Senior Legal Counsel, Privacy and Data Protection

The Nielsen Company

1d•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 collaborates with Product, Engineering, Data Science, Information Security, Procurement, Sales, Marketing, and Legal colleagues across jurisdictions. The position provides senior guidance on EU/EEA privacy compliance, data governance, and risk mitigation; handles complex privacy and commercial legal matters; and drafts, reviews, and negotiates data protection agreements and related contract terms for both buyers and sellers. It also supports compliant products, partnerships, transactions, and operational changes by translating legal requirements into actionable guidance and building consensus among stakeholders. The role can be performed remotely within the UK. A central London office is available for hybrid work. The successful candidate will join an international team.

Requirements

Around 5–10 years of experience in privacy, data protection, technology, commercial, or related legal work, including in-house practice, with a track record of producing high-quality independent work.
Law degree or equivalent legal qualification.
Qualification or admission in the UK, as required for the role.
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 buyers/customers and sellers/providers.
Experience advising business, sales, product, technology, or commercial teams on complex privacy issues and turning 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

CIPP/E certification is greatly preferred but is not a hard requirement; CIPM, CIPT, or an equivalent privacy credential is also a plus.
Adtech, martech, media measurement, audience analytics, data licensing, or digital advertising experience is strongly preferred.
Experience engaging with or supporting communications to supervisory authorities, regulators, or other public-sector stakeholders is preferred and may be required for certain matters.
Fluency in an additional European language.
Knowledge of U.S. privacy requirements, including U.S. state privacy laws and the CCPA/CPRA.
Knowledge of APAC privacy 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

Advise on the EU/EEA 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.
Monitor privacy and digital regulation developments and translate them into actionable guidance, contract language, policies, notices, processes, and implementation requirements.
Draft, review, and negotiate data processing agreements, data protection exhibits, data sharing and data use agreements, data transfer arrangements, and related commercial-contract privacy provisions on both the buy-side and sell-side.
Support local sales and business teams on privacy aspects of customer agreements, proposals, products, data services, partnerships, and other commercial opportunities.
Conduct and oversee PIAs/DPIAs, 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 activities and data flows, identify gaps, negotiate remediation, and support ongoing oversight.
Advise on adtech, audience measurement, analytics, identity, cookies, pixels, SDKs, targeted advertising, consent and preference management, data monetization, and related media and marketing data practices.
Partner with internal stakeholders to assess data collection, use, disclosure, retention, and deletion, and support compliant product launches and operational changes.
Communicate with or support communications with data protection and supervisory authorities regarding 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 colleagues, and outside counsel.
Contribute to and improve privacy program materials, including policies, procedures, playbooks, templates, training, records of processing, data inventories, retention requirements, and compliance reporting.
Apply independent judgment, lead smaller projects and complex workstreams, and serve as a resource for less-experienced colleagues.