Counsel

Counsel

As Counsel, you’ll provide generalist English law advice to the line of business, function, or department. This will include advising on contract matters with customers and suppliers, legal policy and compliance advice, and supporting broader legal issues such as dispute resolution. In addition, you’ll provide advice on non-English law matters in collaboration with relevant internal lawyers or consulting with external lawyers where more specialist non-English law advice is needed.

Your main responsibilities as Counsel:

· Provide in-depth, professional, timely and pro-active legal support to internal customers.

· Potentially lead a team of Counsels (and where relevant Paralegal and Trainee Counsel) to provide advice in the specialist area of law across the Function, Line of Business and/or Head Office Department

· Contribute effectively to business performance in an advisory and consultative capacity, providing advice in simple language that is easy for the business client to understand.

· Manage the provision of external legal support to the business to deliver the highest quality of legal advice in a timely and cost-effective manner.

· Contribute fully as a member of the global legal community and leverage/share knowledge and capability accordingly including effective collaboration across the function and business to help deliver strategy.

· Provide understanding of local laws, environment and associated risks.

· Facilitate or provide training on matters of law and policy.

· Be a part of a culture delivering the highest standards of legal advice with internal customer satisfaction key, through accuracy, promptness and clarity of advice.

Your skills and qualifications:

· Qualified solicitor or barrister in England & Wales with good graduate qualifications and relevant experience at a major law firm/appropriate in-house experience

· Good understanding of commercial legal and business practice in a range of international markets.

· If a generalist lawyer, a strong understanding of contract law, public procurement, anti-bribery and corruption, and defence sector specific issues such as export control, as well as intellectual property and data protection

· If a specialist lawyer, has strong specialist practice area skillsets, with some experience and knowledge of the areas above, with the strong aspiration to build skills/knowledge in other areas, if not already in place

Location: Scotstoun

Grade: GG12

Benefits: Our employees receive an excellent benefits package which includes a competitive pension scheme, enhanced annual leave allowance and a Company contributed Share Incentive Plan. We also offer a range of additional benefits such as flexible working, an employee assistance programme, Cycle2work and many local and national employee discounts. Some employees may also be eligible for an annual incentive

Our Naval Ships business

We design and manufacture a range of naval ships and state of the art combat systems and equipment, giving customers the capability to fulfil extensive naval operations. From offshore patrol vessels through to the latest City Class Type 26 frigates that we are building for the UK Royal Navy, and the Australian Hunter Class and Canadian Surface Combatant, we are a business that operates on a truly global platform and can offer a wide range of opportunities where you can play your part in these challenging and exciting projects.

Attracting and retaining the sharpest minds is essential for a globally competitive UK naval engineering business. Our aim is to recruit the very best talent and we welcome applications from a diverse range of people, from all backgrounds, with many different skills, experience and perspectives. We offer the flexibility you need to do what’s important to you, whether that’s job sharing, home working, or simply the ability to flex your start and stop times. Where practical, we’ll support a working pattern that suits your lifestyle and helps you reach your full potential.

We are committed to supporting work life balance for all our employees and embrace a range of modern working practices, which aim to enhance flexibility for individuals whilst also enabling business performance. Flexibility provisions vary by role, but include; hybrid working arrangements, flexible working patterns and shift working.

We want to be the leading employer in defence and security for valuing diversity and inclusion. We care about difference in all forms and want to create an inclusive environment where everyone can be themselves and reach their full potential.

We welcome candidates from all backgrounds and particularly from sections of the community who are currently under-represented within our industry, including women, people from ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and LGBTQ+ individuals. We also want to be a preferred home for veterans and reservists.

For more information on our Diversity & Inclusion work, please click here.

We welcome applications from all suitably qualified people, who are BAE Systems employees and who have been in their current role for 12 months or longer

Please be aware that many roles at BAE Systems are subject to both security and export control restrictions. These restrictions mean that factors such as your nationality, any nationalities you may have previously held, and your place of birth can restrict the roles you are eligible to perform within the organisation. All applicants must as a minimum achieve Baseline Personnel Security Standard. Many roles also require higher levels of National Security Vetting where applicants must typically have 5 to 10 years of continuous residency in the UK depending on the vetting level required for the role, to allow for meaningful security vetting checks. Click here for more information on national security vetting levels.

Closes 11/11/2025