Head of Legal Property - Whitbread - Dunstable/ Holborn
Head of Legal Property – Whitbread – Dunstable / Holborn
Salary: £120 - £130K+ £7K Car allowance + Bonus up to 40%
Location: Hybrid role minimum 3 days per week in office based at Whitbread Court, Dunstable (LU5 5XE) and London Holborn (EC1N 2TD)
We’re Whitbread the UK’s largest hospitality business, and home of Premier Inn. With over 85,000 rooms across 850 hotels in the in the UK and another 7,000 in the pipeline, we’re the number one operator in the UK and with a growing presence in Germany.
We now have unique position to join us as Head of Legal (Property) reporting into the Premier Inn and Restaurants General Counsel (UK, Ireland, and Middle East). You will sit on the Property Committee, working closely with the MD Property and his team to develop and deliver the property strategy, refine our approach to providing and obtaining legal support and deliver efficiencies in our approach.
In this role you will also be advising the CEO and his executive team on implications of Property decisions (including transactional and contentious and non-contentious). You will be the primary contact with our external partners to build successful partnerships to effectively manage legal advice and associated spend. Whilst the role will primarily focus across our UK and Ireland sites, you will also work on our international strategy with our Germany team.
This is a first in role position at a senior level in a FTSE 100 company with a large multi-billion-pound property base, that will support our strategy to innovate and grow both our UK and International business for Premier Inn.
Why you’ll love it here:
- Bonus: Enjoy an annual Whitbread performance incentive worth up to 40% of base salary
- Private healthcare: For you and your family
- Car allowance: Of £7,420 per annum
- Discounts: Up to 60% discount on Premier Inn stays in the UK and abroad and 25% discount in our Whitbread Restaurants
What you’ll do:
- Provide legal advice for all real estate/ property issues, transactions and disputes to the Property function and wider business.
- Oversee all legal work on real estate transactions including developing form documentation, evolving process of engaging external lawyers on transactions and managing pre-signing reporting to ensure the business is clear on any risks and changes.
- Attend Property Executive and Property team meetings to provide advice and support on live discussions and decisions.
- Manage the procurement of external legal advice on real estate matters as the link between Whitbread and external counsel as required ensuring the business operates within agreed authority limits.
- Working on property deals to ensure risk to the business is minimised whilst delivering commercial objectives.
What you’ll need:
- Hold a practising certificate from the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority
- At least 5 Years post-qualification experience specialising in property law (transactional) within England and Wales gained as a director or Senior Associate in a law firm or holding a current Head of Legal, Senior Legal Counsel roles within a similar property base.
- Previous property experience in sale and leasebacks would be beneficial along with exposure to International Property.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skill, with the ability to present complex legal information clearly in a manner that is understandable by a wide range of stakeholders.
- Excellent transaction governance and drafting skills.
- Extensive stakeholder management and engagement capability across all levels of the business up to Executive/ Board level and external legal advisors with the ability to build strong and sustained relationships to achieve better results.
- Solutions focused, pragmatic and commercial with the ability to identify opportunities for improvement and to facilitate the implementation of creative solutions, including to streamline processes and remove cost, whilst enhancing service provision.
#LI-VD1
We believe that everyone is unique and there should be no barriers to entry and no limits to ambition. We are committed to being an inclusive organisation that values diversity and welcomes your application whatever your background or situation.
Under-represented groups such as women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities & members of the LGBTQIA+ community (those who identify as lesbian, gay, bi, trans and non-binary or those who use a different LGBTQIA+ term), are strongly encouraged to build a career with us. Speak to us about workplace adjustments, part-time and flexible working. Where possible we will support this.
Job ref: 10481-4492
Advertised: 10 Sep 2024
