Privacy and Commercial Counsel & DPO (Maternity cover)

An innovative and fast-growing technology-led healthcare business is seeking a Privacy & Commercial Counsel / Data Protection Officer to join its legal team on a maternity cover contract. The maternity cover contract is for 9 months initially starting end of August but will likely run for 12 months.

Reporting into the Head of Legal, this role offers a broad mix of privacy, commercial and regulatory work within a highly collaborative and fast-paced environment.

This is an exciting opportunity for a commercially minded lawyer who enjoys partnering with stakeholders across the business while taking ownership of privacy compliance matters. The client is ideally seeking someone 5 days per week in the office, but would be happy to consider a hybrid working model of 3 days in the office, and 2 days from home.

The Role

Key responsibilities will include:

• Acting as the organisation's Data Protection Officer and liaising with relevant regulatory authorities.
• Leading UK privacy compliance activities and collaborating with international colleagues on cross-border privacy matters.
• Advising on privacy initiatives including:
• Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs)
• International data transfer arrangements
• Privacy by design
• Incident management
• Governance frameworks, policies and procedures
• Monitoring legal and regulatory developments and providing practical advice on emerging privacy and legal risks.
• Advising on a range of commercial legal matters across the business.
• Drafting, reviewing and negotiating commercial agreements, including privacy and data protection provisions.
• Developing and maintaining legal templates, playbooks and internal guidance.
• Delivering privacy training and awareness programmes to business teams.
• Managing and supporting a Data Privacy Manager.
• Working closely with stakeholders across technology, security, operations and other business functions to deliver pragmatic legal solutions.
• Building strong relationships with senior leaders and acting as a trusted legal adviser.
• Supporting contract management and broader legal team initiatives.

About You

You will be:

• A qualified lawyer in England & Wales.
• Experienced working in-house and/or within a leading private practice environment.
• Likely to have a minimum of 2–3 years' post-qualification experience.
• Comfortable managing privacy and data protection matters with limited supervision.
• Commercially minded, pragmatic and solutions focused.
• Able to balance technical legal advice with the practical needs of a growing business.
• An excellent communicator with strong drafting and negotiation skills.
• Confident influencing stakeholders at all levels and building trusted relationships across the organisation.
• Capable of managing multiple priorities in a fast-moving environment.

Desirable Experience

• Experience within the healthcare, life sciences, digital health or technology sectors.
• Exposure to health regulatory matters.
• Broader commercial contracts experience and willingness to support a wide range of legal work.

Due to the urgent nature of the role, the successful candidate will be required to start at the end of August or beginning of September.

To discuss the opportunity in more detail, please send an updated CV to Zoe- zalex@lawabsolute.com

Working through LAW Absolute

As the first recruitment agency to specialise only in placing interim lawyers, LAW Absolute has a long history in supporting lawyers who want to work flexibly and in control of their career.

We are able to offer our contractors a range of challenging opportunities across private practice, corporates, financial services and within the not-for-profit sector. With over 20 years of placing contract lawyers in these markets, we have built excellent networks and many of the lawyers that we work with are contract lawyers that we have successfully placed on multiple assignments, allowing them to work with autonomy and build their career in the way they choose to. For our clients, we have worked closely with legal teams to help them plan and manage delivery of their services in a more efficient way in terms of resources, costs and timescales.

To find out more about how LAW Absolute can assist you, or your team, through flexible working, please contact us or visit

Please note our advertisements use PQE/salary levels purely as a guide. However we are happy to consider applications from all candidates who are able to demonstrate the skills necessary to fulfil the role.

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If you have not heard from us within a 48 hour timeframe your application has not been successful and your details have not been retained. LAW Absolute acts as an employment business for temporary recruitment and as an employment agency for fixed term contract and permanent recruitment.