General Counsel

What you'll do

You will be accountable for shaping and leading a Legal and Compliance function that enables the business to operate commercially, ethically and effectively.

Your key accountabilities include: 

• Legal Advisor: Act as a senior business partner to the Group Leadership Team and functional leaders, providing clear, practical and commercially grounded legal advice that supports effective decision-making, enables growth and protects Avalere Health’s interests. 

• Leadership of Legal and Compliance: Leads and develops the Legal and Compliance teams, ensuring both functions have the capability, ways of working, tools and priorities required to operate as high-impact, future-ready teams.  

• Operational effectiveness and future readiness: Drive continuous improvement across Legal and Compliance, including clearer processes, better use of technology, stronger prioritisation and more effective business partnering, so the teams can support the organisation with pace, consistency and impact. 

• Contract management function oversight: create a central contract management function to offload legal ownership of contract management, setting the function up for success 

• Risk, governance and compliance oversight: Ensure legal, contractual, regulatory and compliance risks are identified, assessed and managed in a way that is proportionate, pragmatic and aligned to the organisation’s commercial and operational priorities 

• Contracts, disputes and external counsel: Oversee the approach to complex commercial contracts, negotiations, disputes, litigation and external counsel relationships, ensuring matters are managed efficiently, commercially and in line with Avalere Health’s risk appetite. 

• Investigations and remediation support: Support the People team and/or Compliance team with best practice guidance on internal investigations. Provide legal input on process, risk, remediation and follow-up to support fair, consistent and compliant outcomes. 

• Culture, integrity and business enablement: Promote a culture of integrity, compliance and sound judgement while ensuring Legal and Compliance are seen as enabling functions that help the business move forward responsibly and confidently 

About you

• Qualified solicitor with significant post-qualification experience, ideally 10+ years PQE.  

• Proven experience operating as a General Counsel or leading an in-house legal function within a complex, international organisation.  

• Experience within a professional services, consulting, healthcare communications, agency or similarly fast-paced, client-focused environment.  

• Experience working within private equity-backed organisations and supporting boards, investors and senior executive teams is highly advantageous.  

• Strong knowledge of the legal and regulatory landscape across the UK, Europe and the US, with experience managing legal risk in multi-jurisdictional environments.  

• Demonstrable experience balancing commercial objectives with effective governance, compliance and risk management.  

• Strong commercial contracting and negotiation expertise, including oversight of complex client agreements, disputes, litigation matters and external counsel relationships.  

• Proven track record of building, leading and developing high-performing Legal and Compliance teams through periods of change, growth and business transformation.  

• Experience leveraging technology, automation and AI-enabled solutions to improve legal operations, scale processes and enhance team effectiveness.  

• Strong business partnering skills, with the ability to provide practical, commercially focused advice and influence senior stakeholders, including Executive Leadership Teams and Boards.