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About RS Group

Across the industrial design, manufacturing and maintenance worlds, we’re the digital destination for product and service solutions to help our customers with the maintenance, repair and operation of their businesses. We provide global access to an unrivalled range of over 750,000 stocked industrial products. Each day our team of experts deliver solutions to resolve our customer’s challenges across design, procurement, inventory and maintenance. We consistently strive to deliver the best possible service to all of our customers and challenge ourselves to provide a seamless procurement experience.

We are one team. We deliver brilliantly. We do the right thing. We make every day better. These are our values. They unite our c.9,000 global colleagues and differentiate us from our competition. They are a mix of how we work today and how we must step up for the future. Most importantly, it is one set of values shaped by our people, for our people.

Together, we can make great things happen. Aim for amazing and beyond.

About The Role

Role Purpose

The Legal & Compliance team sits within the Corporate Services function. The function’s purpose is to accelerate the delivery of our RS strategy, vision and values by being the trusted partner in our areas of expertise. Through our partnership we enable operational excellence, cost effectiveness, risk mitigation and wider value creation for our stakeholders.

The Legal & Compliance team delivers that through:

• Providing legal expertise, partnering with the business. We respond to the needs of the business through continuous review of our own processes and how they fit into the ever-changing legal and statutory environment. The law is never static and neither are we.
• Creating and identifying value added services and opportunities. We enable operational excellence by providing tools that resonate with this business (streamlined contract frameworks, policies, toolkits, chatbots..).
• Keeping our people and our business safe. We keep the company safe by providing clear, actionable and pragmatic guidance that empowers the business to make informed decisions and balance risk with commercial benefit.
• Putting effective and efficient governance and systems in place. Our process and processes are based on the risk tolerance of the organization at any given time – we are a living breathing function ready to respond.
• Always looking ahead. We horizon scan to anticipate legal and regulatory risks early and provide our business partners with the tools needed to understand changes to the law, that impact how they operate.
  
  

Partner with stakeholders across all Americas businesses, with a strong emphasis on RS’s United States (RS Americas) and Latin America (Risoul) businesses. Provide pragmatic and strategic legal advice and input on legal & regulatory matters, working primarily with ExCo-2 (i.e. regional senior and functional leaders, direct reports of the Regional Executive Leadership Teams). Act as first port of call for day-to-day matters (e.g. contract review and negotiation, management of external counsel), with support and direction from the Senior Director – Legal on material matters. Emergency cover for Senior Director - Legal.

Responsibilities

Strategic Legal Advice

• • Provide legal counsel and strategic guidance on a wide range of matters including corporate, commercial, regulatory, employment, and compliance issues across the United States, Canada, and Latin America, including Mexico, Dominican Republic, Trinidad & Tobago.
  • Draft, review, and negotiate complex commercial agreements, including supplier (both direct and indirect procurement), customer/sales, logistics, warehousing, and distribution contracts.
  • Oversee regional litigation, disputes, and investigations, working closely with external counsel as needed.
  • Collaborate with internal stakeholders to mitigate legal risks and provide proactive solutions aligned with business objectives.
  • Support corporate restructuring and other strategic initiatives in the region.
  • Monitor future legal and regulatory legal developments affecting the industrial distribution industry in the Americas and support the business in adapting to them.
    

Governance & Compliance

• • Collaborate with Global Legal & Compliance team to implement policies, training, and risk mitigation strategies, including the development, implementation, and maintenance of regional-specific contracting policies and procedures where necessary.
  • Lead the development and ongoing maintenance of Americas contract templates to ensure consistency and legal compliance.
  • Support the Group’s anti-corruption, privacy and compliance agenda.
  • Provide legal support to internal SME teams by advising on regulatory compliance related to import/export controls, trade compliance, product liability, and environmental health and safety (EHS) regulations.
  • Assist in the preparation of regular reports on legal and compliance risks for senior leadership and Global Legal & Compliance team.
    

Legal Department Operations

• • Assist with the management of legal budgets, including tracking spend, preparing reports, and monitoring cost efficiency.
  • Coordinate and maintain relationships with outside counsel, including engagement letters, billing review, and performance tracking.
  • Help organize and maintain legal department records, including contracts, compliance documentation, and governance materials.
    

How I Make a Difference In This Role

• Play a critical role in supporting our industrial distribution business in the Americas region, ensuring legal compliance, managing risk, and enabling strategic growth across diverse markets.
• Build strong relationships with senior regional and functional leaders (ExCo-2) to provide practical, business-focused legal advice that supports operational and strategic objectives.
• Deliver first-line legal advice for significant parts of the business with minimal oversight, including:
• Supporting Risoul’s activities in Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Trinidad & Tobago, not only through contract negotiation but by contributing to strategic execution.
• Advising on sensitive employment and labor issues across the Americas to enable strategy delivery in a risk-aware manner.
• Lead on medium-value, moderate-complexity deals and litigation, taking ownership of risk mitigation and enabling value creation for the business.
• Execute initiatives to improve legal processes and enhance delivery of the legal team’s strategy, including developing templates, training materials, and process efficiencies.
• Maintain strong governance by managing legal budgets, outside counsel relationships, and departmental records, ensuring transparency and cost efficiency.
• Collaborate with the Senior Director - Legal and Global Legal & Compliance team to implement policies and compliance programs that uphold the Group’s ethical and regulatory standards.
  
  

Candidate Requirements

Essential Qualifications, Skills & Experience

• Minimum of 10 years of legal experience, including significant in-house counsel experience supporting Latin American operations as well as US domestic.
• Fluency in English and Spanish required.
• Demonstrated experience in the industrial distribution, manufacturing, or logistics sectors.
• Strong knowledge of commercial law, trade compliance, and regulatory frameworks in the US and Latin America.
• Proven ability to work cross-functionally and across cultures in a fast-paced, matrixed multi-national organization while being able to manage and prioritize workload (balancing short term reactive elements with medium/long term proactive personal and departmental objectives).
• Exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to communicate complex concepts to non-legal staff of all levels in plain and engaging ways
• Excellent negotiation, communication, project management, and leadership skills.
• Strong relationship-building / interpersonal skills – ability to build trusted adviser relationships to provide pragmatic solutions to legal issues.
• Willingness to travel within the region as needed.
  
  

Desirable Skills & Experience

• Experience with ERP systems, digital commerce platforms, or supply chain technologies.
• Able and willing to advise on compliance, ethics and corporate governance.
  
  

Essential Qualifications (Must Be Evidenced At Offer Stage)

• Juris Doctor (JD) or equivalent law degree from a recognized institution; admission to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction (Texas preferred).
  
  

Equal Employment Opportunity

RS Americas is an equal opportunity employer and maintains policies and practices that are designed to prevent and prohibit unlawful discrimination against any qualified employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, military/veteran status, disability, genetic information, citizenship status, or any other unlawful classification to the extent protected by law. This policy of non-discrimination applies to all employment practices, including hiring, compensation, benefits, promotion, training and termination. Employees who engage in unlawful discrimination will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination.