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| Vivo Energy |
Head of Legal & Company Secretary Job Post
Location: Jobs in Uganda 2025 - 2026
Work Hours: Full-time, 08 hours per day
Salary:
UGX
No. of vacancies: 01
Deadline: May 21 2025
Hiring Organization: Vivo Energy
Job Details:
Job Purpose:
To proactively manage legal risk, ensure full compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and support strategic initiatives across the business. The role serves as a trusted legal advisor, corporate governance steward, and strategic business partner, contributing to value protection, ethical leadership, and institutional integrity across Vivo Energy Uganda’s operations.
Dimensions:
- Responsible for the overall leadership of the Legal and Company Secretarial functions within Vivo Energy Uganda.
- Directly supervises all legal personnel and outsourced legal support in the operating unit.
- Primary reporting line to the OU Managing Director, with dotted-line relationships to Central Legal.
- Maintains regular engagement with the EVP on strategic legal and governance matters.
- Responsible for the planning and management of Legal Department Capex and Opex budgets.
Key Responsibilities
Legal Advisory Services
- Provide timely, practical, and business-focused legal advice to leadership and business units across all areas of operation.
- Ensure compliance with statutory, regulatory, and contractual obligations, particularly in oil & gas, HSE, environmental law, and corporate law.
- Interpret laws, regulations, and contractual obligations to ensure the company’s activities are legally compliant and commercially sound.
- Conduct legal risk assessments and support enterprise-wide initiatives such as acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, and other strategic transactions.
- Oversee legal research and the delivery of well-founded legal opinions across a range of corporate, commercial, and operational matters.
- Engage constructively with regulatory authorities and government agencies to safeguard the company’s legal position.
Company Secretarial & Governance Duties
- Organize and attend Board, Committee, and Shareholder meetings, including AGMs, ensuring proper governance protocols are followed.
- Maintain statutory records and company registers in accordance with the Companies Act and internal policies.
- Prepare and file all statutory returns and legal disclosures, including annual returns, financial statements, and director changes.
- Draft and manage Powers of Attorney and other corporate legal instruments.
- Advise the Board on corporate governance, fiduciary duties, and evolving governance standards.
- Deliver governance training for new and existing directors.
- Support corporate transactions from a governance and compliance perspective.
Contract Management
- Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of commercial contracts and addenda in line with the VE’s operational objectives, negotiated terms, and applicable legal frameworks.
- Provide legal support during contract negotiations, safeguarding the company’s interests and ensuring roles, obligations, and liabilities are clearly defined and enforceable.
- Approve contracts for execution, confirming that legal risks have been assessed, mitigation measures are in place, and all contractual terms comply with internal policies and legal standards.
- Maintain a centralized, up-to-date contract register and ensure effective contract lifecycle management.
- Review and advise on tender and procurement documents, identifying potential legal exposures and recommending amendments to ensure fairness, compliance, and risk mitigation.
- Evaluate securities and credit instruments provided by counterparties, such as bank guarantees or performance bonds, to safeguard the company’s interests.
Dispute Resolution and Case Management
- Receive, review, and respond to all legal notices, including court summons, pleadings, and demand letters served on the company.
- Instruct, brief, and oversee external legal counsel, ensuring alignment with the company’s legal strategy and commercial interests.
- Manage the litigation process end-to-end, including preservation of evidence, maintenance of case files, coordination with internal teams, and identification and preparation of witnesses.
- Prepare and submit semi-annual litigation reports to the Group Legal Advisor and provide status updates highlighting key risks or developments.
- Coordinate and participate in legal strategy meetings, working collaboratively with external counsel to resolve disputes efficiently and in the company’s best interest.
External Counsel Management
- Select, engage, and manage external counsel for specialized legal matters, ensuring efficient service delivery and cost-effectiveness.
- Review and approve legal fee structures and billing arrangements to align with budgetary controls.
- Monitor performance of external counsel to ensure high-quality, timely, and commercially sound advice.
- Maintain a panel of pre-approved law firms, updated in line with business needs and governance protocols.
Legal Management of Property and Assets
- Oversee the regularization of property ownership, including acquisition of titles, registration of transfers, and resolution of ownership discrepancies.
- Support the lease acquisition process by drafting or reviewing letters of offer and related preliminary documents.
