Senior Legal Counsel - Commercial Contracting
Boston Consulting Group
Legal
Johannesburg, South Africa
Who We Are
Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we help clients with total transformation-inspiring complex change, enabling organizations to grow, building competitive advantage, and driving bottom-line impact.
To succeed, organizations must blend digital and human capabilities. Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives to spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting along with technology and design, corporate and digital ventures—and business purpose. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, generating results that allow our clients to thrive.
What You'll Do
As Senior Legal Counsel – Commercial Contracting, you will serve as a strategic legal partner to the business in a global, technology-enabled environment. You will lead complex commercial negotiations, shape contracting standards, and strengthen scalable legal solutions that enable growth while protecting the firm.
You will combine deep commercial contracting expertise with strong discernment, operational awareness, and thoughtful use of AI and digital tools. Your work will directly influence how BCG manages risk, accelerates deal cycles, and modernizes legal delivery.
Key responsibilities include:
- Lead complex commercial contracting
- Draft, review, negotiate and advise on a broad range of commercial agreements, including client services agreements, vendor contracts, technology and SaaS arrangements, licensing, NDAs, subcontractor agreements and strategic partnerships.
- Provide clear, pragmatic and commercially aligned advice that balances business objectives with legal integrity.
- Identify legal and commercial risk early, articulate implications clearly and recommend practical mitigation strategies.
Champion contracting standards and scalable solutions
- Develop, maintain and evolve global contracting playbooks, templates and negotiation guidance.
- Drive consistency and efficiency across contracting processes.
- Embed appropriate legal guardrails into commercial workflows and standards.
- Move beyond one-off advice to system-level improvements that reduce repeat risk.
Use AI and technology responsibly to enhance legal delivery
- Leverage AI tools to accelerate research, assess risks, contract review, drafting and synthesis.
- Structure inputs thoughtfully and critically assess outputs to ensure accuracy, defensibility and tone.
- Understand and manage risks associated with AI use, including confidentiality, bias and reliability.
- Identify opportunities to scale legal support through automation, knowledge tools and repeatable workflows.
Operate as a strategic cross-functional partner
- Partner closely with Finance, Procurement, Risk, Compliance, Technology and business leadership.
- Translate complex legal concepts into practical guidance that enables confident decision-making.
- Anticipate second-order operational and reputational impacts of commercial decisions.
- Contribute to broader governance discussions, including responsible AI use and regulatory developments.
Contribute to team capability and innovation
- Support knowledge creation, sharing, training and development within the Legal team.
- Help modernize how Legal delivers value through expertise, process improvement and technology adoption.
- Foster a culture of sound judgment, responsiveness and continuous improvement.
What Success Looks Like
- Commercial contracts negotiated efficiently with clear risk positioning and strong commercial alignment.
- Legal advice that is precise, practical and trusted by senior stakeholders.
- Reduced cycle times and improved quality through scalable templates and AI-enabled workflows.
- Strong cross-functional relationships built on credibility and sound judgment.
- Demonstrable impact on risk mitigation and operational clarity across the business.
- Responsible and effective integration of AI tools into day-to-day legal delivery.
What You'll Bring
- Qualified lawyer with typically 7+ years of post-qualification experience in commercial contracting
- Deep experience negotiating complex, cross-border commercial agreements in a global or multinational environment
- Commercially minded, pragmatic and comfortable balancing risk with business objectives
- Experience operating in multinational or matrixed environments
- Confident user of AI and legal technology tools, with understanding of limitations and risks
- Excellent drafting, analytical, and negotiation skills
- Clear, structured communicator who can influence senior partners and business leaders
- High integrity, discretion, and sound professional judgment
- Experience in professional services, technology, or complex corporate environments preferred
Who You'll Work With
You will join BCG’s global Legal function and collaborate closely with colleagues across regions and specialties. You will partner with senior business leaders, client teams, Finance, Procurement, Risk, Compliance, and Technology teams to enable commercial activity while protecting the firm.
Our Legal team operates as a trusted advisor to the business. We work collaboratively, share knowledge across borders, and continuously strengthen how we deliver value in a fast-moving environment.
Boston Consulting Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity / expression, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under national, provincial, or local law, where applicable, and those with criminal histories will be considered in a manner consistent with applicable state and local laws.
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