General Counsel — Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
CHF 60'500 - 91'500
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance · Le Grand-Saconnex (GE)
- Location
- Le Grand-Saconnex
- Contract
- full-time
- Posted
- 9 days ago
SalaryCHF 60'500 - 91'500
Role overview
Position title: General Counsel Contract type / duration: 5 years defined duration Location: Geneva Department: Legal Team: Legal Reports To: CEO N° of positions supervised (if applicable): 9 Career Step: 7 1.
The General Counsel leads Gavi's Legal function and reports directly to the CEO.
In this role, the General Counsel provides independent legal advice and strategic advice, delivers legal support to all Gavi Secretariat teams, ensures administrative legal support is provided to IFFIm, an independent legal entity constituted under English law, and is a trusted strategic advisor to the CEO and to Gavi's Board.
- Position title: General Counsel Contract type / duration: 5 years defined duration Location: Geneva Department: Legal Team: Legal Reports To: CEO N° of positions supervised (if applicable): 9 Career Step: 7 1.
- The General Counsel leads Gavi's Legal function and reports directly to the CEO.
- Key Responsibilities
Main responsibilities
- Key Responsibilities
Application process
- This encompasses the application and promotion of effective legal risk management, ensuring Gavi's rights, assets and reputation are adequately protected — while maintaining and encouraging a solution-oriented and collaborative, growth mindset. 2.
- Advise the CEO, Executive Leadership Team, Compliance Group and the Board as principal legal counsel, including on Gavi's operating model and in close coordination with the Governance team — notably on interpretation of bylaws, board composition, corporate policies, and the application of Board decisions — communicating complex legal positions to non-lawyer decision-makers with clarity and simplicity.
- Supervise the drafting, review, and negotiation of legal agreements entered into by Gavi, including contracts with donors, partners, manufacturers, suppliers, and employees.
- Provide strategic advice on legal risks arising from Gavi's operations, assessing the legal implications of business decisions and proposing suitable mitigation strategies that leadership can act on.
- Enable regulatory compliance across Swiss, UK, and US regulatory bodies — including data protection, sanctions, finance, and donor compliance as applicable — and support Gavi's ethics and compliance programme by promoting a culture of integrity.
- Lead legal claims and disputes management whether initiated by or against Gavi — arranging representation before tribunals and other bodies, coordinating and cost-effectively managing outside counsel, and advising on settlement or litigation strategy, including employment matters.
- Manage and develop the Legal Team as a high-performing function — defining and monitoring objectives, managing budgetary resources, and fostering a motivating environment aligned to Gavi's values. 3.
- Your Experience and Skills Years of experience
Additional details
- About the Role The General Counsel leads Gavi's Legal function and reports directly to the CEO.
- Broad General Counsel-level experience across governance, transactions, human resources, contracting, litigation, ethics, finance, and investigations/audit; a successful track record in negotiation and influencing within complex environments; experience managing larger teams and delivering complex legal services; experience managing staff from diverse backgrounds. Education and qualifications
- Essential: qualified lawyer, licensed to practise in at least one jurisdiction; advanced university degree in law. Technical and functional skills
- Public international law and institutional legal practice – Advises the Board and Leadership Team on public international law questions arising from an international institution’s operations, including how that body of law shapes its rights, obligations, privileges and immunities, and relationships with governments and partner organisations; brings knowledge of the legal policies and practices of non-governmental and private sector, applying this understanding to governance, partnerships, transactions, and regulatory engagement in a complex international setting. Privileges and immunities
- Interprets and advises authoritatively on bylaws, board composition, corporate policies, and the application of board decisions in a multi-constituency structure, including advising a board on its own composition. Multi-jurisdictional regulatory compliance
- Directs compliance across data protection, sanctions, finance, and donor obligations spanning Swiss, UK, and US regimes concurrently, embedding compliance into how the organisation operates. Complex contracting and transactions
- Negotiates and structures agreements with donors, partners, manufacturers, suppliers, and employees, allocating and mitigating legal risk and securing terms that protect the organisation's rights, assets and reputation. Litigation and dispute resolution strategy
- Assessed on: strategic reasoning on a settle-or-fight decision.
- Knowledge management and legal-technology adoption to streamline a legal function, including use of AI, and more generally, expert management of legal operations.
- Ability to communicate in spoken and written French would be an asset. 4. How You Work (Behaviours and Mindsets)
Notes and original content
- Broad General Counsel-level experience across governance, transactions, human resources, contracting, litigation, ethics, finance, and investigations/audit; a successful track record in negotiation and influencing within complex environments; experience managing larger teams and delivering complex legal services; experience managing staff from diverse backgrounds.
- Education and qualifications
- Essential: qualified lawyer, licensed to practise in at least one jurisdiction; advanced university degree in law.
- Technical and functional skills
- Public international law and institutional legal practice – Advises the Board and Leadership Team on public international law questions arising from an international institution’s operations, including how that body of law shapes its rights, obligations, privileges and immunities, and relationships with governments and partner organisations; brings knowledge of the legal policies and practices of non-governmental and private sector, applying this understanding to governance, partnerships, transactions, and regulatory engagement in a complex international setting.
- Privileges and immunities
- Interprets and advises authoritatively on bylaws, board composition, corporate policies, and the application of board decisions in a multi-constituency structure, including advising a board on its own composition.
- Multi-jurisdictional regulatory compliance
- Directs compliance across data protection, sanctions, finance, and donor obligations spanning Swiss, UK, and US regimes concurrently, embedding compliance into how the organisation operates.
- Complex contracting and transactions
