Commercial Lawyer

Permanent contract
London
Salary: Not specified
A few days at home
Experience: > 4 years

Animaj
Animaj

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Questions and answers about the job

The position

Job description

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an ambitious Commercial Lawyer to join Animaj’s Legal & Business Affairs team in London. This is a rare opportunity to work in an international media tech high growth scale -up who value lawyers as business partners.

Working closely with our Head of Legal & Business Affairs, you will be the first Commercial Lawyer to join the department. You will set up, evolve and manage workload from a variety of departments including Content Distribution, Consumer Products, Live Events, Gaming, Music, Paid Media and Marketing.

You will be a self -starter with a growth positive mindset who enjoys new challenges, proactive in nature and succinct communicator. You will grow quickly as a Commercial Lawyer and develop expertise in AI, automation and legal tech.

Responsibilities

  • You will be someone who enjoys rolling up your sleeves and finding a route through any task-list, which may look like this:

  • Drafting, reviewing and negotiating a range of contracts related to content production, distribution, carriage, consumer products, live events and licensing, marketing, service agreements, music agreements, AI/technology.

  • Liaising with all internal departments including stakeholders and external advisors, representing the Legal Department to provide legal and business updates efficiently in a professional and business friendly manner.

  • Contribute to Animaj Legal Department processes including updating or introducing new policies, guidelines, toolkits, flowcharts, training sessions and playbooks to support Animaj scale.

  • Providing practical advice by staying up-to-date with relevant industry, commercial and legal developments and be willing to develop specialist knowledge in AI and its application worldwide and attend industry or legal seminars where needed.

  • Operate as a team player and comfortable working independently.


Preferred experience

  • You will have great grades and education, but we care more about relevant industry experience and skills gained to support Animaj’s next phase of growth!

  • We are an equal opportunities employer and look for more than your PQE or university and encourage diversity of thought.

  • English law qualified. French or Spanish law desirable but not essential.

  • Min 4+ years in-house experience working on a range of commercial deals in the media and entertainment sector.

  • Knowledge of industry regulations eg, data protection, advertising, children.

  • Exceptional organizational skills and ability to prioritize workload.

  • Excellent communication skills (both verbal and written).

  • Attention to detail and an analytical mindset.

  • Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment.

  • Ability to work in an international setting.

  • Fluent in English.  French or Spanish language desirable but not essential.

  • Occasional travel.

Outcomes

After 30 days at Animaj:

  • Developed clear understanding of Animaj’s business model, content pipeline, commercial strategy, and international structure.

  • Reviewed key commercial contracts and templates (licensing, distribution, talent, production, partnerships) and flagged any immediate risks.

  • Understood and mapped current legal workflows, contract lifecycle management, and areas of friction or delay.

  • Met with key stakeholders (business heads, finance, product, ops, content, founders) and mapped commercial pain points.

  • Got up to speed on recent or ongoing M&A deals: reviewed legal DD, identified post-deal integration tasks.

  • Begun supporting ongoing contract negotiations with some supervision.

After 90 days at Animaj:

  • Fully owns day-to-day commercial contract structuring, drafting and negotiation (e.g. content distribution, licensing,  brand partnerships, music).

  • Streamlined or improved at least two commercial contract templates/playbooks for core deal types (e.g. distribution, licensing and merchandising)

  • Identified recurring legal/commercial risks and proposed preventative policies or playbooks and runs legal clinics.

  • Supports post-acquisition legal integration (contract novations, IP assignments, liability ring-fencing, alignment of partner terms).

  • Built internal trust as a reliable, pragmatic legal partner to the business.

  • Provides timely, practical, business friendly advice on deal structures and risk.

  • Actively contributing to cross-functional meetings and business decision-making.

After 6 months at Animaj

  • Developed or refined a scalable contract management framework (templates, tracking  processes) and supports the business on Legal Automation and Legal AI tools.

  • Plays a key advisory role in structuring high-value or complex partnerships (e.g., international licensing, co-productions, gaming agreements.

  • Trained internal teams (e.g., sales, content, partnerships) on legal best practices and contract awareness and runs legal clinics where needed.

  • Built new external relationships and optimizes a preferred external counsel network and manages them efficiently.


Recruitment process

  • First interview with our Hiring Manager (45’)

  • Second Interview with our Hiring Manager with Written Assessment (60”)

  • Informal online/in person coffee with Team  (30”)

  • Informal call with one Key Stakeholder (eg SVP Content Distribution) (30”).

  • Final interview with one of our Co-Founder (CEO/CBO) (60’)

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