Senior Legal Counsel (Ops & Tech)

Hiscox

20h•Hybrid

About The Position

This is a senior legal business partner role within the Hiscox Legal team, reporting to the Group General Counsel. The successful candidate will serve as the primary legal adviser to Hiscox's Technology, Operations, Procurement, Data Privacy and Digital Transformation teams, providing commercially focused legal advice that enables strategic decision-making while appropriately managing legal and regulatory risk. The role combines complex commercial contracting with strategic advisory work across technology, digital transformation, outsourcing, artificial intelligence, operational resilience and business change initiatives. The successful candidate will work closely with senior stakeholders across the Group and will play a key role in helping Hiscox deliver innovation, transformation and growth in a safe, efficient and commercially effective manner. The role requires strong commercial judgement, excellent stakeholder management skills and the ability to balance legal rigour with pragmatic business delivery across multiple jurisdictions.

Requirements

Qualified solicitor or equivalent lawyer with significant post-qualification experience
Strong experience advising on commercial, technology and procurement matters.
Extensive experience drafting and negotiating complex commercial agreements.
Strong understanding of technology contracting, SaaS, cloud services, outsourcing and supplier arrangements.
Familiarity with legal issues relating to AI, data, technology governance and digital transformation.
Experience working within financial services, insurance, technology or another highly regulated sector.
Experience supporting international and cross-border matters.
Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and provide commercially focused legal advice.
Excellent communication, negotiation and relationship-management skills.
Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities effectively.
Sound judgement, commercial awareness and a pragmatic approach to risk management.

Nice To Haves

Knowledge of insurance products and insurance regulatory frameworks.
Experience advising on operational resilience, outsourcing or third-party risk management matters.
Experience supporting large-scale transformation or technology implementation programmes.
Experience leading legal process improvement or legal technology initiatives.

Responsibilities

Act as a trusted legal adviser to senior leaders across Technology, Operations, Procurement, Data, AI and Transformation functions.
Provide commercially pragmatic legal and regulatory advice which enables strategic decision-making and supports business objectives.
Support significant business change initiatives, technology transformation programmes and cross-functional strategic projects.
Influence and shape business outcomes through proactive engagement and solution-oriented legal support.
Lead the drafting, review and negotiation of a broad range of commercial agreements.
Advise on complex technology, software, SaaS, cloud, procurement, consultancy, data, licensing and support arrangements.
Support negotiations involving strategic suppliers and critical third-party service providers.
Develop commercial solutions that balance risk management with business objectives.
Advise on legal issues relating to technology, digital transformation, automation and emerging technologies.
Support the business in the responsible adoption and governance of artificial intelligence solutions.
Advise on data-related legal issues in partnership with privacy, compliance and risk stakeholders.
Monitor legal and regulatory developments affecting technology, AI and digital business models and translate those developments into practical business guidance.
Advise on outsourcing, operational resilience and third-party risk management matters.
Support arrangements involving critical suppliers, cloud service providers and strategic technology partners.
Help ensure contractual arrangements appropriately address legal, regulatory, operational and reputational risks.
Drive continuous improvement in legal service delivery.
Optimise the use of AI, legal technology and alternative delivery models to enhance efficiency and scalability.
Contribute to the development of templates, playbooks, guidance, training materials and self-service resources.
Support the Legal function's broader transformation agenda and adoption of technology-enabled ways of working.
Support and mentor colleagues within the Legal team.
Manage external counsel and legal service providers effectively.
Promote collaboration, knowledge sharing and best practice across the global Legal function.
Lead legal workstreams on significant technology, operations and procurement matters.
Manage a diverse portfolio of complex legal matters with substantial autonomy.
Act as a recognised subject matter expert within the Legal team for technology, commercial contracting and outsourcing matters.
Build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders across multiple jurisdictions and business functions.
Contribute to the ongoing development of the Legal function and its operating model.