Lead Counsel – Privacy, AI & Compliance

Why Superdrug?

Passionate about Beauty and Health? Want to be part of an innovative, trend setting retailer? Our vibrant Head Office, based by East Croydon station is a fantastic environment filled with hundreds of brilliant personalities.

We’re a team that puts our customers and our teams at the heart of everything we do. At Superdrug, we aim to be the best in accessible health & beauty, loved by our customers for value, choice, friendly advice, service and fun.

Our success comes from our people – they make the difference. We’re all about personality, we have fun, and we work hard to deliver That Superdrug feeling.

Role Purpose:

We have an excellent opportunity for a highly motivated, experienced, and talented compliance lawyer to join AS Watson UK’s legal team (“Team Legal”). You will act as the lead Privacy, AI & Compliance lawyer for three beloved retail business units (Superdrug, Savers and The Perfume Shop). Reporting to our Deputy General Counsel, you will work cross-functionally with business and legal colleagues across our Europe and Asia to develop effective strategies and policies related to privacy, AI and compliance.

The role can be full-time (3 days in the office) or part-time (2 days in the office).

A typical day in this role includes:

• Building relationships and interacting with a variety of stakeholders in the business units and legal across our Europe and Asia.
• Being the principal specialist legal advisor on Privacy, AI & Compliance matters.
• Creating an agile strategy designed to support an effective and efficient compliance approach, ensuring the business units can evolve in the fast -paced environment in which we operate.
• Developing a robust and engaging training programme to ensure the business units are educated to deliver legally sound initiatives promoting a culture of good conduct and legal risk mitigation.
• Working collaboratively in cross-functional teams to support the delivery of new business initiatives.
• Building a strong network of relationships with peers to benchmark legal approach, share best practice and promote the interests of the UK business units.
• Developing your relationship with relevant regulatory bodies (e.g. ICO) to keep abreast of a changing regulatory landscape and support the business unit operations.
• Building proactive plans to manage potential risk from changes to legislation.
• Keeping technically up to date, especially in the fast-moving areas of data privacy, AI and cyber-security.

This job is a good fit for you if:

• You enjoy working in a fast paced, ever-changing retail environment
• You are dynamic, flexible, pragmatic, relatable and inspire trust and confidence from stakeholders at all levels and all areas of the business
• You have strong interpersonal skills, a commercial mindset and a proven ability to effectively influence with sensitivity and credibility
• You rise to a challenge and remain calm and composed during times of uncertainty and stress
• You have a passion for what you do, meaning you always stay up to date with what’s going on in the world of data privacy, AI and cyber-security
• You can manage a project through to completion and are able to close projects effectively and promptly, while ensuring quality and attention to detail
• You are at your best when problem solving
• You can operate at both a strategic and operational level
• You have developed the ability to use a blend of data and great instincts to make decisions
• You are tech savvy and understand the importance of technology for enabling our operations and as a strategic pillar for your growth
• You like an international flavour to your work – the AS Watson Group is a global business – and you enjoy liaising with colleagues in different operations to deliver/receive support.

What you’ll need:

• License to practice law in the UK, Europe, US or other common law jurisdiction
• At least 5 years PQE experience focused on privacy and compliance gained at a law firm and/or in-house.

Interested? Find out more….

The team: We are a diverse team of 9 lawyers on a mission to provide best in class support to the UK business by following our Team Legal Tenets, which are:

Anticipate

We proactively identify, monitor and offer options to mitigate potential legal and regulatory risks.

Synergise:

We are collaborative and trusted business partners. We communicate clearly and set realistic timescales. We prioritise what is most important to AS Watson UK.

Work smart:

We continuously innovate and simplify to improve our efficiency and effectiveness.

Advocate:

We encourage high standards of compliance, ethics and integrity. We build confidence in our relationships with regulators.

Think big:

We support decision making which is data-driven, customer obsessed and in the best long-term interests of the AS Watson Group.

Solutions-orientated:

We are problem-solvers who help to identify the root cause of issues and offer pragmatic solutions.

Ownership: We are owners who go the extra mile to drive results.

Ownership:

We are owners who go the extra mile to drive results.

Nurture:

We lead with empathy. We are supportive, compassionate and kind. We encourage and respect diverse perspectives

The office: Our stylish, modern and collaborative office (take a look: here) is located a short 5-minute walk away from East Croydon train station. Frequent, fast and direct trains run to stations across London, including London Bridge (14 mins), London Victoria (17 mins) and London St Pancras (30 mins).

About us: AS Watson is the world’s largest international health and beauty retailer operating over 16,500 stores under 12 retail brands in 29 markets (2023 revenue > £17 billion). We are part of CK Hutchison Holdings, which is among the largest companies listed on the main board of The Hong Kong Stock Exchange (2023 revenue > £45 billion). In the UK, we operate three beloved retail brands: Superdrug; Savers; and The Perfume Shop, focussed on delighting customers both online + offline (O+O) through our c.1500 physical stores (2023 revenue > £2.5 billion).

The UK business units:

With over 800 online and offline (“O+O”) stores across the UK and Ireland - including our 200 pharmacies we provide our customers with a fantastic, diverse range of health and beauty services and the very best in customer and patient care. Our purpose is to provide the very best in everyday accessible health and beauty, bringing innovation and the latest styles and trends to the high street at fantastic prices.

Savers Health & Beauty is a leading retailer in the UK, offering an impressive range of health, household and beauty products at highly competitive prices. Founded in 1988, Savers has grown to over 520 O+O stores across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

As the UK’s leading fragrance retailer, The Perfume Shop has been sharing its passion for perfume since 1992 and now welcomes customers into its over 200 O+O stores.