Black Sheep Coffee Head Office
Position: Head of Legal
Location: SE1, London
Reports to: Co-CEOs and Board of Directors
Position Overview:
Run the legal function within a dynamic retail company, contribute hands-on to scaling the business, providing strategic legal advice, ensuring compliance with laws, and mitigating legal risks.
Responsibilities:
- Manage and oversee all legal matters including contracts, compliance, litigation, employment law, IP, and corporate governance.
- Draft, review, and negotiate contracts and agreements.
- Advise the board and senior management on legal risk and mitigation strategies, and legal implications of business decisions.
- Manage external legal counsel relationships and budgets.
- Maintain the company’s intellectual property portfolio to ensure protection across all current and future markets.
- Maintain the full suite of corporate template agreements incl. franchise agreements, supplier agreements, NDAs, letters, and notices.
- Implement legal policies and procedures to safeguard the company.
- Handle dispute resolution and regulatory compliance.
- Manage Secretarial function and maintain complete and systemised legal archives.
Requirements:
- Qualified lawyer with a minimum of 6 years post-qualification experience.
- Proven experience in a senior in-house legal role in a medium/large UK retail company or similar.
- Strong understanding of UK law, particularly in commercial, employment, and consumer protection.
- Excellent negotiation, communication, and leadership skills.
- Strategic thinker with the ability to balance legal risks with business objectives.
- Desirable: Experience with US companies and US law is a plus.
Benefits:
About Black Sheep Coffee:
Founded in 2013 when a group of friends decided to quit their jobs on the same day to “Leave The Herd Behind” and embark on a coffee mission of ridding the world of boring, average-tasting coffee. Black Sheep Coffee is famous for launching the first 100% specialty grade robusta coffee and the only premium robusta bean on the market (X2 caffeine – get your buzz on!).
Our Founders, Gabriel and Eirik, travel to origins throughout the year to source the best beans in the world. In fact, we are one of the few shop retailers that purchase our beans directly at the plantations, looking after the picking, drying, and washing process according to the strictest of guidelines – all in search of the perfect bean.