About the job
Senior Legal Counsel – Partnerships
As the organiser of some of the biggest and most iconic sport events in the world we lead the way in the sport and event industry.
We are now looking for a Senior Legal Counsel – Partnerships that is part of FIFA and supports us on our mission.
These are your key tasks:
•Drafting, negotiating and advising on a broad range of commercial agreements connected with FIFA’s revenue generating and other commercial activities, including FIFA’s sports marketing, licensing, sports merchandising, retail and digital marketing activities, agency appointments and consumer promotions.
•Acting as a key point of contact for legal matters for FIFA’s Partnerships and Media team, advising on all aspects of the development and conduct of FIFA’s strategic sales processes, the contract management of existing partnerships, the appointment of sales agents, activations by commercial affiliates, licensees and retailers and FIFA’s strategic alliances.
•Providing commercial transactional support and guidance regarding the interpretation of a range of commercial agreements, including advising on relevant business risks.
•Providing detailed knowledge of FIFA’s rights and obligations in connection with its commercial programme, including the implementation and protection thereof; including the provision of legal and contractual input to FIFA senior commercial stakeholders and cross-divisional working groups on FIFA’s existing commercial commitments and future commercial possibilities.
•Providing legal and contractual support to FIFA’s strategic and corporate development activities, including advising on the development of commercial strategy and structuring.
•Supporting the exploitation of commercial opportunities on FIFA+ and FIFA’s other digital channels.
•Developing and maintaining FIFA’s template commercial agreements.
•Supporting FIFA’s subsidiaries regarding the exploitation of commercial opportunities within FIFA’s commercial framework.
•Guiding other team members, reviewing their work and developing more junior team members.
The specific competencies we require for this position are:
•Native level English (or equivalent), comfortable with drafting and negotiating complex, high value and nuanced English language agreements and giving advice.
•Fully qualified to practise law (registered on the roll / admitted to the bar of an appropriate jurisdiction) having completed all necessary academic and practical training with a minimum 6-10 years of legal practice PQE
•Minimum of 6 years expertise “on the job” in the sports marketing industry in an in-house legal department or a reputable law firm focusing on sports matters
•Excellent understanding of the sports marketing, sports merchandising, licensing, retail, digital marketing, sponsorship, licensing, e-commerce and business intelligence industry landscapes
•Excellent negotiation, drafting, problem solving and analytical skills
•Structured, reliable, well-organised with a strong eye for detail
•Ability to learn and obtain information quickly and sensibly in connection with new issues/assignments
•Strong commercial acumen with an ability to transfer legal knowledge into commercially and operationally oriented solutions
•Proactive, with a strong sense of personal responsibility
•Resilient with an ability to competently handle a large workload amid rapidly shifting priorities.
•Open-minded team player with an affinity for working with different cultures
•High degree of professionalism and confident demeanour
•Ability to be a good ambassador for FIFA in all manner of external facing situations, including during contractual negotiations, external workshops and during FIFA competition-related assignments
•Ability to create, develop and maintain strong and reliable relationships with FIFA senior management as well as external legal and commercial counterparts
•Willingness to operate outside of comfort zone
•Takes initiative to reflect on how to improve and develop working styles and methods
•Comfortable with international travel
Fédération Internationale de Football Association, FIFA-Strasse 20, 8044 Zurich