Legal Counsel - IP (6 month fixed term contract)

Xero is a beautiful, easy-to-use platform that helps small businesses and their accounting and bookkeeping advisors grow and thrive. 

At Xero, our purpose is to make life better for people in small business, their advisors, and communities around the world. This purpose sits at the centre of everything we do. We support our people to do the best work of their lives so that they can help small businesses succeed through better tools, information and connections. Because when they succeed they make a difference, and when millions of small businesses are making a difference, the world is a more beautiful place.

6 month FTC. Can be based in Auckland, NZ or Sydney, AU

You will be responsible for partnering with the business and providing legal advice in relation to legal matters affecting the organisation, as well as ensuring that all our operations are compliant with relevant legislation.

You will report to a Legal General Manager and work closely with the wider global Legal team, external advisors and strategic partners to support Xero’s legal and compliance function.

You will have a primary focus in one team (regional commercial, M&A, Partnerships, Regulatory, Privacy, IP or, Global Projects), but will regularly work across the other teams within the Legal team on projects and initiatives.

What you'll do...

• Work closely with key stakeholders to help drive strategic relationships and initiatives for Xero locally, but with a global mindset
• Work as an integrated part of the global legal team to provide support on global matters that impact your region, including M&A and integration, partnerships, privacy, IP & regulatory matters.
• Provide advice to senior managers on legal aspects of their defined areas (including sales/marketing, CX, PX, WX, and region-specific product and partnerships)
• Drive and/or manage within the global legal team projects to manage workflow, improve operational efficiency, achieve global and regional education and training, and enable compliance
• Review, negotiate and draft key legal documents, such as vendor supply agreements, marketing partner agreements, data exchange agreements, integration agreements, and procurement contracts, sponsorship agreements, partnership/API integration/customer referral agreements with banks and other large companies
• Ensure the business is informed and compliant with any relevant existing or proposed legislation that may impact the operations of the business
• Contribute to internal policy and process development
• Liaise and collaborate with legal team peers to deliver holistic legal function outcomes
• Assist with investigating and responding to enquiries from law enforcement agencies and regulators
• Liaise with and manage Xero’s external legal advisors, as required
• Responding to ad hoc queries in the Xero team’s legal inbox.

What you'll bring with you...

• Critical capabilities
• Solves problems - Generates new and innovative solutions for Xero to be successful by exploring diverse approaches to overcome challenges. Able to support and encourage creativity in a collaborative environment.
• Collaborates - Maintains clear communication with stakeholders, sharing essential facts, and actively involves others to achieve both individual and team goals while fostering a collaborative team environment. 
• Makes processes better - Takes action to address process breakdowns to ensure work methods are productive and efficient. Is able to effectively strike a balance between process and results. 
• Courage - Shows conviction and progress in the face of challenges and uncertainty. Is able to openly address difficult topics and ideas, even when facing potential criticism.
• Instils Trust - Builds trust by being honest, straightforward, and consistent in actions and words. Follows through on commitments and upholds professional integrity while balancing competing priorities.
• Communicates effectively - Communicates information clearly and concisely while keeping others well-informed. Actively listens and shows genuine interest in others' perspectives. 
• Identifies legal issues & opportunities - Collaborates with key stakeholders to assess legal risks and identify business opportunities, providing practical guidance on complex legal issues to support strategic decision-making across Xero.
• Balances stakeholders - Engages with stakeholders to address conflicts, ensuring efforts align with their needs and finding balanced solutions through open communication. Strives to balance the needs of multiple stakeholders through understanding needs and issues.
• Action oriented - Takes timely action on important issues, proactively addressing challenges and problems as they arise. Identifies and pursues new opportunities that understanding how they benefit Xero’s strategic priorities
• Understands Xero’s business - Keeps informed about marketplace changes and business news that impact Xero. Understands how own work connects into key business priorities and drivers.

Experience we are looking for..

• Minimum 5 years PQE (in-house legal experience desirable)
• Law degree 
• Current practising certificate
• Experience negotiating & drafting agreements in a commercial context
• Demonstrated ability to be a commercially minded business partner in a fast paced environment
• Experience providing legal advice to companies in the technology sector (desirable)
• Experience with data protection regulation (desirable)
• Experience liaising with regulators and statutory/law enforcement bodies (desirable)
• Experience with financial services regulation (desirable)

Please note:

We will be observing a holiday shutdown period, during which there may be delays in our recruitment process, including responses and updates. We’ll resume full operations in the week commencing 13th January. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Why Xero? 

Offering very generous paid leave to use however you’d like (plus statutory holidays!), dedicated paid leave to care for your physical and mental wellbeing as well as an Employee Assistance Program to access mental health care for you and your family, health insurance, life insurance, and income protection, wellbeing and sports programmes, employee resource groups, 26 weeks of paid parental leave for primary caregivers, an Employee Share Plan, beautiful offices, flexible working, career development, and many other benefits that reflect our human value, you’ll do the best work of your life at Xero.