Counsel Operations

It’s Time to Unsmoke. There is no question that the best choice for men and women who smoke is to quit cigarettes and nicotine altogether. But many people don’t. In any given year, about 9 out of 10 men and women who are already smoking will continue: those people deserve access to, and information about, better alternatives. That is why we’re building PMI’s future on smoke-free products and focusing our efforts in switching adults, who choose to continue smoking, to our smoke-free platforms. Role Summary: An experienced attorney within the Legal Department who will be effective in exercising seasoned judgment and providing guidance to business and functional leaders with responsibility for performing a variety of moderately complex to complex legal matters and projects including day-to-day advice to the company and its business professionals on a broad range of commercial transaction issues to include business legal advisory services & expertise to the PMI Operations communities, with a focus on our Procurement Hub in Madrid. Responsible for managing matters and activities related to procurement activities across the value chain. Reporting to the Senior Counsel - Operations, the Counsel – Operations will require a person of vision, integrity, commitment, maturity, judgment, and meticulosity. Key Responsibilities: • Partners with internal clients to create proactive strategies designed to avoid or minimize exposure to legal liability. • Helps business partners accurately understand the risks and consequences of the given situation or course of action. • Effectively communicates the risks and the consequences and develops alternatives to manage identified risks. • Identifies and analyzes legal issues, drafts key documents, presents clear recommendations, and ensures legal compliance as it relates to the noted areas of law. • Stays current with legal developments, best practices and benchmarks in the noted areas of law and assists internal clients in implementing policies and procedures in response thereto. • Maintains a culture with a high degree of emphasis on dignity, respect, and inclusion. Critical Skills: • Ensures high quality, relevant and timely day to day legal support to the Madrid Procurement Hub for operations matters, as agreed with relevant team members. Anticipates possible bottlenecks and recommends practical solutions to ensure compliance with applicable laws. • Reviews, drafts and negotiates various agreements and advises in coordination with more senior team members on various topics linked to our overall sourcing strategy and related legal issues. • Performs updates of legal forms and documents, policies and procedures. Provides trainings and solves recurring issues in a structural way. • Has a sound understanding of business strategies and actively contributes to identifying and mitigating the applicable legal risks. • Secures the necessary external legal support and other resources. Liaises with other teams and colleagues in the Law & Compliance Department, when appropriate, to seek their input or involvement in work. • Delivers the objectives while staying within the agreed budget. Efficiently uses outside counsel to get best value for money, applies alternative fee arrangements, recharges legal fees to business project budgets, if appropriate. Closely supervises budget utilization on an ongoing basis. Secures the optimal mix of outside counsel in view of expertise, cost, jurisdictional background & geographies and interchangeability to ensure a healthy level of competition. Keeps open dialogue with outside counsel and challenges when needed. Follows a "zero loss" mindset to constantly optimize budget use. • Seeks opportunities to improve ways of working and delivering legal support by optimization, educating business colleagues, improving communication with business and other colleagues in the Legal, Ethics and Compliance Department. Continuously strives to simplify processes and eliminate redundant activities. Looks for ways of automating certain activities, where technology is available. Regularly reviews external counsel panel and, while building lasting business relationships, seeks best value for money solutions. Adjusts ways of working to changing business requirements. What we offer: Our success depends on our talented employees who come to work here every single day with a sense of purpose and an appetite for progress. Join PMI and you too can: • Seize the freedom to define your future and ours. We’ll empower you to take risks, experiment and explore. • Be part of an inclusive, diverse culture, where everyone’s contribution is respected; collaborate with some of the world’s best people and feel like you belong. • Pursue your ambitions and develop your skills with a global business – our staggering size and scale provides endless opportunities to progress. • Take pride in delivering our promise to society: to deliver a smoke-free future.