Senior Legal Counsel

This role as Senior Legal Counsel is positioned within the Legal team at Suntory Beverage & Food Europe, supporting the business with expert legal advice across key commercial and compliance activities in multiple jurisdictions.

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As Senior Legal Counsel, you will be a trusted business partner, helping teams move forward with confidence by providing clear, pragmatic and commercially sound legal guidance. You’ll work closely with senior stakeholders across markets and functions, balancing legal risk with business opportunity and helping create the guardrails that allow the business to grow responsibly.

This is a broad, international role with exposure across Europe and beyond, offering the opportunity to work on complex commercial, regulatory and compliance matters in a fast-paced, multicultural environment.

What You’ll Do

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• Draft, review and negotiate a wide range of commercial agreements, including licensing, sales and distribution, manufacturing, supply chain, service, innovation, development and marketing agreements.
  
• Provide practical legal and compliance advice to business functions across areas such as sustainability, data protection, competition law, anti‑bribery and corruption, and broader compliance programmes.
  
• Support commercial litigation and work with external counsel on complex legal matters where needed.
  
• Keep the business informed of regulatory developments, working closely with External Affairs and R&D Regulatory teams to anticipate and manage emerging risks.
  
• Help drive strong governance and compliance across multiple markets and jurisdictions.
  
• Collaborate with the wider SBFE and Suntory Legal community on cross‑market, regional and international projects.
  
• Support internal governance policies and compliance programmes, including acting as Deputy Compliance Officer for relevant legal entities.
  
• Support the continued development and delivery of SBFE Legal’s AI and digital strategy.
  
• Contribute to continuous improvement by developing legal templates, best practices, training, guidance and practical tools that help build legal capability across the business.
  

What’s in it for you

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• A high‑impact legal role in an international business with a diverse portfolio of well‑known beverage brands and a strong purpose: inspiring the brilliance of life, in harmony with nature.
  
• The opportunity to work closely with talented leaders, senior stakeholders and cross‑functional teams across commercial, marketing, procurement, supply chain, innovation, legal and more.
  
• A broad scope covering multiple markets, business models and jurisdictions, giving you real variety and the chance to influence decisions at both strategic and operational level.
  
• The chance to shape legal processes, strengthen governance and help the wider business make confident, responsible decisions.
  
• A collaborative environment where you are encouraged to think differently, bring your true self to work and continue to grow.
  
• Potential longer‑term career pathways towards Legal Director roles within SBFE, senior roles in the wider Suntory Group Legal team, or senior legal leadership positions in multinational organisations.
  

What You need to be successful

You are a qualified Dutch or internationally qualified lawyer with solid post‑qualification experience, gained in a law firm and/or in‑house environment. You bring strong experience in commercial law and, ideally, compliance, and you know how to translate legal complexity into clear, practical advice that helps the business move forward.

You are confident working with senior stakeholders and will be able to build trust quickly in a matrixed, international organisation. You combine sound legal judgement with commercial awareness, strong communication and negotiation skills, and the ability to stay calm and organised when priorities shift.

You'll also bring:

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• Fluency in English; Dutch, French and/or Spanish would be a plus.
  
• Strong drafting, communication and stakeholder management skills.
  
• The ability to provide pragmatic, risk‑based advice in a fast‑moving, multi‑jurisdictional setting.
  
• A collaborative, open mindset and the ability to work effectively across teams, cultures and geographies.
  
• High ethical standards and a strong commitment to integrity.
  
• Flexibility, self‑motivation and comfort making decisions in ambiguous situations.
  
• Prior in‑house experience, ideally within an FMCG or matrix organisation.
  
• Experience in sustainability, privacy/data protection and/or competition law would be an advantage, as would FMCG, retail or consumer brands experience.
  
• A digital mindset and curiosity to embrace tools such as AI.
  

In short: this is a great opportunity for a commercially minded legal professional who enjoys variety, complexity and partnership, someone who can protect the business while helping it grow with confidence.

Our DEI Commitment

At Suntory, we recognize that diverse knowledge, perspectives, and backgrounds contribute to our collective success. We are committed to fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace where all individuals can bring their whole selves to work every day, regardless of race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, neurodiversity, or differing abilities, age, or any other protected characteristic.

Our recruitment and selection processes are designed to highlight what Suntory offers as an employer while allowing candidates to share their unique skills and experiences. We understand that career trajectories vary, and if you believe your experience/background can benefit our team, we encourage you to apply. We endeavor to make our interview process as inclusive as possible and offer reasonable accommodations as needed. Together, we can cultivate a workplace where everyone can thrive and propel our mission of Growing for Good.

Who We Are

About SBFE

At Suntory Beverage & Food Europe, we create some of Europe’s most loved soft drinks brands. As part of the global Suntory Group, we’re driven by our purpose of inspiring the brilliance of life and committed to creating positive impact for our consumers, customers, communities and the environment.

About EECM BNL

Our Market, EECM BNL, is responsible for growing Suntory’s business across a diverse portfolio of markets spanning Europe, as well as selected countries in Africa and the Caribbean. Bringing together different cultures, customers and ways of working, our teams operate in a truly international environment where collaboration, agility and commercial ambition go hand in hand. xnkfpon

We work closely with distributors, retailers and partners to bring our iconic brands to consumers, creating opportunities to make an impact across multiple markets while developing broad international experience.