Senior Legal Counsel, Construction

Location: Cheshire (Hybrid – 2 or 3 days per week in the office)

Salary: Competitive

Contract: Interim, 12 months+ (with a genuine possibility of being made permanent)

We are partnering with one of the UK's leading developers of residential-for-rent and high-rise accommodation to recruit a Senior Legal Counsel into their established in-house team. This is initially an interim appointment of 12 months or more, but for the right person there is a real possibility of it being made permanent. It is a genuinely hands-on, business-critical role supporting the delivery of a high-profile development pipeline across the country.

Working closely with the General Counsel and alongside commercial, technical, and operational colleagues, you will take ownership of construction documentation across the full lifecycle of projects. This is the kind of role where you are in the room, involved in the meetings, the design intent, and the getting-it-done, rather than sitting on the sidelines. For a construction lawyer who wants to feel genuinely invaluable to what a business is building, this is a rare one.

Key Responsibilities:

• Draft, negotiate, and manage building contracts (predominantly JCT Design & Build), professional appointments, collateral warranties, bonds, and third-party rights.
• Lead negotiations with contractors, subcontractors, and funders, ensuring documentation aligns with development and funding agreements.
• Advise on forward funding arrangements on larger, more complex, high-value schemes.
• Act as a trusted advisor across the business, monitoring legal and regulatory change and supporting the General Counsel on resourcing and scheme management.

The client is seeking a qualified solicitor with strong construction and development expertise and the confidence to operate at senior stakeholder level. This is a role for an experienced hand, ideally 5+ years' PQE, who is comfortable both with the bread-and-butter build contract work and with the more complex forward-funding and high-value developments. A genuine construction grounding and the credibility to advise senior stakeholders are what matter most.

The team itself is a real selling point: a friendly, collaborative bunch with a sensible, grown-up approach to working hours. The biggest draw, though, is the work. Major, high-value developments that genuinely shape the built environment.

Please contact Adam Zdravkovic in the In-House team at Think Legal Recruitment for more details and a confidential discussion, and to hear more about this supportive and genuinely interesting legal team.