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Senior Legal Counsel

THE NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO CHILDREN
53,623 - 62,629 per year
London - Weston House
Full-time
18th August 2026
Listed today

Closing Date:

18 August 2026

Closing Date:

18 August 2026

  • Annually:£53,623 - £62,629 per annum
  • Region:London and South East
  • Location:London - Weston House
  • Department:Legal
  • Vacancy Type:Permanent
  • Working hours per week:35
  • Closing Date:18 August 2026

Are you looking for a role within an organisation where the work you do makes a real difference to children? If the answer is yes, Senior Legal Counsel could be exactly what you're looking for.

Join us and help protect the NSPCC's work through trusted legal advice.

At the NSPCC, we believe every childhood is worth fighting for. With over 100 years of experience, and the collective strength of our staff, volunteers, supporters and partners, we're working to end child abuse and neglect for good.

Our people are our greatest strength. The Legal Department plays a vital role in protecting and advancing the NSPCC's charitable and business objectives by providing high quality, professional legal advice, support and representation across the full spectrum of our activities.

If you're driven by purpose and want to use your legal expertise to support work that makes a real difference, we'd love to welcome you to our team, so join us as a Senior Legal Counsel.

What is the purpose of the Senior Legal Counsel?

This role is key to identifying and mitigating legal risk, providing expert legal advice and supporting the NSPCC to protect and advance its charitable and business objectives. You'll contribute by:

  • Providing high quality legal advice, guidance and representation across the NSPCC's activities.
  • Supporting legal compliance and the effective management of legal risk, particularly in commercial and employment law.
  • Helping lead, manage and develop the Legal team in line with NSPCC values.

What will I be doing as a Senior Legal Counsel?

You'll provide, procure and lead others to deliver legal advice that supports the NSPCC's services and strategy. Working with colleagues at every level, you'll help the organisation manage legal risk, draft and negotiate legal documents, develop legal training and contribute to senior strategic groups where trusted legal insight is essential.

  • Provide high quality legal advice, guidance and representation across areas including but not limited to commercial law, intellectual property, information technology, data protection, employment law, contract and tort, corporate governance, civil litigation and charity law.
  • Build strong relationships with directors, senior managers and colleagues across the NSPCC to support compliance and manage legal risk effectively.
  • Draft and negotiate legal documents and provide clear, practical advice on complex legal matters.
  • Develop and deliver legal training for internal clients and the Legal team.
  • Support the Head of Legal in leading, managing and developing the Legal team, including coaching and mentoring colleagues to deliver a high quality professional legal service.

What skills do I need to be a Senior Legal Counsel?

You'll be a qualified solicitor or barrister in the UK with substantial post-qualification experience and a track record of giving effective legal and commercial advice. You'll bring strong drafting, negotiation and communication skills, sound judgement, and the confidence to advise on complex legal issues while building trust with colleagues and partners.

  • Qualified as a solicitor or barrister in the UK, with substantial post-qualification experience in house or in private practice.
  • Experience providing legal and commercial advice, particularly across commercial and employment law, with the ability to tackle new areas of law confidently.
  • Excellent legal drafting, negotiation, written and oral communication skills, including the ability to explain complex legal matters clearly.
  • Strong strategic judgement, problem-solving skills and the ability to identify pragmatic solutions, manage risks and spot opportunities.
  • Good leadership, planning and management skills, with the ability to support, develop and motivate staff or volunteers.

Why join the NSPCC?

Any one of our people will tell you that a huge reward in itself is making a difference to children's lives. But we know it's a competitive world, and it's important to feel valued in your role and receive more practical, tangible benefits. We offer salaries that are at least comparable with the top charities in the UK, as well as these benefits.

  • Generous annual leave- 29 days per annum plus bank holidays for full-time employees, pro-rata for part-time. 32 days per annum after five years' continuous service.
  • Employee discounts- Our discounts portal gives you online access to over 3,000 discounts and offers.
  • The Employee Assistance Programme- an independent, free, personal support service that can provide information, support and advice for your health and wellbeing.
  • Pension- building up a good pension is something we want to help you achieve with our flexible, tax-efficient pension schemes.
  • Life assurance scheme- all employees receive life assurance of one times their salary, or five times their salary if they join the NSPCC Group Personal Pension Scheme.

Join us and make a difference. You'll grow, be challenged, and help change millions of young lives for the better.

Ready to apply?

If this is the role for you, please click the button ‘apply' to start your journey. You can find more information on all recruitment stages on the Career page.

This role is hybrid-based from our London - Weston House office, you will be required to come into the office for a minimum of one day per week.

Still have questions about the role?

For an informal chat about the role, please contact Alison Shropshire at Alison.Shropshire@NSPCC.org.uk

#LI-RW1

If you are interested in applying for this role, we encourage you to apply early. To help us manage the process we may close the vacancy before the advertised closing date should we receive a strong response to the role.

In keeping with our values and our policies, if any individuals who are regrettably at risk of redundancy apply for a role and meet the minimum essential criteria they will be given priority consideration. We hope that you understand our position on this and that this will not discourage from applying. We cannot predict who, internally, will apply for a role, or whether they will meet the minimum essential criteria. Where no at-risk candidates meet the minimum essential criteria, all applications will be considered as normal.

Supporting Documents

As an organisation, we are committed to creating and fostering a culture that promotes safeguarding and the welfare of all children and adults at risk. Our safer recruitment practices support this by ensuring that there is a consistent and thorough process of obtaining, collating, analysing and evaluating information from and about candidates to ensure that all persons appointed are suitable to work with our children and adults.

At the NSPCC we are on a journey to becoming a trauma-informed organisation for the children, young people and families that we work with, as well as our staff and volunteers. To be trauma-informed is one of the guiding principles that shape and guide our 2021-2031 Strategy. This means understanding the nature of adversity, trauma, and resilience so that we can work towards reducing and preventing further harm and promoting recovery and healing. Coming to work at the NSPCC will provide the opportunity for you to join us in our commitment to becoming a trauma-informed organisation.

NSPCC is that the NSPCC highly embraces,

encourages and promotes diversity and

inclusiveness of staff.

Siobhan Walters / Children's Services