Job Description

Job description

Business: Group Legal

Open positions: 01

Role Title: Senior Legal Counsel, DBS Legal

Global Career Band: GCB 4

Location (Country/city): India/Hyderabad

Why join us?

• Proactively assist the Head of Regions - DBS Legal to manage resource capacity within the Global DBS Legal team (including its external providers), to deliver a responsive service to Procurement and the relevant business areas in India across all the HSBC entities in India.
• To provide legal advice, guidance and support to ensure that the Group's exposure to legal risk through its engagement with third parties for the contracting for goods and services is managed in India.
• To deliver a professional contracts negotiation drafting and advice service in respect of contracts with third party suppliers of goods and services to HSBC in India
• To ensure HSBC's business and operational strategies and initiatives are facilitated in a timely manner
• To support the Regional Head of DBS Legal to drive transformational change in the DBS Legal team to deliver efficient and effective risk management of supplier contracts globally (including involvement in setting DBS Legal policy and procedures
• To manage and supervise a team of Legal Counsel/Legal Advisers or contract staff supporting the activities above.

What You'll Do?

• Principal Accountabilities: Key activities and decision making areas
• Provide support to the Regional Head of DBS Legal in the resource capacity management of the DBS Legal team (including its external providers).
• Be considered a trusted adviser to DBS and Marketing by providing commercially sensitive, pragmatic and practical legal support and advice in a cost effective manner.
• Deliver proactive, effective and responsive legal advice to Procurement, Marketing, DBS and business areas as necessary for the drafting and negotiation of contracts/agreements with third party supplier across a full range of commodity/category areas.
• Provide training and development to the members of other member of LGA on supply contract related matters, including acting in a supervisory capacity in relation to certain projects.
• Provide training and development to Procurement, Marketing and DBS on legal, contractual and policy matters relating to the supply of goods and services to improve understanding of risks/issues and strategies for reducing risk.

Typical Targets and Measures

• Transactions, projects and initiatives are supported and managed to facilitate timely execution
• Legal implications and risks are communicated and understood by the business
• Adverse consequences arising from legal issues are properly managed and mitigated and remedial action initiated in line with the materiality of the risk or issue.

Customers / Stakeholders

• Provide prompt, commercial, practical and high quality legal advice to Procurement, Marketing and all DBS areas
• Be proactive in the provision of legal support and in advising Procurement, Marketing and DBS promptly of material legal developments and their implications
• Ensure relevant parties are fully briefed on major issues arising in relevant business/function area and major legislative changes in area of expertise
• Build and maintain positive and effective relationships with panel law firms and other appropriate external parties
• Ensure the entity and functional line managers are fully and regularly briefed on all relevant issues

Typical Targets and Measures

• Provide legal advice that is succinct, easy to understand, and adds value by identifying the root cause of the problem and seeing the 'bigger picture'
• Evidence that the job holder has taken the initiative, anticipated events, looked for added involvement and responsibility in cases and provided solutions
• Evidence that the jobholder has sought to understand the client's needs and is able to negotiate a satisfactory conclusion where stakeholders have differing goals

Leadership & Teamwork

• Drive a high performance, customer focused culture within India LGA and the DBS Legal Team, ensuring that operational delivery of the contracts service is managed efficiently and customer expectations are managed
• Provide guidance and supervision to junior members of the DBS Legal team (and external providers) in relation to contract drafting, negotiation, regulatory or legislative matters pertaining to the purchase of goods and services in India
• Participate effectively as part of India LGA and the DBS Legal Team and maintain and develop positive and professional working relationships with all team members
• Promote initiatives that result in the sharing of legal knowledge and best practices across India LGA and DBS Legal Team

Typical Targets and Measures

• Manage and maintain successful and mutually supportive working relationships with all members of the India LGA and DBS Legal Team
• Ensure policies and procedures are in place, effectively communicated and controls are established to ensure such policies are complied with in India
• Provide clear guidance and direction proactively and as and when sought
• Support and work with other internal lawyers and contract specialists and externally, to leverage developments and share best practice
• Understand, contribute to and make use of knowledge sharing systems

Operational Effectiveness & Control

• Provide legal services in a cost-effective manner
• Co-ordinate and manage the approach to legal risk to ensure that the interests of the HSBC Group are adequately protected
• Assist Procurement, Marketing, DBS and the relevant businesses to remain compliant with legal risk management requirements set out in the Group Standards Manual and Legal FIM
• Ensure that relevant Legal Operating Procedures and in particular the Legal Operating Procedures for Supplier Contracts are adhered to.
• Support DBS Legal and local India Legal initiatives as relevant and appropriate
• Look for opportunities to provide legal support in a more efficient manner through the use of standard documentation, guidance notes and training.

