Head, Legal & Regulatory Affairs at Smile Communications Nigeria Limited

Smile Communications provides 4G LTE mobile broadband in several countries in Africa. Our objective is to become the broadband provider of choice for Superfast mobile broadband internet and Super Clear voice services in each of our markets and to provide over 300 million potential customers in our countries of operation with a fast, reliable and high-quality broadband internet to accelerate development and wealth creation. Our mission is a fully connected Africa enabled by a team that is driven by passion, integrity, humility and humanity

Smile is a diverse, equal opportunities organisation and is committed to developing talent in the telecommunications industry in all of the countries it operates in. In addition to considering your skills and competencies, your fit with our culture and values is important.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Head, Legal & Regulatory Affairs

Location: Lagos

Duties & Responsibilities

• Managing and directing the activities of the commercial legal function
• Coordination of all commercial legal transactions including but not limited to the drafting, negotiation and execution of a wide range of agreements between the company and its business partners (customers and suppliers). These agreements range from generic legal transactions such as leases, MoUs, equipment supply and maintenance agreements to telecommunications specific agreements such as connectivity agreements (leased line, MPLS, WAN, metro fibre, microwave, IoT/M2M etc.), interconnection, IRUs, hosting, colocations or facility sharing etc.
• Development of boiler plate contract forms as well as appropriate terms and conditions for new products and solutions designed by the Company.
• Review and provide legal advisory services to the business development, products and technology teams with respect to their engagements with external stakeholders.
• Attend meetings with strategic business partners alongside user department representatives (Business Development, Products, Networks or IT) to close out strategic transactions.
• Overseeing all aspects relating to the Regulatory Strategy of the Company, the responsibility for flow of information relating to the Regulatory strategy of the Company to the Managing Director, Group CEO and where necessary, external parties such as investors, financial institutions and regulatory authorities;
• Track, prepare and submit required regulatory reports, tariff filings and all other regulatory related compliance submissions;
• Managing the Company's regulatory and associated legal strategy in relation to the Regulatory environment;
• Liaising with regulatory bodies (including Competition and Advertising authorities); Working and communicating closely with senior Management in Group and the Opco to advance these strategies, including developing position papers;
• Responsible for Stakeholder Management including managing the Government relations functions and liaison with relevant Government departments on issues affecting the company and positioning the Company positively;
• Identification and development of business opportunities (including the business case) inter alia: Mergers and acquisitions, Strategic partnerships; Joint Ventures etc. Providing analysis and counsel on legal issues to all departments in the Company;
• Ensuring compliance of the Company on all national laws, regulations and licences;
• Providing legal counsel in issues arising from actual or anticipated lawsuits and proactively and cost-effectively resolving disputes in the most beneficial manner;
• Anticipating and guarding against legal risks facing the Company and mitigating existing risks effectively;
• Supervise the Company Secretarial in the discharge of their duties.
• Managing the inter- operator relations functions, liaison with operators regarding any regulatory developments, inter operator agreements (interconnection, facilities sharing* leasing and site sharing etc);
• Overseeing the compliance function i.e. ensuring compliance with licences, regulations and legislations including the co-ordination of responses to information requests and regulator enquiries and maintenance of regulatory report, logs and databases;
• Controlling, managing and directing the activities of the commercial legal function; Providing professional and strategic advice to the Country Manager, Board and Senior Management on all Commercial legal advice;
• Managing the Public Relations function together with the Country Manager;
• Define, develop and implement the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies, scorecards and action plans that contribute to the delivery of Smiles vision, mission and objectives which includes the establishment and management thereof, of the Smile Foundation;

Requirements

• LLB from an accredited law school with a minimum of Second Class Upper is desirable
• 10 -15 years post call to bar experience with 5 years SM experience in industry, Telecoms Experience is highly desirable.
• Excellent analytical and communication skills, both written and verbal; demonstrate consistent and prompt use of sound legal and business judgment.
• Smart with capacity to support agile decision making
• High-energy and willing to on responsibilities beyond the call of duty.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply