Privacy Counsel

Reporting to the Global Head of Privacy in the Legal and Professional Advisory team, the Privacy Counsel will join our expanding Privacy Office team. You will provide expert guidance on global privacy matters, focusing on Europe, the UK, the US, and China, aligning with RWS’s global privacy programme. Your responsibilities include developing and maintaining strategic privacy and data compliance governance activities, supporting client transactions, and collaborating with global teams to ensure compliance and efficient processes. You will offer pragmatic and innovative advice in a fast-paced environment to enable customer success while managing risk.

You will support and expand RWS’s global approach to privacy and risk management, acting as a privacy subject matter expert for client-facing lines of business, including Data Services. Additionally, you will support key growth areas such as projects involving AI and sensitive data (e.g., Personal Health Information) through privacy by design, impact assessment activities, and contractual negotiations.

To succeed in this role, you must provide thoughtful and practical advice in a dynamic setting, possess strong collaboration skills with a global team, and adopt a problem-solving mindset focused on risk-based compliance and process efficiency. You will stay abreast of global developments in privacy law, regulation, technology, and best practices, including AI, cybersecurity, and safety, and keep the team updated on emerging legislative and regulatory developments related to AI, notably in the EU.

This role requires a blend of legal, regulatory, and contractual expertise in privacy and data protection, along with experience in programme development and management, drafting and negotiation skills, and a strong interest and demonstrated experience in AI-related legal matters. Hands-on operational experience, along with knowledge of privacy management tools (e.g., OneTrust) and industry standards (e.g., ISO, NIST, HiTrust), are essential.

About RWS Legal

In joining RWS’s Legal and Professional Advisory team you will play an instrumental part in supporting the world’s leading provider of technology-enabled language, content, and intellectual property services. RWS has growing revenues of over £750m through a combination of value accretive acquisitions and organic growth and a current market capitalization of £1.3bn. The Legal and Professional Advisory team, led by our General Counsel and Company Secretary, Jane Hyde, includes the Legal, Company Secretarial, Data Privacy and ESG functions which provide critical business partnering to our Divisional operations and help drive the Group’s risk management, regulatory, governance and sustainability agendas. You will be part of a diverse and international team working across our global operations which span a footprint of over 100 legal entities in 43 different countries worldwide.  
 
It’s a very exciting time to join RWS for an individual who enjoys driving change and making an impact in a dynamic environment. As part of the overall RWS business strategy we are making a significant investment in upgrading our systems and processes to deliver enhanced reporting and control and strengthening our risk and governance frameworks.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with stakeholders across Digital Marketing, Business Units, Group Tech & Security, and Procurement to provide practical, business-minded legal advice on privacy and data protection matters.
• Lead or support complex, cross-functional privacy and risk management projects and resources, contributing to the maturation of the RWS privacy programme.
• Develop privacy guidance for strategic growth initiatives and support the creation and review of privacy governance and compliance documentation, assisting with data protection impact assessments.
• Review and negotiate privacy-related contractual arrangements with clients, suppliers, and vendors, acting as a resource and escalation point on privacy matters.
• Provide ongoing privacy support to the Legal and Professional Advisory team, maintaining and updating privacy contractual templates, FAQs, and legal processes to support global scaling, in alignment with privacy laws and best practices.
• Enable go-to-market privacy initiatives by creating and delivering bespoke training, whitepapers, and educational materials for internal and customer-facing use.
• Foster a culture of collaboration with relevant business functions, proactively managing issues and challenges that may arise, and ensuring programme operationalisation.
• Monitor, track, and report on programme performance using defined metrics and Key Performance Indicators, enhancing programme visibility, communication, and education company-wide.
• Support establishing programme audit framework and quality assurance in partnership with relevant business teams.
• Monitor, provide legal guidance, and internally report on privacy and AI laws and regulations, enforcement activity, supporting effective AI governance for risk management and contractual matters.

Skills & Experience

• Education & Admission: Qualified legal degree from a top-tier law school and admission to practice as a UK solicitor or EU member state equivalent.
• Experience: 4-5 years in law firms and/or in-house legal departments focused on privacy and technology, with a preference for in-house experience at a high-growth global technology company.
• Knowledge: Strong understanding of GDPR, UK DPA, HIPAA, CCPA, China regulations, and key industry frameworks (e.g., ISO, NIST). Privacy certifications such as CIPP/E, CIPM, or CIPT are preferred.
• AI Expertise: Familiarity with AI laws and regulations, including the EU AI Act.
• Technical Insight: Strong understanding of software technology, cloud services, associated business models, and industry trends.
• Skills: Excellent legal and business judgment, negotiation, drafting, and transactional skills. Strong written and oral communication abilities, particularly in explaining concepts to non-lawyers.
• Attributes: Self-starting, proactive, and adaptable, with the ability to manage multiple projects and recalibrate advice based on evolving priorities and legal developments. Detail-oriented and adept at legal research.
• Personal Qualities: High integrity, team-oriented, respectful, smart, humble, and empathetic. Enjoys working collaboratively to achieve goals.
• Languages: Proficiency in a second language (French, Italian, Spanish, German) is a plus.

At RWS, we’re here for one purpose: unlocking global understanding.

As a unique, world-leading provider of technology-enabled language, content, and intellectual property services, we remove the barriers to communication to make global connection possible. Our unrivalled experience and deep understanding of language have been developed over more than 60 years. As we look to shape the future, our ambition is to create a world where understanding is universal for everyone.

We work with over 80% of the world’s top 100 brands, more than three-quarters of Fortune’s 20 ‘Most Admired Companies’ and almost all the top pharmaceutical companies, investment banks, law firms and patent filers. Our client base spans Europe, Asia Pacific and North and South America. Our 65+ global locations across five continents service clients in the automotive, chemical, financial, legal, medical, pharmaceutical, technology and telecommunications sectors.   

Over the past 20 years we’ve been evolving our own AI solutions as well as helping clients to explore, build and use multilingual AI applications. With 45+ AI-related patents and more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, we have the experience and expertise to support clients on their AI journey.

If you like the idea of working with smart people who are passionate about breaking down language barriers and giving back to their communities, then you’ll love life at RWS. Our work fundamentally recognizes the value of every language and culture. So, we celebrate difference, we are inclusive and believe that diversity makes us strong.

We want every employee to grow as an individual and excel in their career. In return, we expect all our people to live by the values that unite us: to partner with colleagues and clients, to adopt a pioneering spirit, to be positive in progressing the work we do, and always to deliver what we promise. 

RWS Values

Get the 3Ps right – Partner, Pioneer, Progress – and we´ll Deliver together as One RWS.

For further information, please visit: RWS   

RWS embraces DEI and promotes equal opportunity, we are an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. RWS is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at RWS are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, sex, age, disability, or sexual orientation. RWS will not tolerate discrimination based on any of these characteristics

Recruitment Agencies: RWS Holdings PLC does not accept agency resumes.  Please do not forward any unsolicited resumes to any RWS employees.  Any unsolicited resume received will be treated as the property of RWS and Terms & Conditions associated with the use of such resume will be considered null and void.