Senior Legal Counsel
About the role:
As our Senior Legal Counsel, you’ll be a trusted advisor across the co-operative, providing pragmatic, commercially focused legal advice that enables confident decision-making and strong outcomes. Reporting to the General Counsel & Company Secretary, you’ll work closely with leaders and teams, supporting a broad commercial portfolio while helping embed robust governance, privacy, and risk practices into how we operate.
You’ll lead and coach our Assistant Legal Counsel, and provide expert legal support across property, procurement, commercial contracts, privacy, and dispute management.
Key accountabilities
• Provide high-quality, practical legal advice across the co-operative, supporting commercial property, regulatory, and operational activities
• Partner with the General Counsel & Company Secretary to deliver legal and governance strategies aligned to organisational objectives
• Lead the co-operative’s privacy programme as designated Privacy Officer, championing data protection and compliance
• Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of commercial agreements, including contracts, leases, joint venture documentation, licences, and regulator disclosures
• Oversee legal support for property transactions, including acquisitions, disposals, and lease renewals
• Manage legal disputes and litigation, engaging and directing external counsel where required
About you:
You’ll be one to balance technical expertise with strong judgement, influence, and a practical mindset. You enjoy building trusted relationships, leading others, and shaping how legal supports success across our cooperative. Ideally, you’ll also bring:
- Bachelor of Laws (LLB), admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand, with a current practising certificate
- 5+ years’ experience in commercial legal roles, ideally with in-house experience
- Strong knowledge of commercial, corporate, and regulatory law, including contracts, privacy, property, consumer, employment, and competition law
- Proven ability to anticipate legal risk and provide clear, commercially sound advice
- Confidence influencing senior stakeholders across a large, complex organisation
Don't Meet Every Requirement?
We encourage you to apply anyway. We are looking for individuals with diverse experiences and are keen to hear from those who believe they have the drive and potential to succeed in this role.
How to Apply
Ready to take on the challenge? Click “apply” now! Applications will close Sunday 8 February 2026 and will only be accepted via our careers site.
If you have any questions about the role, or experience any issues submitting your application, please email careers@foodstuffs-si.co.nz
Join us in feeding the South Island.
About Us
We’re a team of 14,000 who make sure South Islanders have access to the groceries and essentials they need. Proudly 100% Kiwi-owned and operated, our co-operative has more than 180 PAK’nSAVE, New World, Four Square, and On the Spot stores feeding the South Island.
We value being at the heart of our communities, like we’ve always been, to make the South Island a better place – for today and for many generations to come. From sunny Golden Bay all the way to Stewart Island, there’s a Foodstuffs store serving you and your whānau.
Our success is down to our people who bring their skills, experience, passion, and expertise to make Foodies an amazing and rewarding place to work. Our co-op has a wide variety of roles to offer, and endless opportunities for development.
Our Values
At Foodies, together we drive success to be our best and care for our whānau. We recognise that it takes a collective effort to achieve success, and we thrive on fostering a culture of collaboration to drive innovation and embracing challenges as a united team. We are committed to supporting our people, and to positively impact the lives of South Islanders every day.