Description

International Legal Counsel with a proven track record of building and leading in-house legal and compliance functions from the ground up. Trusted advisor to executive teams, contributing to strategic decisions and commercial risk management. Experienced across EMEA, NAM, and APAC, with strong cross-border legal and global B2B contracting expertise. Specialist in SaaS, tech, and global privacy law -including GDPR, CCPA, LGPD-, IP licensing, and commercial law. Served as UK/EU DPO, leading GDPR implementation in 2018 with zero breaches or fines. Experienced in internal governance, audits, inspections, and ISO certification readiness. Skilled in compliance training, policy development, and embedding legal thinking across organisations.

Multilingual: fluent in English and Spanish, with working knowledge of Portuguese.

Currently completing UK solicitor qualification (expected Jan 2026), reflecting long-term professional dedication.

Languages

English
Native or bilingual
Spanish
Native or bilingual
Portuguese
Conversational
Italian
Conversational

Workplace preferences

Remote only

Primarily works remotely

HARRINGTON BLUE & PARTNERS
Contracted Strategic Consultant
LEGAL
February 2025 - Today (1 year and 4 months)
London, UK
• Advise international clients on market entry, structuring, and risk in Argentina, the UK, EU, and other key markets.
• Support cross-border transactions with contract advice and governance insights to ensure compliant execution.
• Lead legal due diligence for venture and development capital clients, assessing regulatory risk and transaction readiness.
CERTN
Senior Manager, Legal
LEGAL
July 2022 - February 2025 (2 years and 7 months)
Sevenoaks, UK
• Led the legal and compliance function for Certn in the EMEA region, advising internal stakeholders on regulatory, privacy, and corporate governance matters; ensured legal alignment across jurisdictions, enabling consistent and risk-aware business operations. This included managing the regional compliance team and serving as the UK & EU Data Protection Officer (DPO) and Information Security Manager.
• Managed the regional compliance team, overseeing execution of privacy operations, internal audits, ISO accreditation processes and audits, training programmes, and continuous improvement of regulatory frameworks.
• Advised the parent company and subsidiaries on policy, governance, and legal structuring to facilitate global expansion. Supported M&A and financing activities through due diligence, data room management, and transaction planning.
• Drafted, managed and negotiated a broad range of commercial agreements —including SaaS, technology, supplier service contracts, MSAs, T&Cs, DPAs (with SCCs and IDTAs, NDAs and employment contracts— across finance, legal, energy, oil & gas, and tech sectors.
• Collaborated with General Counsel and legal leaders in the US, Canada and globally, helping align regional legal strategies with overall business goals and facilitating a unified legal approach across markets.
• Co-led the successful accreditation of a company affiliate as an Identity Service Provider (IDSP) under the newly enacted UK Identity Verification Framework, in less than a month.
• Led the annual ISO 27001 (information security) and 9001 (quality management) recertification processes, with 0 major and max 1 minor non-conformity.
CERTN
Legal & Compliance Manager
LEGAL
January 2021 - July 2022 (1 year and 6 months)
• Handled all EMEA commercial legal matters, including high-value contract negotiations, risk assessments, and regulatory strategy across key sectors (energy, legal, tech, financial services).
• Organised, led, and moderated monthly EMEA Senior Management Team meetings, bringing together regional leaders across departments to align on technical and operational priorities across the region. Acted as the central point of coordination—setting agendas, preparing materials, and driving strategic discussions to support business-critical decisions and ensure regulatory alignment across EMEA operations.
• Oversaw client and third-party supplier onboarding due diligence, ensuring adherence to contractual and data protection requirements, and the implementation of robust documentation. Partnered with sales, supplier relations, and operations teams to improve, update, and maintain an integrated and efficient approach to third-party reviews from a privacy compliance perspective.
• Led the company’s ISO 27001 (information security) and 9001 (quality management) recertification processes, strengthening company information management practices and achieving certification ahead of schedule.
• Consolidated and streamlined company policies, eliminating redundancies, and spearheaded the successful integration of policies across key business functions.
• Served as the company’s designated Data Protection Officer (UK & EU), working collaboratively with the Group Global Privacy Counsel to align local data protection practices with global privacy strategy, ensure consistency across jurisdictions, and support implementation of cross-border compliance initiatives.