Principal Contract Lawyer

Salary details: £60468 - £63879

Royal Borough of Greenwich: Principal Lawyer – Contracts & Procurement Vacancy Fixed Term – Up to 12 months

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Are you looking for your next challenge and a role that will provide challenge and variety?

We are looking for a specialist Contract Procurement Lawyer with a proven track record in public sector contracts and procurement, either working in the public sector or in private practice with a public sector exposure.  This role will be to provide a high quality service to the Council in the achievement of its priorities and objectives for the benefit of our community. The successful candidate will have excellent communication, drafting skills and the ability to provide legal advice to a variety of audiences, including senior officers and Members.

Royal Greenwich is proud to be a borough synonymous with first class modern services. A world heritage site, our communities are vibrant and diverse, and our elected members are ambitious to realise the potential of the borough whilst working within a challenging financial environment.

The job

Greenwich Legal Services is committed to being a high performing in-house legal service which plays an essential part in the achievement of the Royal Borough’s priorities and objectives for the benefit of our community. 

You will join us at an exciting and challenging in local government procurement and you will play a pivotal role in delivering some of our key corporate objectives.

Reporting to the Assistant Head of Legal Services (Planning & Procurement), we are looking for a  highly experienced, expert Contracts lawyer to lead on the embedding of the changes of the Procurement Act, and to assist with transforming service delivery in the area of contracts and procurement. The right candidate must have strong management and communication skills and an ability to manage projects, and to communicate across a wide range of stakeholders.  Utilising skills and experience gained within a similar position, the right candidate will support the development of junior lawyers, whilst managing your own complex and varied caseload.

You will need to work collaboratively with our clients and external legal partners, providing corporate guidance and co-ordinating legal advice. Your vision and insight will be equally as important, and you must have the ability to foster challenging but supportive relationships with the people you represent and advise, both as their trusted legal adviser, but also as a persuasive senior colleague.

We are looking for someone who cares about what they do, are passionate about improving standards and performance, and are committed to mentoring and develop junior lawyers  to share this vision, and develop their technical knowledge.

The role will involve legal advice and support to committees, Councillors and senior officers, deputising for the  Assistant Head of Legal Services as required. 

If you think you have the commensurate skills and want to play a vital role in the next stage of our continuous improvement journey, Royal Borough of Greenwich might be the next step in your career.

You must be a qualified solicitor or barrister holding a current practising certificate, or FiLex.

Rewards and Benefits of working for us:

• Commitment to provide development opportunities to staff
• Agile working
• 28 days annual leave, rising to 31 days annual leave after 5 years’ service.
• Excellent pension scheme
• Learning and development opportunities to maximise your potential
• Annual season ticket loan
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Childcare Vouchers

Closing Date:  3^rd December

Interviews: w/c 9^th December

For an informal discussion about this opportunity, please contact Emma Newby;    Emma.Newby@royalgreenwich.gov.uk     .  

Diversity Statement: Royal Borough of Greenwich values the diversity of its community and aims to have a workforce that reflects this. We therefore encourage applications from all sections of the community.

High Volume Applications: Royal Borough of Greenwich reserves the right to close any vacancy earlier than the advertised closing date should there be a high volume of applications received.

Advert Close: All vacancies close at midnight unless otherwise stated.

How Applications are Scored: Each application is scored according to how well the supporting statement addresses each point on the Person Specification for the role. Candidates will be short-listed for interview on the extent to which they meet the specific points within the Person Specification. The Person Specification is supplied with the job advert. When completing your application, please use the supporting statement section to tell us how you meet each of the points on the Person Specification. We need to have this information in order to consider your application.

Salary: Salaries advertised are for a standard working week of 35 hours unless otherwise stated. Please use this 'Salary Calculator to help you calculate a pro rata salary.

Our Staff Values: Our Staff Values are important to us. Candidates will be continuously assessed against our staff values throughout the recruitment process. Where candidates demonstrate views and behaviours that do not meet the standards of our staff values, we reserve the right to reject their application/ registration.