complexity and risks in the region.  Matters include but are not limited to OEM supply agreements, sales agreements, tooling agreements, development agreements, real estate, [information technology,] and procurement issues (goods and services).

• Review, draft and negotiate various types of corporate and entity management related documents including legal advice on corporate reorganizations, strategic initiatives, joint ventures, and M&A projects.

• Actively engage with internal clients from multiple business units and departments, customers, vendors, and other third parties; provide practical, business-savvy counseling and support in accordance with the company's policies to the business in assigned areas of commercial transactions and related issues, including risk mitigation and dispute avoidance and resolution counseling.

• Develop a strong relationship with internal clients and proactively support and in some cases serve as the primary legal lead for assigned strategic initiatives.

• Be a thought leader on complex transactions and proactively inform business and legal leaders about transaction-related risk identification and mitigation, regulatory changes, and trends and develop strategies and forms to address commercial issues affecting Adient’s business.

• Identify continuous improvement opportunities related to the contract review process, playbooks, and entity management, including identifying, developing and implementing best business practices.

• Proactively collaborate across regions with other members of the law department, outside counsel and other non-traditional legal resources and take leadership role on both legal and business projects.

• Drive efficient, effective and practical use of outside counsel and management of outside counsel costs.

• The ability to travel within Europe less than 5% of the time would be preferred.

Which qualifications are we looking for in potential employees?

• Lawyer qualified in at least one European country.
• Minimum 8 years of transactional experience in a major law firm, a publicly traded multi-national corporation, or both.

• Experience as a transactional attorney with an emphasis on complex commercial contracts and corporate law matters including M&A.
• Experience in the automotive industry is a plus.
• Solid and efficient drafting skills with knowledge of standard contracting administration; procedures, concepts, principles and methods.
• Demonstrated negotiation skills; ability to influence without authority.
• Strong interpersonal skills with ability to build positive relationships with management, other members of the law department and external parties.
• Strong analytical skills; solid decision-making capabilities coupled with the ability to analyze situations and provide practical recommendations.
• Results oriented; effective at managing multiple priorities under tight deadlines, ability to prioritize conflicting demands, organize time and resources to deliver consistent results for the business and bring assignments to successful completion.
• Experience managing outside counsel and international project teams.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• High degree of business acumen; strong technical aptitude; proficiency with Microsoft Office to include: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Ability to make solid judgment calls under pressure.
• Fluet written and oral language skills in English (second European language, particularly German, is a plus).

Which benefits do we offer?

• Base monthly salary starting from 6000 EUR gross. Our salary is fair and competitive and can be higher than the starting minimum in the advertisement
• 13th salary
• Language and proficiency courses
• Meal vouchers - 7€ (fully paid by employer)
• Flexible working hours, possibility to work remotely including days from abroad
• Extra holiday entitlement
• Inclusive allowance scheme including Health support allowance, Jubilee allowance, Housing allowance
• Referral bonus
• Employee Assistance Program "Felix"
• Volunteer days
• Active life with colleagues, full of various sports activities
• Various CSR Activities
• Modern relax areas, play room
• Coffee and tea at the workplace

Adient is committed to equal employment opportunity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace. As a true global company, our leaders and employees come from various cultures across the world. Our diversity is a source of inspiration enabling us to achieve our goals and build an inclusive company culture.

This job description indicates the general nature and level of work expected of the candidate. It is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities required of the candidate. The candidate may be required to perform other related duties.

We are looking forward to receiving your application including your salary expectations and your earliest availability date. If you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact Dagmar Sováková on +421 910 828 746 or by email on ([email protected]).

PRIMARY LOCATION