Lead Counsel, UK

Airbnb was born in 2007 when two hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home and has since grown to over 5 million hosts who have welcomed over 2 billion guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe. Every day hosts offer unique stays and experiences that make it possible for guests to connect with communities in a more authentic way.

The Community You Will Join:

Airbnbs Legal Department is a global team that will require working with diverse international colleagues around the world. The successful candidate will be someone who is adaptable collaborative and embodies Airbnbs Core Values. Candidates will be required to approach complex legal issues with a balance for local and global perspectives while being adaptable to cultural differences and nuances. A genuine and demonstrated interest in Airbnb and a commitment to ethics integrity and fostering a workplace that emphasizes diversity and belonging is a must.

Airbnbs legal team in EMEA embodies the companys innovative forward-thinking spirit. At the frontier of the new sharing economy Airbnb is breaking new ground in matters of policy law and government relations. Where some see obstacles we see opportunities to find creative practical solutions. We are committed to further developing a team of talented collaborative and self-motivated legal professionals who believe in Airbnbs mission.

The Difference You Will Make:

We are looking for an experienced business-focused lawyer to serve as Lead Counsel for the UK. Based in our London office and reporting to the Associate General Counsel Product EMEA you will be the trusted legal adviser to the UK business and the legal point of contact for the Northern Europe and Middle East (NEMEA) Leadership Team with a particular focus on regulatory reputation and public policy matters.

A Typical Day:

• Responsible for all legal matters related to the UK business including:
  • Working closely with the public policy and communications teams tax team other legal team members and outside counsel to devise and implement strategic positions on new and existing regulations that affect Airbnb and its users including short term rental and planning regulations tourist tax content liability digital regulation and consumer protection.
  • Trusted adviser to the UK business on a broad range of regulatory and general legal issues providing business-focussed and creative advice to address complex issues.
  • Identifying and briefing the business policy and communications teams on relevant legal and regulatory developments; collaborating closely with other EMEA country counsel both to understand the interplay between UK and EU regulatory developments and strategies and on pan-EMEA policy initiatives and regulatory issues.
  • Advising on UK B2C and B2B product launches or updates; working with other legal team members to ensure oversight over UK litigation commercial marketing corporate real estate competition data protection intellectual property tax and payments regulatory matters.
• Legal point of contact for the NEMEA Leadership Team attending weekly meetings and periodic team gatherings coordinating advice from other NEMEA country counsel and contributing to strategic planning and execution of NEMEA business priorities.
• The role will include work on commercial agreements and may involve leading pan-EMEA legal projects and supervision of junior lawyers (notably the paralegal responsible for small claims matters in the UK).
• Instruct and manage outside counsel where appropriate ensuring the delivery of cost-effective business-oriented legal advice.
• Proactively draft review and refine internal processes policies and workflows.
• Identifying consolidating and escalating material legal risk to the appropriate decision makers.
• Some domestic and international travel required including occasional travel to the United States.

Your Expertise:

• Minimum 10 years PQE (or equivalent experience) qualified in the UK.
• Essential: Significant in-house experience advising senior business and policy stakeholders on UK laws and regulation; collaborating with business and policy teams to develop strategic positions and policy and comms strategies for new and existing regulation; devising and advocating for specific regulatory positions.
• Excellent understanding of the UK legislative process.
• Experience working closely with colleagues based in multiple jurisdictions and timeframes and co-ordinating consolidating and interrogating cross jurisdictional advice and advice from outside counsel.
• Experience advising on UK consumer protection regulation eCommerce Directive and Online Safety Act.
• Fluent in English.
• Highly desired: Expertise in the platform liability regime in the UK and EU. Experience advising international digital businesses on the application of UK law and regulation. Understanding of UK short-term rental and/or planning regulation. Experience managing a team. Fluency in other European languages.

Capabilities

• Empathetic and ethical approach excellent judgment well-honed organisational and analytical skills strong oral and written communications skills.
• Intellectually curious adaptable and comfortable with ambiguity and risk. Adapts easily to shifting priorities and business needs able to produce their best work in demanding and fast-paced environments.
• Confident working on sensitive and complex issues with senior business leaders. Strong ability to inspire trust and confidence forge relationships quickly and influence decision making. Readily able to translate a deep substantive knowledge into clear and practical advice and comfortable briefing senior stakeholders.
• Able to distill and interrogate complex advice from outside counsel together with input and opinions from multiple internal stakeholders into clear and succinct recommendations.
• Proactively identifies risks and friction in working practices and finding practical solutions devising new processes and workflows where appropriate and leading process improvement and change management to evolve how the team works.
• Operates with a high degree of autonomy and minimal supervision taking ownership of complex ambiguous matters that have broad impact across the UK business.
• Owns the legal agenda for the UK business: frames and delivers analysis strategically secures buy-in across senior stakeholders and demonstrates advanced strategic thinking that weighs multiple stakeholder perspectives.
• Contributes to and leads diversity inclusion and belonging initiatives within the EMEA legal team.

Your Location

This role is based in our London office with in-office presence expected at least once per week.

Our Commitment To Inclusion & Belonging

Airbnb is committed to working with the broadest talent pool possible. We believe diverse ideas foster innovation and engagement and allow us to attract creatively-led people and to develop the best products services and solutions. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.

We strive to also provide a disability inclusive application and interview process. If you are a candidate with a disability and require reasonable accommodation in order to submit an application please contact us at: Please include your full name the role youre applying for and the accommodation necessary to assist you with the recruiting process.

Employment Type : Full Time
Experience: years
Vacancy: 1