Legal Director

The Opportunity

A high-growth pharmaceutical company with operations in APAC is hiring its first dedicated senior in-house legal leader. This is a founding role at the most senior level — you will define the legal strategy, architect the function, and serve as a key member of the leadership team.

The Role

Reporting directly to the CEO, you will serve as the company's most senior legal voice — a trusted advisor to the leadership team and the architect of a legal function built to support aggressive regional growth. Your remit spans legal strategy, commercial transactions, regulatory compliance, corporate governance, and team leadership in the APAC regions.

You will be expected to operate with significant autonomy, exercise sound commercial judgment on live business decisions, and build the infrastructure that enables the company to scale with confidence.

Key Responsibilities

• Define the legal strategy for fast scaling the business and ensure it keeps pace with commercial ambition.
• Architect the company's legal operating model — determining what is built in-house, what is managed through external counsel, and where legal technology creates leverage.
• Serve as a senior leadership team member, providing legal perspective on strategic decisions, including market entry, partnerships, transactions, and business restructuring.
• Serve as the senior legal voice on complex deals and strategic partnerships.
• Lead the design and oversee internal investigations and set the standard for how compliance matters are handled and remediated.
• Advise the CEO and board on legal risk, regulatory developments, and their strategic implications.
• Establish and maintain the delegation of authority framework and legal risk appetite across the business.
• Exercise senior oversight of all contentious matters and litigation strategy.
• Appoint, manage, and hold accountable an external counsel panel across markets — setting quality standards and controlling legal spend.