The Chief Legal Officer (CLO) is responsible for overseeing and managing all legal matters within the company. This role includes handling internal legal processes, coordinating outsourced legal tasks, and providing strategic legal guidance. As a key supporting function, the CLO ensures that Swiss Rockets AG and its subsidiaries operate in compliance with applicable laws while enabling business transactions to be executed in a legally effective and efficient manner.
A key focus of the CLO’s role is on supporting financing rounds, transactions, and corporate reorganizations. The CLO ensures these processes are executed in a legally effective and efficient manner, providing expert advice and guidance to safeguard the company’s interests. Additionally, the CLO collaborates closely with stakeholders to facilitate smooth legal operations and mitigate potential risks.
Responsibilities
- Corporate Legal Strategy: Developing and contributing to the overall business strategy from a legal perspective, ensuring alignment with the company’s objectives and effective risk management.
- Legal Department Leadership: Building and leading the in-house legal team, including legal counsels, paralegals and students, while implementing processes to ensure the department operates with optimal resources, efficient, and aligned with business priorities.
- Compliance and Risk Management: Providing guidance on statutory laws, industry regulations and best practice standards, monitoring legal developments, and devising strategies to mitigate risks.
- Corporate Governance: Collaborating with the CEO’s Office and the Secretary of the Board of Directors to uphold high standards of corporate governance.
- Legal Advice: Providing legal advice on critical matters, including corporate law, financing, M&A, reorganizations, research and development, intellectual property law, employment law, and other key areas affecting Swiss Rockets AG and its subsidiaries.
- Transactions and Litigation: Leading and overseeing major legal matters, including litigation, business transactions, and negotiations. Collaborating with internal teams and managing external counsel.
Qualifications
- Advanced degree in law; bar admission in Switzerland
- 5+ years of relevant legal experience, preferably within the legal department of a biotech/pharmaceutical company or a corporate law firm
- Knowledge and experience in a variety of legal fields including corporate law, general contract law, intellectual property law, life sciences regulatory law etc. Focus on Swiss law with basic knowledge of EU legislation, knowledge of soft law and best practice standards in the pharmaceutical sector
- Understanding of the drug research and development process and the regulatory, reimbursement and commercial environments specific to the biotech and pharmaceutical sector
- Excellent knowledge of Swiss law (basic understanding of EU law desired); specialized knowledge in the life sciences sector is a plus
- Attention to detail
- Excellent negotiation and diplomacy skills
- Efficient time management with multi-tasking ability
- Well-developed problem-solving skills
- Outstanding communication skills, both verbal and written high energy, enthusiastic, goal driven