Typical Targets and Measures

• Allocate time to cases to reflect a commercial approach and value for money
• Deal with matters internally wherever possible to avoid the external costs
• Where work is out-sourced, provide clear evidence that budgets have been agreed in advance, controlled and that services provided, are commensurate with fees paid
• Communicate and implement appropriate procedures and controls to monitor, control and mitigate legal risk

Major Challenges

The diverse responsibilities of the job and the number of jurisdictions in which HSBC operates, requires the job-holder to:

• Assist the Regional Head of DBS Legal in effectively managing the lawyers supporting supplier contracts in India (whether members of the DBS Legal team or not and no matter where located or if they are external providers) and where applicable assist in the recruitment of suitably qualified and experienced commercial contracts specialists
• Understand complex, often technical user requirements in relation to services required to meet business needs
• Constantly adapt working styles to meet complex and varied workloads
• Priorities workloads in terms of legal risk and commercial consideration
• Handle a high volume of matters of a complex nature and exercising sound judgment in dealing with the changing legal framework affecting contracts
• Maintain a detailed knowledge of HSBC Group operations and policies including other 2LOD teams to be able to identify potential issues (e.g. tax, compliance, HR, ORR, etc.) to ensure the relevant teams are involved
• Ensure that the business areas act in compliance with bank and departmental policies and procedures
• Think independently and act on one's own counsel, being mindful of always providing pragmatic and commercial advice
• Be alert to external legal, political and regulatory considerations and implications

Role Context

• The Senior Legal Counsel, DBS Legal will be responsible for the resourcing of, management of, legal supervision of and the operational effectiveness of a team of commercial contracts specialists/ legal counsel supporting supplier contracting in India, ensuring that internal customer requirements are managed responsibly and expectations managed effectively.
• The Senior Legal Counsel must act as a role model to the junior members of the DBS Legal team (both inside and outside of India) and provide advice and guidance to other members of the DBS Legal team in relation to India legal issues, policies and procedures, regulatory and legislative issues.
• The diversity of HSBC's business, its geographic spread and the constant changes internally and externally means the diversity of matters to be managed and advised on is very wide.
• Senior Legal Counsel DBS Legal must respond to and provide solutions and quality legal advice for numerous diverse and complex contractual and logistical issues always ensuring any legal risks are mitigated\avoided.
• Senior Legal Counsel DBS Legal will need to interface with other bank and departmental policy holders at Group and local level as necessary to ensure that all third party costs and procurement activity is conducted in accordance with the appropriate policies and procedures contained within the GSM and relevant FIMS.
• Senior Legal Counsel DBS Legal will require an understanding of the structure of the HSBC Group and its culture.

Management of Risk

Senior Legal Counsel DBS Legal India will be responsible for assisting the relevant DBS functions and business areas to manage the legal risks associated with the initiatives/projects they are undertaking

Observation of Internal Controls

• Maintain HSBC internal standards including timely implementation of internal and external audit points together with any issues raised by external regulators

Role Dimensions

• The key dimensions of the job are as follows:

• Resource management planning
• Team management and legal supervision
• Provide legal support to various business areas within the HSBC Group in India
• Responsive and respected service
• Strong Internal Customer relationship management skills

Requirements

What you'll need to succeed in the role?

• Qualified Indian lawyer with relevant post qualification experience or relevant experience as a contracts and IP specialist across a wide range of products and services
• Experienced and confident practitioner of law in India
• Up-to-date knowledge of developments in own industry sector
• Able to handle a diverse range of issues
• Self starter, independent with good organisational skills
• Communication and inter-personal skills
• Lateral thinking/problem solving
• Stamina and ability to work under pressure

You'll achieve more at HSBC

HSBC is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a culture where all employees are valued, respected and opinions count. We take pride in providing a workplace that fosters continuous professional development, flexible working and, opportunities to grow within an inclusive and diverse environment. We encourage applications from all suitably qualified persons irrespective of, but not limited to, their gender or genetic information, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, social status, medical care leave requirements, political affiliation, people with disabilities, color, national origin, veteran status, etc., We consider all applications based on merit and suitability to the role."

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Issued by HSBC Electronic Data Processing (India) Private LTD