Organization: CGIAR System Organization
Location: Addis Ababa | Montpellier
Grade: Senior level – Senior
Occupational Groups:
Operations and Administrations
Legal – Broad
Closing Date: 2025-02-06
About CGIAR
CGIAR is an international research collaboration aimed at ensuring future food security. The goals of CGIAR science are to improve natural resources and ecosystem services, decrease poverty, and increase food and nutrition security. Hundreds of partners, including academic institutions, development agencies, the commercial sector, national and regional research institutes, and civil society groups, collaborate closely on its research.
About the position
In a way that reduces legal risk and guarantees adherence to pertinent legal frameworks, the Legal Affairs section offers thorough legal advice and practical legal solutions to further the organization’s goal and scientific research program. Innovative funding mechanisms, grants, partnerships, compliance, sanctions, procurement, intellectual property, data protection, tax, employment, privileges and immunities, corporate governance, ethics, and policies are just a few of the many strategic, operational, and institutional issues on which it provides legal services. The legal integrity of CGIAR’s diverse operations and governance framework depends on these services.
In your role as Legal Advisor/Senior Legal Adviser, Funding and Operations, you will collaborate with colleagues within CGIAR and work in the Legal Affairs unit to offer a variety of legal services, adjusting strategies to guarantee responsiveness to business settings and demands. Providing legal assistance for operations and funding will be your main priority. However, you can be given work in other areas to promote collaboration across teams.
Responsibilities
- Design legal frameworks to support the funding of CGIAR’s Research and Innovation Strategy and other activities, including agreements related to the CGIAR Trust Fund and bilateral agreements.
- Review, draft and negotiate partnership agreements, MOUs, and other legal agreements ensuring that they are fit for purpose.
- Review, adapt and draft policies and other internal rules for the organization and CGIAR ensuring they are legally sound and represent fit-for purpose solutions.
- Provide legal advice related to funding agreements, including with respect to their interpretation and application, legal risk identification and mitigation, compliance matters, policy-related needs and assurance documents to safeguard the interests of the organization and CGIAR.
- Negotiate and review contracts and agreements, including those with host countries, funders, partners, vendors, consultants and staff ensuring that terms are legally sound and in the best interest of. The organization.
- Support the effective management by CGIAR Centers of their intellectual assets and licensing agreements and report on such management in accordance with CGIAR policies.
- Promote engagement and collaboration mechanisms within CGIAR’s Global Legal Team to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of legal services across CGIAR.
- Steward CGIAR’s Intellectual Property Community of Practice and intellectual asset management reporting cycle to ensure delivery against agreed timelines.
- Optimize approaches and build consistency in legal services and outputs, sustaining delivery against established timelines while addressing evolving client needs, aligning to new legislation, and procedures.
- Monitor the effectiveness of policies, guidelines, tools, processes and systems to ensure they remain relevant in mitigating legal risks and promoting compliance with applicable treaties, laws, contractual agreements and standards.
Requirements:
Education and Experience
- Advanced University Degree in Law (Masters or Master’s equivalent).
- Specialized experience at a top-tier law firm and/or in an in-house legal department within a complex international facing corporation or not-for-profit organization.
- Specialized experience in negotiating and drafting all types of contracts, including complex multi-stakeholder grant agreements and partnerships, in providing legal support in areas such as data protection, intellectual property law, compliance and sanctions. compliance, sanctions and intellectual property law, and in drafting policies.
Key Competences
- Substantive knowledge: Demonstrated capacity gained through education and experience in business and corporate law, partnerships, grants, financial instruments, compliance, sanctions, data protection, and intellectual property reflecting conceptual understanding in diverse operational settings.
- Communication skills: Demonstrated skill gained through exposure/experience in relationship management.
- Execution skills: Demonstrated achievement in the consistent delivery of advisory services and outputs through adaptation.
Languages
Fluency in English essential to communicate in writing and speaking. Knowledge of a second language desirable.
The selected staff member will be offered terms and conditions commensurate with the grade of the position.
How to apply
Simply click on the apply button, fill out of the form, upload your documents