Senior Legal Counsel, Privacy and Data Protection

The Nielsen Company

7d•Remote

About The Position

The Senior Legal Counsel, Privacy and Data Protection provides sophisticated, practical, business-oriented legal advice on EU/EEA privacy and data protection matters across Nielsen’s products, services, commercial relationships, and internal operations. The role independently manages complex privacy workstreams, supports Nielsen’s European privacy program, and advises local sales and business teams. It works closely with Product, Engineering, Data Science, Information Security, Procurement, Sales, Marketing, and Legal colleagues across jurisdictions, applying strong legal judgment and practical understanding of Nielsen’s business.

Requirements

Extensive experience practicing privacy, data protection, technology, commercial, or related legal work in-house, with a track record of producing high-quality independent work.
Law degree or equivalent legal qualification; qualification or admission in the UK is required.
Deep practical knowledge of the GDPR and applicable national privacy and data protection laws in at least one relevant European jurisdiction.
Demonstrated experience conducting or overseeing DPIAs/PIAs, transfer impact assessments, legitimate interest assessments, and privacy risk assessments, including documenting risks and tracking mitigations.
Demonstrated experience drafting, reviewing, and negotiating DPAs, data protection exhibits, and other privacy-related contract terms, including advising both buyers/customers and sellers/providers.
Experience advising business, sales, product, technology, or commercial teams on complex privacy issues and translating legal requirements into practical, commercially workable solutions.
Strong legal research, writing, negotiation, analytical, and issue-spotting skills, sound judgment, and ability to build consensus among diverse stakeholders.
Excellent written and verbal English communication skills.

Nice To Haves

Experience engaging with or supporting communications to supervisory authorities, regulators, or other public-sector stakeholders.
Fluency in an additional European language.
CIPP/E certification; it is greatly preferred but not a hard requirement.
CIPM, CIPT, or an equivalent privacy credential.
Adtech, martech, media measurement, audience analytics, data licensing, or digital advertising experience.
Knowledge of U.S. privacy and data protection requirements, including U.S. state privacy laws and the CCPA/CPRA.
Knowledge of APAC privacy and data protection regulations, particularly India’s Digital Personal Data Protection framework, Australia’s Privacy Act and Australian Privacy Principles, or South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Act.
Familiarity with international data transfers, standard contractual clauses, cross-border data sharing, consent and preference management, privacy management tools, data mapping, and records of processing activities.

Responsibilities

Provide day-to-day legal advice on the GDPR, national implementing laws, EDPB guidance, supervisory-authority decisions, ePrivacy requirements, marketing and consumer protection rules, and other relevant European data protection and digital regulations.
Translate legal developments into practical guidance, contract language, policies, notices, processes, and implementation requirements for local and global stakeholders.
Draft, review, and negotiate data processing agreements, data protection exhibits, data sharing and data use agreements, data transfer arrangements, and related privacy provisions in commercial contracts, representing Nielsen on both the buy-side and sell-side.
Advise local sales and business teams on privacy aspects of customer agreements, proposals, product offerings, data services, partnerships, and other commercial opportunities.
Conduct and oversee privacy impact assessments, transfer impact assessments, legitimate interest assessments, and other privacy risk assessments.
Conduct privacy due diligence on third parties, vendors, customers, and strategic partners; assess processing and data flows, identify gaps, negotiate remediation, and support ongoing oversight.
Advise on advertising technology, audience measurement, analytics, identity, cookies, pixels, SDKs, targeted advertising, consent and preference management, data monetization, and related media and marketing data practices.
Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to assess proposed data collection, use, disclosure, retention, and deletion activities and support compliant product launches and operational changes.
Communicate with or support communications with data protection and supervisory authorities, including for inquiries, consultations, complaints, audits, filings, investigations, and data incidents.
Support privacy incident and data breach response, data subject rights escalations, regulatory inquiries, audits, and other privacy compliance matters with business teams, security, legal, and outside counsel.
Contribute to and improve privacy program materials, including policies, procedures, playbooks, templates, training, records of processing, data inventories, data retention requirements, and compliance reporting.
Monitor EU/EEA and national privacy law, enforcement trends, and related digital regulation; assess business impacts and communicate recommendations.
Independently manage complex workstreams, lead smaller projects, provide senior legal guidance, and act as a resource for less experienced colleagues.