Head of Legal Operations

About the Role

• Lead the Group's four-person Legal Services ME as its senior lawyer and company secretary; own contract risk, regulatory compliance, corporate governance and disputes end-to-end; run the ME as a charged-out profit centre; and make every deal signable faster while protecting the Group's licence to operate.

Job Purpose

• Lead the Group's four-person Legal Services ME as its senior lawyer and company secretary: own contract risk, regulatory compliance, corporate governance and disputes end-to-end; run the ME as a charged-out profit centre; and make every deal signable faster while protecting the Group's licence to operate.

Key Responsibilities

The responsibilities below are the ongoing duties of the role. They complement — but do not replace — the measurable Outcomes in the Job Scorecard.

Strategic & Delivery Outcomes

• Achieve and hold 100% contract coverage — all revenue under signed contract before mobilization — from Month 6 in seat.
• Close the baseline legal audit contracts, licences, entities, disputes within 90 days with a Board-reported remediation plan; zero red findings open by Month 6.
• Stand up all seven core processes L1–L7 with registers live and KPI reporting by working day 5, from Month 4.
• Deliver the five North-Star KPIs within target bands by Month 12, including SLA cost recovery ≥ 90%.
• Build and lead the team of three officers to A-player calibre; backup matrix operational; mandatory block leave observed by all seats.
• Keep total Legal ME cost within 0.4–0.8% of Group revenue and external counsel spend ≤ 35% of total legal cost.

Functional / Operational Responsibilities

• Applies and operates at professional level: Nigerian law practice at senior level: contract, corporate/commercial, energy and construction law; public-sector contracting in Nigerian states.
• Applies and operates at professional level: EPCIC contract structures: FIDIC/NEC and bespoke forms, subcontract flow-downs, JV/consortium and SPV agreements, payment security instruments.
• Applies and operates at professional level: Company secretarial practice under CAMA 2020: board machinery, statutory books, CAC processes.
• Applies and operates at professional level: Regulatory perimeter management: NUPRC, NMDPRA, NCDMB NOGICD, NIPEX/NJQS, NDPA 2023, FCCPC, state agencies.
• Applies and operates at professional level: Disputes strategy: negotiation, mediation, arbitration Lagos/international seats, Nigerian litigation reality; settlement economics.
• Applies and operates at professional level: Legal profit-centre management: service pricing, SLA charge-out, external counsel panel management, legal-ops discipline.
• Applies and operates at professional level: Board-grade drafting and advocacy in writing: opinions, memoranda, board papers.

Governance, Controls & Compliance

• Adheres to the Obek Group Code of Conduct, Delegation of Authority, Anti-Bribery & Corruption policy, and the Legal ME Governance Policies.
• Maintains complete registers and audit trails for every matter, contract, filing and decision — work not on a register does not exist.
• Protects legal professional privilege and confidential information; circulates privileged material need-to-know only.
• Escalates promptly any compliance breach, fraud indicator, limitation risk or material exposure identified.
• Takes mandatory block leave of at least 10 consecutive working days annually, handing duties to the designated backup per the matrix.