About Us

We're a truly international company, fourth largest in our industry and operating across 119 markets. An inclusive, innovative global FMCG business supported by 26,000 employees. As we embrace a new era of growth, we are transforming. Our ways of working and culture are driven by a challenger mindset, constantly questioning the status quo where people can bring their best selves to work. Our agility and collaboration are driving our ambitions, innovation and success all supported by our award-winning development programmes that creates exciting and rewarding career opportunities for all.

As we move forward, our consumers will be at the heart of what we do, evolving to needs and expectations and committing to a more meaningful contribution to harm reduction by building a successful NGP business. Integral to our long-term success is our sustainability strategy, behaving responsibly and supporting our ambitions, all underpinned by high governance.

Encouraging inclusion at local levels and supporting a developing and robust diversity agenda globally, we’re fully committed to creating and maintaining an environment that celebrates and respects difference.

The Role

The Head of Corporate and Legal Affairs Operations (CLA Ops) will have direct responsibility for the ambitious CLA Ops agenda at Imperial. This is a new area for the business. As such the incumbent will develop new processes and policies in the area (or improve existing processes where these exist).

Imperial wants to accelerate from behind-the-curve in Ops to being a leader. As such, the incumbent must be able to take on projects of varying – and increasing – size and scope. The problems and challenges of these projects may be complex, but the incumbent will develop into a “go to” subject matter expert in all areas of CLA Operations. More than this, they will be able to use external conferences and forums to champion the work that they are leading in this area for Imperial.

Although they will report to the Director of Group Corporate Affairs and CLA Operations, the successful candidate will need to demonstrate that they can work independently to drive a demanding transformation agenda, and to influence functional decision-making at a global level.

Alongside this programme of strategic change, the incumbent will pick up responsibility for many of the existing operational aspects of the Corporate and Legal Affairs function, working in collaboration with the CLA Leadership Team, and with the Chief Legal and Corporate Affairs Officer were appropriate. They will ensure that the CLA function can meet its strategic objectives by overseeing budgets, information management, and, with the assistance of a Projects & Communities Lead, the management of training events, webinars, and capacity and capability development projects for the global CLA Community.

Key Accountabilities

• Define the scope and ambition of the CLA Ops function. Use industry best practice and peer benchmarks, gathered from high-level networking among leading Legal Ops functions, to shape and share an inspiring vision of what “good” looks like for our business at a global level.
• Own this vision for Ops – developing new processes and policies where needed.
• Partner with the CLA Leadership team on the management of existing operational considerations, such as ensuring that our budgets are optimized to meet strategic needs; owning the Business Planning process for CLA throughout the company’s financial year, and monitoring internal strategic programme spend. Reviewing CLA financial reports in order to update the Chief Legal and Corporate Affairs Officer regarding the department’s short-range outlook and the efficient delivery of services to internal clients.
• Take ownership for process and efficiency improvements, especially any efficiency gains available using new technology. Build value cases to prioritise the implementation of a CLA Operations plan.
• Bring every member of CLA function, from the Group CLA Leadership Team to CLA professionals in markets, along on the journey. Build internal communications into the Ops strategy, so that all parties understand the benefits of process change and become not only willing users, but credible advocate for change.
• Act as a champion for efficient processes and new technology across the Imperial Brands group, in line with our corporate strategy. Ensure widespread buy-in to any operational change and take responsibility for not only the implementation of new processes, but also the adoption and continued use of these new processes. Implement appropriate training programmes to achieve this.
• Oversee the work of the Projects and Community Lead in building a vertically (Group to Market) and horizontally (intra-functional) integrated global CLA community. Use training events, effective internal communications, and development projects, to ensure that we build a culture of functional excellence and cooperation.

While reporting to the Director of Corporate Affairs and CLA Operations, the holder of this role will need to work very closely with the whole of the CLA Leadership Team (including the Chief Corporate and Legal Affairs Officer) to promote an inclusive, “One CLA” functional culture.

Skills & Experience

Essential:

• Previous experience in Legal Operations, ideally with a large corporate
• Project management experience linked to process change and/or technology implementation.
• Strong technical literacy

Desirable:

• Experience in FMCG businesses
• Experience working in a legal environment.
• Willingness to work from Bristol.

What We Offer

Imperial Brands offer a competitive package of salary, bonus scheme, pension, holidays as well as hybrid work.

Next Steps

Interested applicants should apply with their CV highlighting their suitability for the role.

Everyone Belongs

Everyone belongs in Imperial. We are proud of being a truly inclusive organisation.

We encourage and welcome applications from people of all ages, genders, ethnicities, nationalities, disabilities, sexual orientation, religions, or beliefs and of neuro divergence. We give fair and equal consideration to all our applicants.

We welcome talented people with stories to tell, who can bring fresh thinking, new ideas and different experiences to our business and believe in enabling every person to succeed; to deliver their best performance and realise their full potential.

We understand that these are the things that make you ‘you’ and if you join us, we’ll support you in being able and confident to share your whole self with us.  

We look forward to hearing from you!

Please click here resourcing@uk.imptob.com to let us know if we can provide support in helping you complete an application and/or attend an interview.

Don’t talk yourself out of applying.