Senior Legal Counsel | Dubai, UAE

Job Purpose: The Senior Legal Counsel will support our growing Health businesses in the Middle East & Africa (MEA) Region and beyond. As SLC, you will provide legal guidance, advice, and recommendations for action to the Senior management and different functions within the company regarding legal risks, mainly regarding local and international regulations in the healthcare industry in MEA. Working closely with the Head of the function and the Global Head of Legal, you will be responsible for providing commercially based, solution-driven legal advice and assistance to Nextcare business and management teams across the Region and its divisions, as well as ensuring proper protection of the company's interests at all times.

What you do:

• Advisory Role / Knowledge Sharing:
• Act as the subject matter expert on insurance supervisory, licensing, health insurance laws, and outsourcing in MEA and provide ongoing expert advice and guidance to the Global Head of Legal for International Health, senior management, and Legal team;
• Participate in relevant Committees;
• Provide advice on legal rules and principles, regulatory developments, regulator policy statements, and legal trends and developments in MEA;
• Proactively provide legal input on relevant business issues;
• Maintain awareness and provide input on regulatory/compliance developments, risks, and potential impacts on business;
• Provide training to the business on legal issues;
• Implement Allianz Group standards and Allianz Partners standards as required;
• Act as Lead legal advisor for new market entries, global new business projects, and regulatory projects in MEA;
• Represent Legal at cross-company projects;
• Manage applications for new and renewals of licenses in MEA region;
• Develop and maintain a framework and standards to ensure effective legal support on MEA governance;
• Manage relationships with international external counsel on complex legal briefs and take responsibility for the external legal budget;
• Ensure quality management of contract templates for projects in MEA (NDAs, MOUs, JV, M&A, employment, service contracts, and other agreements with external parties);
• Review policy documents in line with local regulations in MEA (e.g., document retention, legal documents storage, antitrust, dawn raids);
• Provide health product development advice (legal and regulatory) regulations in MEA;
• Conduct research and provide advice on recently enacted laws and regulations and sub-regulatory guidance, insurance supervisory, licensing, health insurance laws, outsourcing, and data protection rules in the jurisdictions in which Allianz Partners have presence or operate in MEA;
• In liaison with the General Counsel, represent the department as required and lead strategic negotiations with international partners and companies in MEA to ensure optimum legal structure and to negotiate and finalize agreements while ensuring Allianz/Nextcare is contractually protected in its arrangements;
• Cooperate with the members of the legal department;
• Proactively create and maintain awareness among employees for compliance with relevant laws and regulations;
• Coordinate litigation with external counsels as needed.

What you bring:

• Qualified Lawyer with a minimum of 6 years PQE.
• Experience in Insurance/TPA is essential. Preferable mix of professional experience as in-house counsel of strong regional legal experience in a broad spectrum of areas including corporate law, intellectual property, commercial, labor law, insurance, and legal counsel in a top-tier law firm with international clients or other relevant private or public practice.
• Bilingual communication skills (Arabic + English); excellent English written is required. French is a plus.
• Legally permitted to work in the country of operations.
• Fluency in MS Office (Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint) and general internet navigation and research skills.
• Strong legal experience and solid knowledge in general law issues, including corporate, commercial, litigation, and regulatory framework.
• Experience in managing external legal counsels.
• Hardworking, proactive, solution-oriented, and innovative.
• Confidence to independently respond to legal queries and represent the organization in public offices.
• Ability to deliver high-quality work under tight deadlines.
• Ability to adapt to change, meet the changing demands of the work environment, and manage delays or other unexpected demands.
• Ability to work on own initiative or as part of departmental and cross-departmental teams.
• Strong ability to display empathy, patience, and the ability to cultivate strong relationships with various teams.
• Strong communication (verbal & written) and interpersonal and negotiation skills.
• Exposure to cross-border regulatory environment.

Key Benefits / What we offer: Our employees play an integral part in our success as a business. We appreciate that each of our employees is unique and has unique needs and ambitions, and we enjoy being a part of their journey. We are there to empower and encourage you with your personal and professional development, ensuring that you take control by offering a large variety of courses and targeted development programs. All that in a global environment where international mobility and career progression are encouraged. Caring for your health and wellbeing is a key priority for us. This is why we build Work Well programs to provide you with peace of mind and give the flexibility in planning and arranging for a better work-life balance.