We are seeking an ambitious and talented lawyer to join the EMEA Legal Team as Sr. Lead Counsel for the UKI and Nordics region. This is a senior-level position that will be part of the UKI and Nordics Leadership Teams, offering strategic legal and business counsel across a spectrum of matters for a publicly traded, global medical device company, operating in a highly regulated and rapidly growing industry.
In this role, you will work closely with commercial and functional teams, delivering practical, risk-based advice on commercial, compliance, and competition matters. You will also collaborate with colleagues across the wider EMEA Legal Team to enhance legal efficiency, scalability, and drive strategic initiatives regionally and globally.
The ideal candidate will bring significant international legal experience, ideally within the medical device or broader healthcare sector. With strong business acumen and sound judgment, you will have the credibility and gravitas to influence and negotiate effectively with key internal and external stakeholders. A proactive approach to enterprise risk mitigation and cross-functional collaboration will be essential.
The role is based in the Birmingham office and will report to the Regional General Counsel, EMEA located in the EMEA regional HQ in Rotkreuz, Switzerland.
Key Responsibilities
The Sr. Lead Counsel UKI-Nordics will be responsible for managing legal matters and mitigating potential risks to Align’s business in the markets he/she supports. This includes navigating a complex and diverse legal landscape, while ensuring compliance with Align’s global policies, Code of Conduct and strategic objectives.
You will deliver clear, practical, and strategic legal advice under applicable laws relevant to a global technology and medical device company. This role collaborates closely with the corporate legal team across a broad range of legal areas, including:
You will deliver clear, practical, and strategic legal advice under applicable laws relevant to a global technology and medical device company. This role collaborates closely with the corporate legal team across a broad range of legal areas, including:
• Commercial contracts
• Interactions with healthcare professionals (HCPs), both in commercial B2B negotiations and in academic collaborations, consulting, and service arrangements
• Competition law
• Advertising, promotion, and labeling (including consumer advertising regulations and best practices in a highly regulated environment)
• Brand protection and enforcement
• Anti-bribery and anti-corruption
• Cybersecurity, data governance, and privacy
• Intellectual property
• Labor and employment
• Litigation
• Internal investigations and dispute resolution
You will partner primarily with commercial and marketing functions, while also collaborating with other departments, including regulatory, compliance, public affairs, data privacy, and HR. This role also offers the opportunity to contribute to cross-functional regional and global projects in partnership with corporate Centers of Excellence.
Key Responsibilities
• Serve as the lead legal advisor for the UK, Ireland, and Nordic regions, owning all legal matters.
• Provide strategic and day-to-day legal guidance to commercial and cross-functional teams.
• Anticipate, assess, and mitigate critical legal, regulatory, and ethical risks.
• Partner with internal stakeholders on public affairs, corporate communications, marketing, brand protection, and litigation.
• Collaborate with HR on employment-related matters and shared legal/HR initiatives.
• Design and deliver risk-based training programs, with a focus on topics such as HCP interactions and competition law.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with external counsel.
• Own and lead the regional compliance program, working closely with Global and Regional Compliance, Ethics, and Data Governance teams.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of a regionally tailored, risk-based compliance framework that reflects both Align’s global policies and local legal requirements.
• Keep the Regional General Counsel, EMEA informed on critical projects and issues, including those related to compliance and financial reporting.
• Identify and lead legal initiatives at the enterprise level, driving opportunities for efficiency, simplification, and scale across legal operations.
Skills, Knowledge & Expertise
In this role, you’ll need …
• Qualified common law attorney
• 10+ years of legal experience, ideally gained in both a law firm and in-house environment.
• Experience within the medical device sector or wider pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or life sciences sectors, including competition law, data privacy, and compliance.
• Proven ability to work across multiple geographies and lead or collaborate with multicultural and diverse teams.
• Strong transactional and drafting skills, with attention to detail and precision.
• Demonstrated business acumen and thoughtful, sensitive, and persuasive interpersonal skills.
• Comfortable in an international, diverse, and fast-paced environment.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders across disciplines, including medical, legal, commercial and highly specialized technical individuals.
• Fluent English (spoken & written); additional language a plus
Additional skills:
• Highly motivated, adaptable, and comfortable operating in a constantly evolving legal and regulatory landscape.
• Results-oriented, with the ability to manage a high volume of complex projects simultaneously under tight deadlines.
• Demonstrates our ACA values of agility, customer, and accountability.
• Highly collaborative, flexible, with a growth mindset.
• Possesses strong yet diplomatic communication skills, with the ability to influence and build trust at all levels of the organization.
• Stays current on legal and regulatory developments and proactively identifies implications and strategies for Align.
• Experience working with US-based multinational corporations and cross-cultural teams is preferred.