- Instruct and liaise with external legal counsel on the preparation of agreements, leases, charges, discharges, and other property-related instruments.
- Conduct legal due diligence by initiating and reviewing official property searches before acquisition or leasing.
- Review and verify conveyancing documents prepared by third-party lawyers to ensure protection of the company’s legal and commercial interests.
- Monitor and coordinate payment of statutory property obligations, including land rates and related levies.
- Safeguard the company’s financial interests by ensuring proper registration of mortgages, charges, and other securities particularly in cases involving advance payments (e.g., prepaid rent).
- Advise the company on legal processes and documentation required for the disposal or divestment of property assets.
- Lead periodic asset-to-title verification exercises to ensure consistency between physical assets and registered ownership records.
Employment and Labour Law Advisory
- Provide expert legal advice on employment matters, including employment contracts, disciplinary actions, terminations, and the development of workplace policies.
- Advise management on employee relations and disciplinary procedures, ensuring fairness, legal compliance, and consistency with internal protocols and statutory requirements.
- Support the Human Resources function by ensuring compliance with all applicable labor and employment legislation, including the Employment Act, Work Injury Benefits Act, Retirement Benefits Act, and related regulatory frameworks.
- Interpret and guide the implementation of the company’s HR Manual and policies, ensuring they are legally sound, up-to-date, and aligned with best practices in employee relations and workplace governance.
Secretarial Services to the Pensions Board
- Coordinate statutory meetings of the Pensions Board, including scheduling, preparation of agendas and board packs, and tracking of follow-up actions to ensure timely and effective governance.
- Record, finalize, and circulate accurate minutes of Board proceedings, maintaining comprehensive documentation in compliance with regulatory and fiduciary standards.
- Provide legal guidance on the interpretation and application of the Trust Deed, the Retirement Benefits Act, and other applicable pension-related legislation.
- Support the periodic review and amendment of the Trust Deed, ensuring alignment with evolving legal and regulatory requirements.
- Draft, review, and negotiate contracts with pension scheme service providers, ensuring legal sufficiency, clarity of obligations, and protection of the scheme’s assets and interests.
Legal Training & Compliance Awareness
- Design and deliver tailored legal and compliance training programs to enhance awareness of legal obligations and ethical standards across all functions.
- Lead periodic training sessions on Anti-Bribery and Corruption (ABC), Business Principles, Code of Conduct, and other key compliance areas.
- Provide timely legal updates and briefings to staff on changes in laws, regulations, and internal policies relevant to company operations.
- Support employee onboarding by conducting legal induction sessions, ensuring new staff understand their legal responsibilities and the company’s compliance expectations from the outset.
People leadership
- Set and align individual performance goals within the Legal team to support broader business objectives.
- Drive continuous performance management through regular feedback, coaching, and performance reviews.
- Ensure team members receive the necessary training, mentorship, and development opportunities to meet current and future role demands.
- Monitor and manage team leave schedules to ensure adequate coverage, business continuity, and compliance with company policies.
- Build a high-performing, collaborative team culture that emphasizes accountability, knowledge sharing, and mutual support.
Requirements
- Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Law (LL.B) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice.
- Master’s degree in a relevant legal field (e.g., Commercial Law, Energy Law, Corporate Law, or International Business Law) is an added advantage.
- Enrolled Advocate of the High Court of Uganda with a valid practicing certificate is an added advantage.
- Extensive post-qualification legal experience (typically 10–15+ years), including significant exposure to corporate, commercial, and contract law in a multinational industry.
- Proven experience in a senior legal leadership role with demonstrated responsibility for legal strategy, risk management, and governance.
- Deep understanding of contract law, corporate law, regulatory compliance, litigation, and corporate governance principles, especially in the context of oil & gas, energy, or extractive sectors.
- Practical experience with joint ventures, distribution agreements, supply contracts, and cross-border transactions.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and strategic thinking skills, with the ability to anticipate legal risks and develop pragmatic solutions.
- Excellent communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to provide clear, business-oriented legal advice to senior executives and non-legal stakeholders.
- Demonstrated leadership and team management capability, with a proven ability to build, develop, and motivate a high-performing legal team.
- High ethical standards, sound judgment, and a strong commitment to integrity, confidentiality, and regulatory compliance.
Application procedure
Interested and qualified? click here
Date Posted: 2025-05-15
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