Senior Legal Counsel – Legal Operations

Reporting to the Head of CLO Office and Legal Operations in the Global Corporate Legal function, you will play a vital role in leading Legal Operations matters within the Global Legal Team. You will be impactful in driving efficiency, optimising processes, and ensuring the seamless functioning of Legal Operations at CHANEL. You are able to use your strategic mindset, exceptional organisational skills, and the ability to collaborate effectively in cross-functional, global teams. Through exploring innovative solutions and process efficiencies you will support the department's strong ambition to continuously enhance legal service delivery for internal clients in an AI augmented environment.

In this role, you will be at the heart of CHANEL's legal transformation journey – driving high-impact projects, shaping the future legal operating model impacted by AI, and delivering insights that elevate how our Legal team operates worldwide. This is a unique opportunity for a senior legal professional who thrives at the intersection of law, strategy, data and operational excellence, and who is ready to take ownership of high-impact legal operations initiatives.

Key Responsibilities:

Portfolio & Project Management

• Lead and coordinate a portfolio of strategic legal operations projects, working closely with the Legal Leadership Team (LLT) and their teams to shape and deploy a future legal operating model, including the integration of AI.
• Scope spans external counsel management, legal support functions, and in-house teams.
• Act as the central point of contact for tracking, prioritising, and orchestrating all cross-functional projects and department-wide initiatives.
• Identify process improvements and implement best practices with KPI-backed outcomes to enhance legal service delivery.
• Leverage AI, technology, and automation to streamline workflows and reduce turnaround times.

Legal Department Strategy

• Actively contribute to defining and executing the Legal Function and Legal Operations strategy in alignment with the broader Chanel Business Strategy.
• Partner closely with the Head of Legal Operations to co-design and independently drive the rollout of transformation initiatives over a multi-year horizon.
• Collaborate with the LLT, IT partners, métiers teams, and cross-functional stakeholders to drive change management and stakeholder engagement.

Strategic Presentations & Executive Communication

• Prepare and deliver high-quality strategic presentations for top management.
• Draft governance documents, reports, speeches, and key communications on behalf of the Legal Operations team and the Global Chief Legal Officer.
• Translate complex operational data and project outcomes into clear, compelling narratives for senior stakeholders.

Legal Technology & Metrics

• Work with the Legal Operations Team and Legal IT to oversee the legal technology ecosystem, including the implementation, review, and management of legal tech tools globally.
• Monitor operational efficiency indicators and proactively identify areas for improvement.
• Track, analyse, and report on key performance metrics using dashboards and regular updates.

Requirements:

• Qualified lawyer with 8 to 10 years of post-qualification experience.
• Substantial in-house experience within a global or multinational company.
• A proven track record in legal operations, legal project management, or legal transformation.
• Strong understanding of agentic AI, responsible AI usage, and applying AI to legal operations use cases.
• Hands-on interest in AI, legal technology, and implementing relevant tools.
• Experience navigating complex, matrixed global legal teams.
• Excellent written and spoken English; other languages are a plus.
• Data analytics experience (building dashboards and turning metrics into insights) is a plus.
• Executive-level communication, storytelling, and stakeholder management skills.
• Change management skills characterized by empathy and pragmatism.