Job Description

Are you energized by working in a fast changing and highly complex legal environment? If so, this Legal Counsel, R&D role could be an ideal opportunity to explore.


As Legal Counsel, R&D, you'll be responsible for providing a high level of legal support to one of our core business units, playing an important role in facilitating the discovery and development of our medicines and vaccines. You'll be involved in the legal support of projects, helping establish collaborations and developing proper risk assessment and mitigation plans. You could be asked to provide support to many parts of the R&D organisation, but the initial focus of the role will be to support our earlier stage discovery and product development collaborations including the associated technology platforms.


This role will provide you the opportunity to experience activities to progress your career, including:


Negotiating/drafting and/or reviewing a wide range of commercial agreements Advising and managing commercial dispute resolution and litigation Acting as the principal point of contact to certain allocated groups within R&D Providing legal support on industry issues, project and product incidents as well as acting as subject-matter expert on one or more allocated legal subjects Oversight and management of legal risks within GSKs Risk Management and Compliance framework Delivering/ coordinating legal training to client groups Liaising with other groups within Legal (such as Digital, Privacy & Cybersecurity. Patents, Business Development) and the Legal Contracting Network and other departments (such as Academic Contracting and Business Development)
You will be based at GSK HQ in Central London and report to the Vice-President & Head of Legal for Respiratory, Immunology & Inflammation and R&D Platforms. However, you will also be expected to work under the supervision of other senior members of the team. There will be an expectation of attending the office 2-3 days each week with occasional domestic and international travel.

Why you?

Basic Qualifications:

We are looking for professionals with the following experience required to achieve our goals:


Qualified to practise as a solicitor or barrister (or equivalent) in the UK Experience operating in private practice and/or in-house in a multi-national, multi-cultural environment Experience supporting intellectual property licensing, collaborations, commercial contracts and other business development or joint venture transactions An academic background in science or a commitment to working in the life sciences sector

Preferred Qualifications:

If you have the following characteristics, it would be a plus:


Private practice and/or in-house experience advising clients active in the discovery and development of medicines and vaccines including some experience of advising on one or more of the following legal topics: data privacy, regulation of clinical trials and other human subject research, regulation of the use of human biological samples and regulation of pre-clinical research.

Why GSK?

Our values and expectations are at the heart of everything we do and form an important part of our culture.


These are Ambitious for Patients, Accountable for Impact and Do the Right Thing. As GSK focuses on our values and expectations and a culture of innovation, performance, and trust, you will demonstrate the following capabilities:


Agile and distributed decision-making - using evidence and applying judgement to balance pace, rigour and risk. Managing individual performance, often working on your own initiative and with some degree of autonomy, with the ability to work in a team and manage numerous matters and competing priorities effectively. Committed to delivering high quality results, overcoming challenges, focusing on what matters, and acting as a partner to the business. Strong legal skills, particularly in identifying and counselling on legal risks and issues, combined with high integrity and sound commercial acumen. Sustaining energy and well-being, building resilience in yourself. Continuously looking for opportunities to learn, build skills and share learning both internally and externally. Building strong relationships and collaboration, managing trusted stakeholder relationships internally and externally.

Why GSK?

Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.

GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade, as a successful, growing company where people can thrive. We get ahead of disease by preventing and treating it with innovation in specialty medicines and vaccines. We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases - to impact health at scale.


People and patients around the world count on the medicines and vaccines we make, so we're committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most. Our culture of being ambitious for patients, accountable for impact and doing the right thing is the foundation for how, together, we deliver for patients, shareholders and our people.


GSK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), military service or any basis prohibited under federal, state or local law.


We believe in an agile working culture for all our roles. If flexibility is important to you, we encourage you to explore with our hiring team what the opportunities are.


Should you require any adjustments to our process to assist you in demonstrating your strengths and capabilities contact us on UKRecruitment.Adjustments@gsk.com or 0808 234 4391. The helpline is available from 8.30am to 12.00 noon Monday to Friday, during bank holidays these times and days may vary.


Please note should your enquiry not relate to adjustments, we will not be able to support you through these channels. However, we have created a UK Recruitment FAQ guide. Click the link and scroll to the Careers Section where you will find answers to multiple questions we receive .

Important notice to Employment businesses/ Agencies

GSK does not accept referrals from employment businesses and/or employment agencies in respect of the vacancies posted on this site. All employment businesses/agencies are required to contact GSK's commercial and general procurement/human resources department to obtain prior written authorization before referring any candidates to GSK. The obtaining of prior written authorization is a condition precedent to any agreement (verbal or written) between the employment business/ agency and GSK. In the absence of such written authorization being obtained any actions undertaken by the employment business/agency shall be deemed to have been performed without the consent or contractual agreement of GSK. GSK shall therefore not be liable for any fees arising from such actions or any fees arising from any referrals by employment businesses/agencies in respect of the vacancies posted on this site.


Please note that if you are a US Licensed Healthcare Professional or Healthcare Professional as defined by the laws of the state issuing your license, GSK may be required to capture and report expenses GSK incurs, on your behalf, in the event you are afforded an interview for employment. This capture of applicable transfers of value is necessary to ensure GSK's compliance to all federal and state US Transparency requirements. For more information, please visit the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) website at https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/