Legal Counsel

Overview

As our Senior Legal Counsel, you'll be a hands-on problem-solver and strategic advisor, ensuring our legal operations robustly support the Raspberry Pi Foundation's mission to empower young people through computing and digital making across our six core markets of the UK, Ireland, USA, India, Kenya and South Africa. With minimum ten years of post-qualification experience, you'll navigate various legal areas, including charity law, contracts, compliance, intellectual property, and data protection.

You'll draft and negotiate agreements, safeguard our trademarks, and ensure our compliance with both UK and international regulations. But your role extends beyond legal expertise. You'll mentor our paralegal, build relationships with external legal firms, and equip colleagues across the organisation to handle everyday legal matters. This role works closely with the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the Director of Operations, who is also their Line Manager.

This is a unique opportunity to be at the heart of a growing global organisation, shaping the future of computing education. You'll work alongside passionate teams in India, Ireland, Kenya, South Africa, the UK, and the USA, making a tangible impact on the lives of young people. We work hard to make sure that the Foundation is a place where everyone is supported to do the best work of their careers.

We have a flexible and collaborative approach to all aspects of our work. If you're the right person for the job, we'll make it work for you, and you can be confident that you'll be joining an exceptional team of people who care about our mission and each other.

• Provide expert legal advice and support on charity law, compliance, and data protection matters for all.
• Draft, negotiate, and manage a range of commercial contracts, including services, suppliers, licences, grants, partnerships, and sponsorship agreements.
• Manage aspects of IP and trademark protection and enforcement.
• Company secretariat for the group entities, ensuring compliance with all relevant laws, statutory requirements, and regulations.
• Corporate and charitable governance and reporting.
• Proactively identify and mitigate legal risks across all areas of the Foundation's operations.
• Oversee the development and implementation of resources, guidance and training to empower business managers to handle low-risk legal matters.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with external legal firms, ensuring efficient and cost-effective use of their expertise as required.
• Coach, develop, and manage the performance of the Paralegal, enabling them to reach their full potential.
• Keep up to date with developments in relevant areas of legislation and compliance.
• Manage the Legal budget.
• As part of your application, you will be asked to respond to a small number of questions that we will use to screen your eligibility for the role. You will also be asked to provide your cv and a short cover letter.
• Eligible applications will be reviewed by our recruitment team and the hiring manager.
• A small number of candidates will be invited to a phone call with the hiring manager.
• The purpose of this call is to check our understanding of your application and to answer any questions you have.
• We normally have two interviews, which may take place in-person. Interviews will be with the hiring manager and at least one other colleague.
• You will usually be asked to undertake a work-based assessment in advance of your interviews. This will be an opportunity for you to show how you would perform some part of the role. You will be given advance notice and clear instructions.
• If you have any questions about or feel that you need any adjustments to the recruitment process, including adjustments for neurodiversity, please contact our People and Culture team at recruitment.
• England and Wales qualified solicitor, minimum 10 years PQE
• Solid working knowledge of the UK legal system
• Experience in contract negotiation and drafting
• Experience managing trademarks and IP (desirable)
• Experience overseeing data protection compliance, including GDPR (desirable)
• Effective organisational skills, with the ability to work independently and efficiently and to balance different priorities
• Flexibility and a willingness to learn
• Experience of other markets RPF works in (desirable)
• Charity experience (desirable)

The Raspberry Pi Foundation is an independent charity with a global mission to enable all young people to realise their full potential through the power of computing and digital technologies. We empower schools to teach computer science and AI literacy through free curricula, classroom resources, purpose built software tools, and professional development for teachers. We inspire young people to become tech creators through the worlds largest networks of coding clubs.

We undertake original research that informs our work and which we use to advance the field of computer science education more broadly. All of our resources and…