Principal Corporate Counsel

Microsoft is on a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our culture is centred on embracing a growth mindset, a theme of inspiring excellence, and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. In doing so, we create life-changing innovations that impact billions of lives around the world. You can help us achieve our mission. 

Do you want to work in a company that is transforming the world? How about working on cutting-edge issues, with world class clients and the support of a global community of legal professionals? If you are ready to work directly with business leaders and their teams to solve problems and drive change, then a career with the Microsoft legal team is for you.

The UK & Ireland Legal Affairs team is a small, high-impact group of lawyers working at the intersection of law, technology, policy and business strategy. We partner closely with sales, engineering, government affairs and business leaders to enable Microsoft’s most strategic customer opportunities while managing legal, regulatory and reputational risk.

We have an immediate opening for a highly motivated and experienced lawyer to join the Microsoft UK & Ireland Legal Affairs team in CELA (Corporate, External and Legal Affairs).  The position is based at our offices in London and will report to the Head of Legal Affairs for UK and Ireland. 

The role is for a Principal Corporate Counsel, National Security Law Director. This is a senior and strategically important role supporting Microsoft’s work with UK Defence and the wider national security community and will support the sales teams for our public sector customers.

The successful candidate will combine excellent legal judgement with demonstrable understanding of government, national security and technology. They will advise on complex, novel and highly sensitive matters, help the business develop practical solutions to legal and policy challenges, and provide trusted counsel to senior leaders and customers.

The role is embedded in Microsoft’s UK business and requires close partnership with UK and global legal, business, security, policy, engineering and Responsible AI teams.

National security and strategic legal advice

• Act as a senior legal adviser on Microsoft’s engagement with the UK national security, Defence and Intelligence community.
• Provide practical and commercially focused advice on complex, sensitive and novel legal, regulatory, policy and reputational issues.

• Provide strategic national security advice and support alongside the National Security Officer on critical and emerging issues, including the resilience, cyber security and digital sovereignty across UK Gov and CNI customers.

• Advise senior business leaders on emerging national security issues and their implications for Microsoft, its customers and strategic opportunities.
• Apply sound judgement to sensitive matters requiring senior legal input, escalation or engagement with Microsoft’s governance bodies.

Strategic customer opportunities

• Provide strategic commercial legal advice and end to end deal support for commercial opportunities with UK defence and national security customers.
• Lead and coordinate cross-functional legal teams supporting complex customer engagements and commercial transactions.
• Engage constructively with customers and their legal and policy advisers to resolve complex issues and enable i the adoption of AI and cloud solutions.
• Help Microsoft pursue transformative and first-of-their-kind opportunities while maintaining high standards of legal, ethical and policy compliance.

Sensitive activities policy and governance

• Advise on the legal, policy and governance requirements applying to Microsoft’s defence and national security activities.
• Support the implementation and continued development of Microsoft’s global governance framework for sensitive projects.
• Provide the UK subsidiary perspective to global governance discussions, drawing on practical experience of UK government, customer and regulatory requirements.
• Work with colleagues in other countries to share experience and promote consistent and effective governance.
• Support appropriate risk assessment, mitigation and escalation for sensitive customer projects.

Responsible AI

• Advise on the responsible development and use of artificial intelligence in Defence, Intelligence and national security scenarios.
• Support legal reviews of sensitive AI use cases and help business and engineering teams identify appropriate safeguards.
• Act as a key interface between UK national security activities and Microsoft’s Responsible AI governance functions.
• Contribute to the development of policy and governance frameworks for novel, complex or strategically significant AI applications.
• Support Responsible AI legal leadership and capability-building within Microsoft UK&I.

National Security Team leadership

• Lead Microsoft UK’s National Security Team, which supports compliance with government personnel, project, information and facility-security requirements.
• Provide strategic direction, management and oversight across the team’s priorities.
• Ensure matters are appropriately prioritised, progressed and escalated.
• Promote close and effective working relationships between the National Security Team, Legal Affairs, the business and Microsoft’s global security functions.
• Foster an inclusive, collaborative and high-performing team environment.

Other areas

• Actively represent Microsoft at external events (e.g., presenting at meetings, conferences, webinars, panels).
• Develop positive relationships with external legal professionals, customers, and partners to protect and advocate for Microsoft’s interests; coordinate with government affairs professionals to ensure strategic alignment.

• Manage relationships and develop partnerships with outside counsel; collaborate with outside counsel or other service providers to develop strategies and innovative solutions to address business issues and achieve business objectives.
• Some knowledge of UK Defence exports law and policy would be an advantage but not essential. The role includes support to project teams and liaison with Microsoft’s international trade specialists on matters involving US and other applicable export-control regimes.
• Some knowledge of public procurement law would also be desirable to support public sector deals.
• Engage with legal and business colleagues to identify and share best practices.
• Use AI solutions to scale work and drive continuous improvement.
• Attendance at our Reading offices as required.
• International travel will be required from time to time.

Required Qualifications

• UK qualified solicitor with extensive, demonstrable experience as a practicing lawyer 
• Proficient understanding of the legal, regulatory and policy environment relevant to UK government and national security customers.

Preferred Qualifications

• The ability to exercise sound judgement, maintain strict confidentiality and work effectively in highly sensitive environments
• Written and verbal communication, stakeholder-management and influencing skills.
• Demonstrable in-house experience.
• Management experience and the ability to motivate and coach a team of security professionals.
• A keen business sense, with the ability to find creative business-oriented solutions to legal issues, balancing legal risks against business interests.
• A demonstrated ability to work efficiently, meet demanding deadlines in a fast-paced environment, prioritize workflow and adjust to frequent workload fluctuations
• An ability to work independently while also being a collaborator with the ability to work with colleagues based in different locations
• An ability to establish a “trusted advisor” relationship with executive and key business team members
• A high tolerance for ambiguity and change
• Passion for technology, the potential of digital transformation and Microsoft’s diverse range of products and services 

Security requirements

The successful candidate must have or be able to obtain the Developed Vetting (DV) clearance as issued by the United Kingdom Security Vetting Unit (UKSV). Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role.  

Appointment and continued employment in this position will be subject to the applicable government security-vetting requirements. The recruitment process may therefore include additional security and eligibility checks.

Legal Counsel IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across United Kingdom is £ 100,100.00 - £ 150,100.00 per year. Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation.

Find additional benefits and pay information here:
https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/corporate-pay/united-kingdom-corporate-pay.html

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.