Head of Legal South West Europe

This position is overall responsible for Maersk and APM Terminals legal matters for the South West Europe (SWE) Area. The Area includes Spain, Portugal, France, Morocco, Tunesia and Algeria. The position forms an integral part of the Maersk Europe Legal Leadership Team and the global Maersk Legal team. The position will be based in Madrid and reports to the General Counsel, Europe region (based in The Netherlands). The position will work with the SWE Leadership Team and the Leadership teams of the terminals in the Area on a daily basis.

We Offer

We offer you an exciting international career, at competitive terms in the market, in an industry that has a significant impact on the world economy and a company that plays a pivotal role in world trade. Maersk is in the middle of an unprecedent transformation pursuing its vision to become the “Global Integrator of Container Logistics” and each employee supports that transformation as well as the business growth that comes along with it. You will be working together with highly qualified people in a global team with numerous growth opportunities. You will join a diverse, global organization where you can grow on the job, tap into industry-leading talent development initiatives, enjoy collaborating with your colleagues and broaden your perspective through personal and professional development.

We are proud of our people who define our company’s values, industry leadership, global team culture and customer-centric focus.

Key Responsibilities

• Being a key member of project teams working on growth opportunities for APM Terminals and Maersk (port projects and warehousing projects).
• Responsible for safeguarding Maersk’s values, interests and reputation and "getting the best possible deal" across the line.
• Partnering with Sales and Procurement to advise and support on drafting of commercial contracts and other legal documents as well as negotiations.
• Responsible for handling and overseeing litigation in the SWE Area.
• Advising on and attending various engagements with authorities, together with other senior leaders in the Area.
• Responsible for engaging and managing external legal counsel, including legal budget.
• Proactively identifying and addressing legal issues in a pragmatic and risk-based fashion.
• Provide training to (non-legal) colleagues on relevant topics such as commercial contracting, implementing legal improvement projects, mostly focussed on standardisation and quality control.
• Working effectively with other departments and functions such as Investments, Finance, Tax, Compliance, etc.

Who are we looking for?

• Master of Laws or equivalent university qualification.
• Proactive and senior business partner for Area management and commercial functions. Flagging risks with a commercial and pragmatic approach towards problem solving.

• Minimum 10 years of legal experience in private practice and as in-house counsel, ideally with experience in logistics.
• Project management and transactional experience will be considered as a strong advantage.
• Strong leadership skills and experience with leading a team (the position will have at least 4 direct reports and a total team of 6-9).
• Solid experience with general corporate, regulatory and commercial legal issues.
• Experience with drafting and negotiating contracts; drive to understand commercial context.
• Commercial mind-set, drive to deliver high quality results, high level of integrity.
• Effective communicator (able to explain complex legal issues to non-legal colleagues in a simple way), strong personality, empathy, personal tact.
• Well organised, punctual.
• Impeccable command of English and Spanish language; French and/or Arabic serve as an advantage.

You have been reading so far, we are glad to see you are interested. If you can see yourself in this role and are keen to be part of this journey at Maersk, we look forward to hearing from you! Please submit your application in English.

Maersk is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace, and we embrace different styles of thinking. Maersk is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applicants without regard to race, colour, gender, sex, age, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy or parental leave, veteran status, gender identity, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with all legal requirements.

We are happy to support your need for any adjustments during the application and hiring process. If you need special assistance or an accommodation to use our website, apply for a position, or to perform a job, please contact us by emailing  accommodationrequests@maersk.com.