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About the Role

This is an excellent opportunity for a qualified legal professional (2 years’ PQE upwards) to join The Open University’s in-house legal team. The role holder will be responsible to the Director of Legal Services and work with a team of lawyers to provide high-quality legal advice to the University and its subsidiaries. The successful applicant will be required to support research, curricular and commercial activities by drafting, reviewing and negotiating a wide range of agreements and also to advise on legal and regulatory compliance issues and contentious matters involving the University.

Key Responsibilities

• Drafting, reviewing and negotiating legal agreements (standard form and bespoke) and other documentation relating to the supply of goods and services, consultancy, research funding, academic collaborations nationally and internationally (including validations and distance delivery) and data sharing agreements.
• Undertaking research into a variety of legal, compliance and governance issues, reporting on and facilitating the implementation of related outcomes.
• Providing advice on legally contentious matters and disputes, drafting related documents and managing outsourced litigation.
• Providing advice in relation to compliance with the requirements of the Office for Students, including conditions of registration, quality standards and student protection measures.
• Providing advice in relation to compliance with Competition and Markets Authority requirements and the University’s consumer protection duties.
• Providing advice relating to intellectual property issues (in particular copyright, trademarks and internet domain rights) arising from the activities of the University.
• Advising the University’s procurement team on legal issues relating to tenders, drafting documents relating to procurements made by the University, advising on compliance with procurement law and the University’s internal procurement regulations.
• Providing advice in relation to legal aspects of the University's student appeals and complaints procedures.
• Other duties and responsibilities consistent with the grade and scope of the role.

About You

Essential:

• Qualified Solicitor or equivalent with a minimum of 2 years’ post qualification experience in a legal role, preferably in the higher education and/or charity sectors.
• Excellent written and oral skills for contract, report and letter writing and communicating with University staff, students, external legal advisers and other professionals.
• Proven ability to maintain a high-quality work output under time pressure, the ability to prioritise workload and be flexible in response to the demands of the role.
• Proven ability to be sensitive to internal client needs and to adapt the provision of legal advice and services accordingly.
• Ability to work in a higher education environment and a commitment to the values of a modern university.
• Proactive, positive and energetic commitment to the work of the legal team and the University.
• Competence in core IT applications, particularly Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and a commitment to the use of evolving IT in a working environment.

Desirable:

• Experience relating to governance, compliance, policies and regulations in a university or equivalent complex regulated organisation.
• Knowledge and understanding of legislation relating to public procurement, in particular the Procurement Act 2023.

Support with your application

If you have any questions, or need support or adjustments relating to your application, the recruitment process, or the role, please contact us on 01908 541111 or email careers@open.ac.uk quoting the advert reference number.

What's in it for you?

At The Open University, we offer a range of benefits to recognise and reward great work, alongside policies and flexible working that contribute towards a great work life balance. Get all the details of what benefits we offer by visiting our Staff Benefits page (clicking this link will open a new window).

Flexible working

We are open to discussions about flexible working. Whether it’s a job share, part time, compressed hours or another working arrangement. Please reach out to us to discuss what works best for you.

It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, where the successful candidate can work from home and the office. However, as this role is contractually aligned to our Milton Keynes office it is expected that attendance in the office will be required when appropriate and in response to business needs.

Next steps in the Recruitment process

We anticipate that we will be conducting a two-stage interview process for this role. We expect that first-stage interviews will be taking place online via Microsoft Teams at the end of November followed by second-stage face-to-face interviews taking place on-site at our Milton Keynes office in mid-December.

Early closing date notification

We may close this job advert earlier than the published closing date where a satisfactory number of applications are received. We would therefore encourage early applications.

How to apply

To apply for this role please submit the following documents:

• CV
• A personal statement of up to 1000 words. You should set out in your statement why you are interested in the role and provide examples of where your skills and experience meet the required competencies for this role as detailed in the job description.

You can view your progress and application communications when you are logged into our recruitment system.  Please check your spam/junk folders if you do not receive associated email updates.