Legal Counsel – Global Travel Retail (6 months' FTC)

Legal Counsel – Global Travel Retail (6 months' FTC)

Your Manager: Alexander Smiley  

Team: Legal, Global Travel Retail

Location: Chiswick, London. We operate a hybrid working approach, allowing you to manage your time between home and the office, with attendance required of 10 days per month.

Be part of something big

We are Pernod Ricard, a leading company in the global spirits industry. We own 16 of the world’s top 100 Spirits Brands and hold one of the most prestigious and comprehensive brand portfolios in the industry with 240 premium brands available in over 160 countries, including: Absolut vodka; Ballantine’s, Chivas Regal, Royal Salute, and The Glenlivet Scotch whiskies; Jameson Irish whiskey; Martell cognac; Havana Club rum; Beefeater, Malfy and Monkey 47 gins; Malibu liqueur; Mumm and Perrier-Jouët champagnes; and more. Global Travel Retail is focused on the sale and distribution of these brands in the global travel retail channels of airports, cruise and border shops.

Here in the UK

In the UK, Pernod Ricard is made up of 4 businesses:

• Global Travel Retail, the global and EMEA home of the group’s duty free, air travel and cruises business
• Pernod Ricard UK, which markets, sells and distributes our products in the UK market
• Chivas Brothers, the largest brand company in the Group, responsible for the production and management of our award-winning Scotch whisky portfolio
• The Absolut Group, the brand owner of our global white spirits portfolio, whose Gin brand unit and Business Acceleration team sit in London. 

We are an organisation of around 2,000 employees in the UK, headquartered in London. We also have offices in Scotland and various distilleries and production sites across the UK, from Plymouth to Speyside.

Your New Team

This position sits in our Global Travel Retail (GTR) business, reporting to the GTR Legal Director. The GTR Legal Director in turn, reports to the Global Markets Legal Director and to the GTR managing director.

Your Unique Contribution

You will have the following areas of responsibility:

• Legal support for the 2 business units: Europe and America, and working with the marketing, commercial, supply chain, procurement, IT, HR and finance teams in those units.  Typical work covers contract negotiation, advice in relation to alcohol rules for certain markets, preparing and delivering training, compliance work, dispute resolution, corporate matters, research on other jurisdictions and general commercial legal advice.
• Legal approval of marketing materials such as images (VAPs, billboards), videos, media content, competitions, etc.
• Advising on competition issues.
• Advising on digital campaigns involving the processing of consumer personal data to ensure compliance with data protection legislation.
• Maintaining databases of laws governing the sale and advertising of alcohol and other applicable laws affecting the business.
• Implementing the data protection programme, identifying gaps, and applying remedies.
• Managing day-to-day corporate matters such as board minutes, powers of attorney, document signatures, and corporate governance.
• Providing legal training for GTR employees (e.g., Code of Business Conduct, competition law, data protection).
• Supporting compliance programme implementation.
• Assisting the GTR Legal Director with the coordination and implementation of global projects, including:
• Creating PowerPoint presentations for senior management
• Drafting legal advice notes tailored to business stakeholders
• Drafting corporate authorisations
• Handling other day-to-day legal matters
• Supporting the launch of IT tools developed by the legal department.
• Using the Group’s technology software to manage legal risk across the global business.
• Liaising and working closely with external lawyers on all legal assignments.
• Collaborating with internal lawyers across the Group globally.
• Performing routine administrative legal tasks.

Who you’ll be working with

Internally,  you’ll work with the GTR Legal Director in serving the needs of the business across marketing, supply chain, finance, corporate, logistics and commercial. You will also work with the wider global markets legal team and the other legal teams based in London.

Externally, you will be in contact with customers, marketing agencies, content producers, external law firms and other relevant and suppliers.

Your blend of talent

This position could be right for you if you have:

• 0-3 years’ post qualifying experience in private practice or in-house with experience of commercial contracts, corporate, IP/IT, data protection, TMT, projects, or litigation.
• Experience in dealing with and understanding foreign laws, in particular the US rules on alcohol.
• Experience in dealing with complexity.
• The confidence, general knowledge and curiosity to advise in multiple practice areas across varied areas of the business.
• Experience of operating in a fast-paced environment, turning round the drafting and reviewing of commercial contracts and requests for marketing and advertising advice in good time.
• Experience and understanding of consumer focussed business, especially in the FMCG or alcohol markets or for a luxury brand company.
• The ability to make decisions and to work independently, with support from the GTR Legal Director and from the wider UK legal team as needed.
• Excellent commercial awareness and understanding of the needs of the business.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills and interpersonal skills; required to communicate with different teams based all over the world and instruct external counsel.
• Strong organisational skills with particular attention to detail and follow up.
• Flexible, pro-active and collaborative approach as is essential – the successful candidate will be able to adapt quickly to different challenges and prioritise multiple competing demands.
• Our mix of benefits
• For your health, we offer private medical insurance and critical illness cover.
• Our lifestyle benefits include a generous employee pension, share incentive plan and more.

You can access lots of gifts & discounts, including credit each year to spend on our brands in our staff shop.

We take our conviviality seriously: we have weekly events in our very own office bar, regular sports classes and a variety of tools and resources to help you focus on your wellbeing.

Conviviality: the Pernod Ricard Way

We have our own way of doing things. We call it conviviality! It’s our way of being, and something unique you feel and experience when working for Pernod Ricard.

We’re committed to conviviality, and with this, you’ll be Proud to Belong to our Pernod Ricard family. You’ll be Empowered to Perform, supported to succeed, and acknowledged for the value you bring.

We combine all this with our Commitment to Care: we are unlocking the magic of human connection to transform our industry and make a positive impact on the world though our strong focus on sustainability and responsibility.

We’re committed to diversity and inclusion

People are at the heart of everything we do at Pernod Ricard and are the foundation of our collective spirit as ‘Créateurs de Convivialité’.

We promote diversity and inclusion throughout our business and supply chain. In our teams, we proactively foster a diverse work force and an inclusive culture – an environment where we can truly be ourselves. 

We will assess your application for this role based on your skills, experiences and achievements, not your gender, age, ethnic or educational background or any other such factors. Please feel free to leave these off your CV and application form if you so wish.

Similarly, if you would like to discuss opportunities for flexible working or require accommodations or support to complete our application process, please let us know.

Job Posting End Date:

2025-10-13

Target Hire Date:

2025-12-01

Target End Date:

2026-07-31