Principal Legal Advisor

Do you have an extensive legal background and the ability to lead a high performing legal team? Would you like to be a senior, visible legal voice, contributing to an organisation making an impact to end the devastation of dementia?

We are recruiting for a Principal Legal Advisor to join on a full-time basis, working 35 hours per week on a permanent contract.

As Principal Legal Advisor you will join the Risk and Assurance team part of our Finance & Assurance directorate. Our vision is to be the Society’s single point of truth. We are trusted partners, credible experts, working as one team to be a true enabler to the organisation as it makes an impact to end the devastation of dementia.

Partnership, collaboration, accountability, professionalism and a restless desire to constantly improve are needed in every role across Finance & Assurance. As the Society’s Principal Legal Advisor, you will work in close partnership with key stakeholders across Directorates to deliver a professional, credible, and valued legal service and opinion.

In this role you will be a senior, visible legal voice in the Society, helping to influence and ensure that the Society is operating safely, legally, and ethically. Liaising with key stakeholders, you will provide advice and guidance on commercial, contract, and property-related legal matters, helping to shape risk-informed decision-making.

Interviews for this role have been provisionally scheduled to take place on Wednesday 10^th September.

About you

Joining us, you will have an extensive legal background with a legal qualification, and broad experience of legal leadership. You will be a good communicator with the interpersonal skills required to build relationships and form trust and respect throughout the organisation.

To succeed in this role, you will have the ability to absorb and understand the legal issues deriving from the operations of a large and complex organisation, whilst also then providing pragmatic and user-friendly legal advice and support, including ad hoc oral advice.

Crucially, you will be able to lead a high performing, sought after and valued legal team, utilising your excellent people management and teamworking skills effectively. You will have the ability to work collaboratively and deliver successful joint outcomes in potentially time-sensitive situations.

What you’ll focus on:

• Leading and managing the legal team ensuring the service provides specialist knowledge and advice, in a timely and professional manner, aligned to the needs of the Society.
• Overseeing, managing, and delivering a portfolio of legal matters as required, and as they arise with support from the legal team.
• Working closely, in partnership with Society stakeholders, to ensure the legal team is visible, and that legal matters are considered at the right level at the right time.
• Providing advice and guidance, as required to Executive management and/or Trustees, delivered in a format that is accessible and appropriate for the needs of the client.
• Actively contributing to Society projects, strategies, or initiatives where legal input adds value.

Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer. One in three people born in the UK today will develop dementia in their lifetime.

At Alzheimer’s Society, we’re the UK’s leading dementia charity and the only one to tackle all aspects of dementia by giving help and hope to people living with dementia today and in the future. We give vital support to people facing the most frightening times of their lives, while also funding groundbreaking research and campaigning to make dementia the priority it should be.

Together with our supporters, we’re working towards a world where dementia no longer devastates lives.

Our values make sure that our focus is clear for the challenges and opportunities ahead and remind us of what we all stand for.

Our commitment to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We need to ensure the voices around our table better reflect and understand the communities we exist to serve. We strongly encourage individuals to apply who have a disability, impairment or health condition or individuals who identify as Black, Asian or from another minority ethnic background, as these groups are currently under-represented at Alzheimer's Society.  

We want everyone we work with, as a colleague, volunteer, supporter, or someone we support, to feel included and that they belong at Alzheimer's Society. 

Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy here along with our internal employee forum and Employee Lived Experience network groups help us promote inclusion and belonging, becoming an engaged and inclusive organisation for all our people. 

Our hiring process

During your recruitment process we want to make sure that you bring your whole self and can be at your best. We are working hard to ensure our recruitment process is as inclusive as possible, so please do inform us of your experience and anything you think we could do better by completing our candidate survey when you apply.  Please also contact Alzheimer’s Society Talent Acquisition Team via [email protected] for application support or any adjustments you might need.

To ensure fairness and consistency to select the best candidate for this role, all our applications are anonymised up until an interview has been confirmed. We recognise the benefits of AI, but if you're considering using it to submit your application, we encourage you to reflect on the value it truly adds. AI tools often lack the personal touch and authenticity that set candidates apart. We want to hear your unique perspective, experiences, and skills, so we encourage you to showcase them in your own voice.

We try to avoid closing roles early where possible, however if we receive a high volume of applications, we may close earlier than the advertised closing date. Should this occur, we will aim to provide you with at least 48 hours' notice.

We are committed to safer recruitment and ensuring the welfare of those we work with, due to the nature of some of our roles, we might need to carry out a DBS check at the relevant level.

Giving back to you

Our employees work hard every day to make a true difference in people's lives. We are proud to support them with a range of benefits, recognition and many options for working agilely, all contributing to a strong work life balance. We also have various learning programmes to support you in your development and help you grow to realise your potential and shape a career with Alzheimer's Society. 

You can also visit our Working for Us pages, which give you more information about what it’s like to be an employee at the Society.