Head of Legal and Assurance

City of London E1 8QS and we are a hybrid working organisation

This role is offered on a hybrid contract giving you the opportunity to also work from home three days a week.

Purpose of job:

The Head of Legal & Assurance will provide expert advice, and hold overall responsibility on all legal, risk, assurance, fraud, safeguarding and compliance matters. The postholder will lead the Legal & Assurance team and work closely with the Executive Leadership and the Board of Comic Relief.

The postholder will report to the Executive Director of Operations and work closely with them and all Directors and function leads across the organisation to ensure that Comic Relief complies with laws and regulations, effectively manages legal and contractual risks and operates in line with the agreed risk appetite set by the Board. Policies and processes will be set to ensure compliance whilst allowing the organisation to flex and adapt to achieve its strategy in a financially sustainable manner.

Key responsibilities:

Legal Counsel

• Provide accurate, relevant, and timely end-to-end legal advice for the organisation, including managing resource (internal & external) to ensure effective, timely delivery of legal services.


• Provide legal input into organisational strategy and ensuring legally effective implementation of agreed strategy.


• Lead on identifying, advising on and mitigating legal risks arising from the charity’s operations to protect the charity’s reputation and assets, in particular around contracts, intellectual property, data protection, marketing and advertising, charity, fundraising and company laws.


• Implement and apply appropriate policies and processes for legal and contractual matters across the organisation to ensure our practices and use of legal resource are risk-based, efficient and effective.


• Employ legal protocols, templates, guidance, training and toolkits for staff as necessary to ensure our practices comply with the law and are efficient and effective.


• Provide legal support to management, the Legal & Assurance team and staff to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations.


• Ensure the organisation maintains effective record keeping for legal matters including for contract management and data protection compliance.


• Essential stakeholder in organisation’s Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) initiative, oversight and lead on achieving Comic Relief’s net zero target.

Information governance & Compliance

• Oversight and leadership of organisational information governance and data protection, including serving as Data Protection Officer.


• Ensure that our practices and processes relating to compliance with applicable laws, regulations and relevant industry codes are fit for purpose. This includes information governance and data protection; and fundraising requirements.


• Support and, where appropriate, supervise the Risk & Compliance Lead with day-to-day responsibility for compliance in respect of these areas.

Risk and Assurance

• Oversight and management of the internal audit function and internal audit providers.


• Oversight of all compliance, fraud related, safeguarding and regulatory investigations.


• Ensure that our practices and processes around fraud and safeguarding prevention, detection and response are up to date,robust and in line with the organisational risk appetite and funding practice.


• Support the organisation and management to ensure they have a full picture of Comic Relief’s risks and that there are appropriate plans in place to mitigate and manage these risks in such a way as to safely facilitate the objectives of the charity.


• Ensure that safeguarding is at the heart of all our activities, that the Safeguarding Framework is adhered to and good practice embodied by all our staff and partners.


• Contribute at Board, Committees and other meetings, and liaise with regulators, government and other third parties as required.


• Ensure that our practices and processes that underpin compliance with all relevant regulations including data protection laws and fundraising laws are fit-for-purpose.

People management

• Create a strong team with the confidence to embrace change and foster a culture of partnership, consistent delivery and operational excellence.


• Proactively undertake business planning, prioritise activities and ensure clear and realistic objectives based on capacity, expertise and aspirations are set across the Legal & Assurance team.


• Provide balanced, constructive feedback, undertake effective performance management to embed accountability and proactively support the professional development and growth of staff within Legal & Assurance.


• Maintain regular two-way communication and dialogue with direct reports, ensuring information is cascaded and escalated as needed.


• Model an enabling, inclusive and empowering leadership style that builds a values-based culture throughout the charity.

Operational Leadership

• As part of the Operations Leadership Team, provide Comic Relief with visible and responsive operational leadership, ensuring teams are collaborating and co-operating with each other


• Ensure there is quality management information for your area that enables knowledge sharing and proactive decision making.


• ·Build a strong, effective and well-led enabling department, with the necessary capability, expertise, systems and processes to deliver the organisation’s strategic and annual plans.

Person specification

Essential criteria

• Solid experience of high-level relationship development with institutional donors and/or global foundation  


• Proven experience of negotiating and managing £multimillion, multi-faceted funding partnerships in the voluntary sector 


• A knowledge of the NGO funding landscape 


• Exceptional communication, networking, influencing and persuading skills.  


• Building and sustaining effective working relationships both internally and externally 

Desirable criteria 

• Experience of securing partnerships with institutions and/or large global foundations 


• Experience of developing funding propositions with impact and funding teams 


• Knowledge of the impact of poverty on vulnerable people in the UK and around the world  

Perks and benefits:

• Flexible working hours


• Work from home option


• Wellness programs


• Employee Assistance Programme


• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave


• Paid emergency leave


• Sabbatical Opportunities


• Professional development


• Mentoring/coaching


• Paid volunteer days


• Payroll giving


• Team social events


• Extracurricular clubs


• Cycle to work scheme


• Free fruit

To apply please visit our website via the link and apply online.

Closing: 11:59pm, 22nd Jul 2024 BST

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of colour are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Comic Relief we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Why work at Comic Relief

There are lots of good reasons to join us at Comic Relief. You can read more about our employee benefits, such as our commitment to flexible and hybrid working. We ask staff to come to the office twice a week, normally on agreed team days, so that we can do all those things that are difficult to do online. Our office is based in Whitechapel, London.

There are lots of opportunities to develop your skills and experience at Comic Relief, including opportunities to become a Mental Health First Aider or to participate in our Employee Network Groups that focus on making Comic Relief a more inclusive place to work.

Disability Confident Employer

As part of the Disability Confident scheme, we take positive action by providing first-round interviews to candidates who have a registered disability, provided they meet the minimum criteria for the role, as demonstrated on their CV and application questions.