Group Legal Counsel - 9 month FTC

Company Description

Valeo Foods Group is one of Europe’s fastest-growing food companies, specialising in sweets, snacks and treats. At Valeo Foods, we love to make everyday moments taste better and we are home to over 90 brands including Balconi, Pedro, Horalky, Rowse, Bernard, Barratts and Kettle Chips.

We operate in over 100 countries serving major retailers, discounters, e-commerce, convenience stores, wholesalers, and foodservice operators. With revenues exceeding €1.8 billion, we employ over 5,400 people across more than 30 facilities in the UK, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Slovakia, Czech, and Canada. Valeo Foods Group is owned by Bain Capital.

To bring our purpose to life, we uphold five core behaviours that define how we work and what we stand for:

• Accountability • Agility • Disciplined • Transparency • Teamwork.

These behaviours shape our culture and drive us towards excellence.

We are committed to building a sustainable future for our people, clients, communities, and the planet. We drive efforts to reduce environmental impact, invest in health and safety initiatives, enhance training and development, and nurture an inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive.

Job Description

A role built for someone who wants to grow fast, with ownership, impact and the opportunity to help shape a Group legal function from the ground up.

You’ll join Valeo Foods Group at a pivotal moment in our growth journey, working at the heart of a fast‑moving international consumer business.

This role gives you the opportunity to grow alongside the function you’ll help build. Rather than stepping into a legacy structure, you’ll be part of shaping how Legal operates as the Group scales, contributing ideas, creating tools and processes, and helping define what “great” looks like for years to come.

You’ll work closely with central teams across Procurement, IT, People, Finance/Treasury and ESG, gaining exposure to a wide range of work streams and senior stakeholders early on. The day to day is hands on and varied: drafting and negotiating commercial, procurement and technology contracts, and helping teams move quickly with clear, practical guidance.

- Commercial Contracts & Central Function Support Draft, review and negotiate commercial, procurement, IT and HR contracts.
- Establish and maintain clause banks and guidance to enable self-serve for low-risk matters and track key terms.
- Help create the legal “front door”.

- M&A Enablement & Integration Support legal workstreams across acquisitions/divestments as well as restructurings.
- Coordinate legal post-close integration.

- Governance, Company Secretarial & Litigation Oversight Maintain and help create corporate governance frameworks.
- Maintain the Group litigation/claims tracker and help create supporting processes.
- Support and design delegations of authority and power of attorney mapping and implementation.

- Brand & Regulatory Protection Support global IP strategy execution.
- Assist in regulatory horizon scanning (EU/UK and industry updates) and convert into actionable guidance.

- Compliance, Privacy & Training Support the rollout of Group compliance frameworks.
- Help build data protection operational frameworks with People/IT.

- Ways of Working Help create template/playbook library and help implement core legal tech (CLM, trackers, dashboards).

Qualifications

- Qualified lawyer in England & Wales (or EU/Commonwealth equivalent) with commercial contracting experience.
- 3–5 post qualification experience or equivalent – this is provided as a guide and other PQEs may be considered.
- In-house exposure preferred but private practice candidates considered.
- Proven commercial contracting experience.
- Experience with procurement/IT contracting, M&A support, governance basics and privacy operations is advantageous.
- Exposure to corporate M&A transactions.
- Familiarity with governance and Company Secretarial basics.
- Working knowledge of privacy/GDPR operations and compliance program elements.
- Process orientation: able to create templates, SOPs and simple dashboards; interest in legal tech (CLM, trackers, MS 365, Sharepoint).
- Strong communication and stakeholder skills; ability to present clear recommendations to non-lawyers.

Additional Information

- The opportunity to work on Group‑level strategic priorities with significant visibility
- Exposure to M&A integration, divestments, operating model work and commercial/operational transformation
- A role where your work will genuinely influence the future direction of the business
- A culture built around accountability, agility, discipline, transparency and teamwork
- The chance to shape how a growing international organisation works together