Deputy Secretary & General Legal Counsel

About the role

The University of Leicester is seeking an exceptional and dynamic individual for a newly created role as Deputy Secretary and General Legal Counsel. This critical role involves providing strategic legal guidance and leadership across a range of core professional services, ensuring our institution continues to thrive and excel in a complex and evolving regulatory landscape.

As Deputy Secretary and General Legal Counsel, you will lead and manage a range of the University’s professional services corporate functions, including governance services, legal services, information assurance services, and records management. You will be accountable as the University’s Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO) for its work with the NHS.  

As General Legal Counsel, you will provide strategic legal advice to the University Council and Executive Board as required. In your role as Deputy Secretary, you will be responsible for ensuring effectiveness in the governance structure and compliance with all external statutory and legal obligations, including those mandated by the Office for Students.

Additionally, you will deputise for the Registrar and Secretary across all matters of governance and legal management as appropriate.

About you

As our ideal candidate, you will be a professionally qualified legal practitioner with significant experience in the higher education sector or similar fields such as the consumer service sector or public sector. You will have a proven track record in developing and providing strategic legal advice to governing bodies and/or senior executives.

Your knowledge of the higher education regulatory environment in the UK is comprehensive, or you possess the ability and willingness to learn swiftly. Additionally, you will have a history of successfully leading multiple teams across complex subject matters and have demonstrated experience in creating, monitoring, developing and implementing organisation-wide strategies, plans, policies, and codes-of-practice.

You will be adept at reviewing processes and practices to ensure they remain fit-for-purpose on a continuous basis. Knowledge of higher education regulatory environments internationally, or the ability and willingness to learn, would be advantageous.

Additional information

Informal enquiries are welcomed and should made for the attention of Geoff Green, Registrar and Secretary, via [email protected]

First Stage interviews are anticipated to take place during week commencing 5 August 2024 remotely via Microsoft Teams.

Final Stage interviews are anticipated to take place during week commencing 12 August 2024 on Main Campus.

This is a hybrid role with an expectation to be on campus a minimum of 3 days a week in term-time, with the flexibility to discuss other working arrangements. We are open to part-time applications for this role; ideally with a minimum of 0.6 FTE/22.5 hours or working as part of a job-share.

The University of Leicester has been changing the world, and changing people’s lives, for 100 years. When you join us, you’ll become part of a community of Citizens of Change , which includes not only our staff and our current students but also thousands of Leicester graduates around the world.
 
As a diverse and forward-thinking employer, we embed the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion into everything we do. That includes not just our core missions of teaching and research, but also our support for staff, students and our local community through our values of Inspiring, Impactful and Inclusive.
 
We’re committed to the wellbeing of all our staff and to the sustainability of our environment, on our campus and beyond. We offer a competitive salary package, excellent pension scheme and a generous annual leave allowance, along with opportunities to develop your career in a supportive and collaborative environment.