Ethics & Compliance Counsel

The Company

• Our client is a global commodities business operating across the full agricultural value chain — sourcing, trading, processing, and distribution
• Strong presence in high-growth markets across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, playing a key role in global food security
• Singapore acts as the group hub for a legal function spanning 66 markets, with 20 lawyers globally
• Sustainability, supply-chain resilience, and responsible sourcing sit at the heart of the business strategy

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, execution, and continuous enhancement of the Group's global ethics and compliance framework
• Act as senior advisor to the Group General Counsel and executive stakeholders on ethics, business conduct, sanctions, and third-party risk
• Oversee large-scale automated counterparty screening, enhanced due diligence, and UBO screening for higher-risk counterparties
• Own resolution of high-risk, time-critical matters including sanctions exposure and regulatory issues, coordinating external counsel where needed
• Oversee global conflicts of interest processes, investigations, and governance standards across jurisdictions
• Drive enterprise-wide KYC standardisation and third-party/bank onboarding screening
• Partner closely with Trading, Treasury, Risk, HR, IT, and Corporate Communications as a commercially grounded compliance advisor
• Own the global compliance training and attestation framework, and lead consolidation of ethics & compliance policies
• Lead compliance technology initiatives, including sanctions/risk screening tool integration and vessel screening frameworks for maritime operations

Requirements

• 10+ years in ethics & compliance, legal, regulatory, or institutional compliance roles within a multinational organisation with private practice background
• Deep, hands-on expertise in sanctions compliance, counterparty and third-party risk, KYC, and investigations
• Proven track record managing complex, sensitive matters and advising senior stakeholders
• Experience operating in highly regulated, multi-jurisdictional environments
• Legal qualification (LLB, JD, or equivalent) preferred; the role will have some commercial contracts/commercial legal work as the role belongs to the legal function
• Sound judgment, high integrity, and a commercially pragmatic, solutions-oriented approach
• Credible presence with senior executives; comfortable balancing governance with business enablement
• Proactive and autonomous, with cultural awareness given the global and African market focus
• 5 WFO at their centralised office