Global Senior Counsel

Permanent contract
London
A few days at home
Salary: Not specified

Animaj
Animaj

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The position

Job description

Title:  Global Senior Counsel

Location: London or Paris

Reporting To: Global Head of Legal & Business Affairs

  • An exciting opportunity has arisen for an ambitious and experienced can-do lawyer to join Animaj’s Global Legal & Business Affairs team in London.

  • This is a rare opportunity to work in an international media and tech high growth scale -up who value lawyers as business partners.

  • Working closely with our Global Head of Legal & Business Affairs, you will be entrusted to work autonomously and as a team player.

  • You will be a self-starter with a growth-positive mindset who enjoys new challenges, is proactive by nature, and communicates succinctly. You will grow quickly as a business-first 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:

  • Structure, draft, and negotiate production-critical agreements, including:

    • Development, co-production and financing agreements

    • Adaptations, remakes, sequels, spin-offs and derivative works

    • Talent agreements (writers, directors, contributors etc.)

    • Music production, publishing and recording agreements

  • Ensure clean chain-of-title and exploitability:

    • Cross-border productions (France, Spain, UK, EU, US)

    • US guilds/societies and work-for hire agreements

    • European authors’ rights (droit d’auteur) agreements

    • Moral rights (paternity, integrity), waivers and consents

  • Act as a trusted legal partner to Production, Creative, Music, Distribution, Consumer Products, Brand and Marketing teams, translating legal constraints into executable business solutions

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

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

  • Operate as a team player while working independently and autonomously.


Preferred experience

  • Qualified Solicitor of England & Wales. French or Spanish law qualification desirable but not essential.

  • Minimum 5-7 years PQE with at least 4+ years in-house experience working on a range of commercial deals in the media and entertainment sector.

  • Hands-on production experience, not just advisory exposure.

  • Demonstrated expertise navigating multi-jurisdictional copyright compliance across US, UK, France, and Spain.

  • Demonstrated expertise of European authors’ rights frameworks (including droit d’auteur and moral rights).

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

  • Exceptional organizational skills and ability to prioritise workload.

  • Excellent communication skills (both verbal and written).

  • Attention to detail and an analytical mindset.

  • Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment.

  • Tech-literate and future-oriented, curious about AI, automation, and new exploitation models — even if you don’t yet have all the answers

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

Outcomes

After 30 days: Operational Readiness and Strategic Clarity

  • Full ownership of production IP landscape, active slates, and rights positions.

  • Triaging routine queries and supporting 2-3 live negotiations with supervision.

  • Identified top 3-5 deal velocity bottlenecks with proposed solutions.

After 60 days at Animaj: Autonomous execution and process improvement

  • Autonomous execution: structuring, drafting, and closing agreements without supervision.

  • Implemented process improvement reducing contract turnaround time.

  • Business teams engaging Legal earlier in deal cycle.

After 90 days at Animaj

  • Driving revenue-generating deals through creative structuring and risk-balanced negotiation.

  • Established as subject matter expert on European authors’ rights and cross-border compliance.

  • Built scalable legal operating model: documented processes, templates, playbooks, and external counsel relationships.


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 Jurist/Paralegal (30”)

  • Focused interviews  with Key Stakeholders:

    • VP - Production Innovation  (30”)

    • SVP Content Distribution (30”)

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

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