About the company & role
A leading multinational pharmaceutical business is seeking a Legal Counsel to join its global legal team. Operating across more than 50 countries, the organisation develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of generic, branded and injectable medicines, supplying millions of patients worldwide. With a strong focus on improving access to high-quality medicines, the business combines global reach with local expertise and is continuing to invest in innovation, operational excellence and long-term growth.
Reporting directly to the Europe General Counsel, you will become a key member of the European legal team, providing commercially focused legal support to the Portuguese manufacturing site and wider regional business. Working closely with senior stakeholders, you'll advise on a broad range of legal matters, support strategic business initiatives and help navigate the complexities of a highly regulated international environment.
The business offers the opportunity to work at the heart of a global pharmaceutical organisation, partnering with stakeholders across manufacturing, commercial, regulatory, compliance and corporate functions. Combining the complexity of a highly regulated international business with a collaborative and commercially minded culture, the role provides broad exposure to a diverse range of legal matters that directly support the delivery of essential medicines worldwide.
What's on offer?
This role offers exceptional breadth, providing exposure to commercial contracting, regulatory advice, compliance, corporate governance and strategic business projects within a global pharmaceutical organisation. You'll work closely with cross-functional teams across manufacturing, quality, regulatory, operations, finance, HR and commercial functions, acting as a trusted legal adviser on a diverse range of business-critical matters.
In addition to supporting the day-to-day legal needs of the business, you'll play a key role in strategic initiatives, including M&A and business development projects, internal investigations, policy development and corporate governance activities. The position offers a high level of autonomy, regular engagement with senior stakeholders and the opportunity to develop as a well-rounded in-house lawyer within an international legal team.
For guidance purposes only and dependent on experience, the provisional budget has been set around €56,000 base salary + bonus.
About you
To be successful in this role, you will be a Portuguese qualified lawyer with at least four years' post-qualification experience, gained either in private practice or in-house. Experience within the pharmaceutical, life sciences or wider regulated sectors would be advantageous, although not essential. Due to the collaborative nature of the role, you'll be based full-time (five days per week) at the company's Terrugem office. Full professional proficiency in both English and Portuguese is essential.
You will have experience with legal drafting and analysis, alongside strong experience with Portuguese and European laws and regulations. You will be comfortable translating complex legal requirements into practical business advice and working closely with stakeholders across legal, product, engineering and operational teams.
The Leonid Group is an international, specialist search and consultancy firm focused on corporate governance and professional services, that specialises in the placement of Legal, Compliance, Trade Compliance & Ethics professionals on an international scale across the Americas, EMEA and APAC. Legal and compliance are both global, with teams worldwide, and our network reflects this. We work with multinational corporations to help structure their departments with the best people, from the Global Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel to the Compliance Analyst and Trade Compliance Specialist.