Do you have a passion for contracts, procurement and commercial legal work?
Doyou wantto join a proactive in-house Legal Team?
What will your day look like?
You will be part of a busy team dealing with a high volume and diverse caseload of contracts, procurement and commercial matters. You will advise on procurements, draft and review terms and conditions, support contract variations, extensions and waivers, and provide advice on matters such as grants, frameworks, subsidy control, collaboration arrangements and supplier issues.
You will work closely with client departments, Procurement colleagues and other members of the Legal Team to provide clear, practical and timely advice. Local government or wider public sector knowledge, together with an appreciation of the challenges facing local authorities, is desirable.
This is initially a 12-month fixed term contract, created to support important contract and procurement work across the Council. While permanence will depend on future funding, the intention is that the role will support longer-term capacity within the Legal Team.
Flexible working arrangements including the ability to work remotely are available and will be considered.
Who are we looking for?
North East Lincolnshire Council is seeking a legal professional with experience in contracts, procurement and commercial legal work, whether as a solicitor, newly qualified solicitor or experienced Senior Legal Officer (CILEX or extensive legal experience of at least 5 years).
It’s an exciting and rewarding time to work for North East Lincolnshire Council. The Council delivers a wide range of services and projects for residents, businesses and communities, and effective contracts and procurement advice is essential to helping those services operate lawfully, confidently and at pace.
The role will support a wide variety of contract and procurement matters, including work linked to adult services, major projects, grant arrangements, frameworks, service contracts and wider commercial activity across the Council.
Are you a qualified Solicitor registered with the Solicitors Regulation Authority or do you have a Level 6 legal qualification (e.g. Cilex) and/or 5 years’ experience within a contracts, procurement or commercial legal environment?
Do you have the ability to work as part of a team, manage change and adapt to new ways of working?
Are you able to plan and prioritise your own workload to meet deadlines?
Do you have the knowledge and skills to provide practical legal support on contracts, procurement, grants, frameworks and wider commercial matters?
Think you can make a difference? We want to hear from you.
Why join us?
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The team is made up of experienced solicitors, senior legal officers, trainee solicitors and legal officers covering a broad range of areas, sharing their expertise and experience to work together effectively.
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The team is busy, friendly and welcoming, with a supportive culture where colleagues share knowledge, offer guidance and work together to solve problems. You will have the space to work independently while knowing that support, assistance and practical advice are available when needed, helping to achieve the best value and outcomes for client departments and the Council overall.
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Joining our team would provide a candidate with experience of high-value projects, complex contracts, procurement advice and further insight into local government law and governance.
- Working in North East Lincolnshire Council’s legal team provides a high level of flexibility in terms of working arrangements and hours, including hybrid home and office working and flexi-time.
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A key benefit of working in-house is that the Legal Team does not operate traditional private sector time-recording or billing targets. This allows us to focus on providing clear, practical and timely legal advice, building effective relationships with client departments and supporting meaningful outcomes for the Council and local community.
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The work conducted by the team has a significant impact on the local area. The successful candidate’s input on contracts, procurement and commercial projects will help services secure the right arrangements, deliver value for money, manage risk and ensure key Council projects and services can be delivered lawfully and effectively for residents, businesses and communities.
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Development opportunities are a clear priority for the service. Alongside additional training, shadowing and career progression, the successful candidate will have opportunities to build confidence through CPD, learn from complex and high-value matters, contribute to service improvement work and develop specialist experience in contracts, procurement and local government law.
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You will also be joining a Legal Team that is actively developing and modernising, with work underway to review how we work, improve our processes, strengthen our service offer and make better use of technology, giving the successful candidate the chance to contribute to positive change as well as develop their own skills and experience.
What you can expect from NELC
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Generous salary
- A minimum of 27 days annual leave (pro rata for part time), plus bank holidays (with the option to buy additional leave)
- Flexible working
- Supportive working environment
- In house wellbeing support
- Training and development opportunities, including coaching
- Local government pension scheme with employer contribution
- NELC discounted car parking
- Car hire scheme
… and much more!
Working Arrangements
This role is a blended working role (the duties of the role may require a blend of home & office working in line with needs of the service)
For more information, please refer to the attached guidance and role profile. If you would like an informal discussion, please contact Emma Finch Email: [email protected]
Key Dates
Advert closing date: Thursday 20th August 2026
We aim to interview candidates: Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd September 2026.
We want you to have the best interview experience with us, we will provide candidates selected for interview their questions in advance of meeting us by 4pm the evening before.
We reserve the right to close our adverts early if we have received a significant volume of suitable applications.
We love AI and think it plays a great role in the world of work. However, for your application, we want to hear from YOU! As such, we will be testing applications to determine the use of AI, and applications that have heavily utilised the function will be scrutinised for suitability.
Do you need support?
If you need any help applying for this position, please contact Wendy Trask on 07702 338542 (text or call). Wendy can support with digital access as well as offering advice and guidance about completing the different sections of the application form.
