Legal and Compliance Counsel

If you're looking to join a company with a dynamic vision for the future, set your sights on a challenging career with Nikon Metrology. We develop a wide range of measurement systems for dimensional quality control deployed worldwide in automotive, aerospace, and other manufacturing industries. Nikon Metrology has 10 offices and production sites in 8 countries.
We are looking for an experienced and enthusiastic **Legal **and Compliance **Counsel **based in Leuven - Belgium.

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What is your role?_*
The role of the Legal and Compliance Counsel is to proactively identify, develop and efficiently manage various legal and compliance risks within the organization. You work closely together with your colleagues from other (technical, finance, HR and other) departments. As a Legal Counsel, you also consider the commercial and technical aspects of our business.
The legal and compliance counsel is responsible for leading corporate strategic legal initiatives and to ensure that the company operates within the law at all times. He/she acts as a business advisor and provides the leadership team with effective advice on company strategies and their implementation mainly from legal aspects. The legal and compliance counsel acts as a “guardian” and oversees the compliance and risk management activities of the organization in order to facilitate business strategies development.
The legal and compliance counsel is also directly involved in complex business transactions and in negotiating critical contracts.

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What are your key areas of responsibility?_*
**Legal**
- Assumes ultimate responsibility for ensuring that the company conducts its business in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
- Serves as key legal advisor on all major transactions including strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions.
- Act following the transfer pricing guidelines for multinational enterprises and tax administrations.
- Participates in the definition and development of corporate policies, procedures and programs and provides expert and strategic legal advice to management on legal matters and on legal implications of all matters.
- Draft, negotiate, and review contracts with customers, suppliers, and other third parties, whilst translating the complex technical business requirements of our B2B business into air-tight understandable contracts;
- Participate in the selection of and assertively manage external counsel as needed in a wide variety of legal engagements;
- Serve as the main point of contact, serving as the 'first call for help' for matters involving commercial transactions, sourcing and procurement, IP/technology licensing and portfolio enforcement, new business initiatives, employment matters, compliance topics and affiliate corporate governance;
- Support the businesses in strategic projects that require legal input;
- Develop robust processes to support the practical delivery of legal services in region and to track and control legal spend;
- Prepare and deliver training / updates on key legal and compliance topics;
- As Compliance Officer set internal governance policies and manage the impact of external factors;
- Ensure business processes comply with GDPR and other data privacy regulations through conducting proactive reviews of and performing regular trainings and communication to the business;
- Develop, ensure, and maintain strong and consistent compliance programming, enforcement, communication and training (anti-bribery and anti-corruption), including third-party compliance (distributors, agents, etc.) in order to maximize awareness.
**_Ancillary Responsibilities_**
- Insurance: worldwide responsibility to be compliant with and to optimize all aspects of insurances such as professional and product liability, travel insurance, infrastructure insurance, company cars insurance, group insurance etc.
- Provide strategic advice on intellectual property development and attend the patent review committee meetings.
- Export Regulations: worldwide responsibility for compliance with applicable export control regulations and Nikon policies
**_Qualifications_**
Essential
- Law Degree
- Master degree in business administration.
- At least 5 years legal practice experience in an international environment.
- Fluent in Dutch, English and French.
Desirable
- Financial awareness and understanding of the business drivers of the company
- Knowledge of intellectual property legislation, including patent law and licensing.
**_Competences_**
**Functional Competences**
- Strong (legal) analysis skills with a solution-driven attitude
- Strong organizational skills.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
- Ability to manage numerous projects simultaneously
**Core competences**
- Be pro-active:

- Anticipate issues and estimate risks strategically (e.g. anticipate changes in the legal and regulatory environment).
- Identify proactive solutions that will eliminate risks.
- Seek new knowledge:

- Stay tuned with th