| Employment Type: | Full Time |
| Category: | Regulatory |
| Company: | Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority |
| Availability: | Immediate |
The Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority (the JCRA) is a small, high-performing regulator with a reputation of achieving valued outcomes. Our decisions materially affect Jersey’s highest-value markets and sectors, and are closely followed by government, industry and the media. Because of our size, everyone contributes across the full breadth of our work, and we look for people who bring both deep professional expertise and the flexibility to work across disciplines. Details of our recent work can be found at www.jcra.je
We are recruiting a Head of Legal to lead the JCRA’s legal function, a senior Board-facing leadership role for someone who enjoys variety and wants to make their mark as a senior legal voice within the organisation. You will not be doing this alone: you will be supported by a cross-disciplinary team of colleagues across the JCRA, and there is scope to work with other outside counsel and potentially appoint an additional lawyer as the role and the JCRA’s needs develop.
The full job description can be downloaded here.
1. The Role
| Job Title | Head of Legal |
| Contract Type | Permanent, full-time (37.5 hours per week), at a senior executive level. Flexible working accommodated where operationally possible. Health insurance. 30 days’ holiday plus public holidays. |
| Reports to | Chief Executive Officer, with direct access to the Chair and the Board on matters of legal risk, governance and constitutional propriety. Member of the Authority’s senior leadership team. |
| Location | 2nd Floor, Salisbury House, 1–9 Union Street, St Helier, Jersey, JE2 3RF |
| Seniority | Head of the legal function and the JCRA’s most senior lawyer, supported by a cross-disciplinary team and, in time, by an additional lawyer. Minimum 9 years’ post-qualification experience. |
| Deadline: | The deadline for applications is Friday, 30 October. |
| Contact: | Sarah McCluskey @ sarah@hrnow.je |
2. Job Purpose
The Head of Legal is the JCRA’s principal legal adviser providing high-quality legal leadership that underpins the JCRA’s regulatory decisions. The role has oversight of legal matters across the JCRA’s functions:
Competition:
• Including merger control and market studies
Regulation:
• Air and sea port operations
• Postal services
• Telecommunications
As a member of the senior leadership team, the Head of Legal works alongside the Chief Executive to help set the JCRA’s strategic direction, and works with the Board to help ensure that decisions are robust, procedurally sound, and able to withstand challenge, including, where it arises, in the Royal Court. The role calls for sound, independent judgement, risk assessment, the confidence to advise the CEO and Board clearly, and the ability to represent the JCRA well with government, regulated businesses, and international counterparts such as the CMA and Ofcom.
Because the JCRA is small, the Head of Legal will typically be the only in-house lawyer, but will not be working in isolation: the role is supported day to day by a cross-disciplinary team of colleagues from across the JCRA. Where necessary external counsel may be appointed to assist on specific matters.
The breadth of exposure across governance, statutory decision-making, enforcement, litigation and policy is one of the genuine attractions of the role: it offers a range of experience that is hard to come by in a larger or more specialised team and is well suited to someone looking to either build their career as a senior legal leader or for a highly experienced competition or regulatory lawyer seeking a role where they can draw upon a wealth of expertise, mentor others and make a significant contribution to regulatory and public interest outcomes.
3. Key Responsibilities
Strategic Legal Leadership
• Lead the JCRA’s legal function, setting the standard for legal advice, drafting and risk management across the organisation.
• Sit on the senior leadership team, contributing to the JCRA’s overall strategy, priorities and risk appetite, not solely to matters that are narrowly legal.
• Own the JCRA’s legal risk register and advise the CEO and Board on the management of legal and reputational risk arising from the JCRA’s decisions and public profile.
• Set the JCRA’s approach to instructing, managing and controlling the budget for external counsel, and act as the primary relationship holder for key external legal advisers.
Legal Advice to the Board and Executive
• Act as principal legal adviser to the CEO and Board, with a direct line of access to the Chair on matters of legal risk and governance.
• Advise on the full range of public law issues bearing on the JCRA’s decisions, including vires, due process, procedural fairness and proportionality.
• Review Board papers before submission, and provide sign-off on the legal soundness of significant regulatory decisions before they are issued.
• Advise on and help resolve legally or politically sensitive matters, including those attracting media or government scrutiny.
Regulatory Decision-Making and Enforcement
• Direct the legal strategy for investigations into potential breaches of competition law and other regulatory requirements, and personally lead on the most significant or novel matters.
• Oversee the drafting of infringement decisions, penalty assessments, notices, consultation papers and guidance, ensuring they are evidence-based and legally defensible.
• Ensure the JCRA’s enforcement strategies and policies reflect current best practice and are capable of withstanding regulatory and judicial scrutiny.
Litigation and Legal Risk Management
• Own and lead the JCRA’s approach to litigation, appeals and judicial review, instructing and managing external counsel as required.
• Act as the JCRA’s senior representative in dealings with the Jersey courts and, where relevant, other jurisdictions’ courts and tribunals.
• Ensure we adhere to: data protection, confidentiality, HR and wider public law obligations across the organisation.
Policy, Law Reform and External Representation
• Lead the JCRA’s input into the development of competition and regulatory policy and law reform in Jersey, including proposals for legislative change to Government.
• Monitor developments in UK, EU and international competition and regulatory law and ensure the JCRA’s approach remains aligned with best practice.
• Represent the JCRA in dealings with government departments, regulated entities, external advisers, other jurisdictions such as Isle of Man (CURA), Guernsey (GCRA) and international bodies such as the CMA and Ofcom, building and maintaining the JCRA’s credibility and profile.
People and Resource Management
• Provide leadership, mentoring and professional development to any legal or paralegal staff, and build legal capability across the wider organisation.
• Model and embed the standards of independence, rigour and impartiality expected of the JCRA’s legal function.
4. Candidate Specification
Essential
• Qualified advocate, solicitor or barrister (Jersey or UK/EU equivalent) with at least 9 years’ post-qualification experience.
• Significant experience advising on competition, regulatory, public or administrative law, whether in-house, in private practice, or within a regulator or government body.
• Significant experience managing, or advising on, legal risk.
• Good judgement and communication skills, with the confidence to advise a Chief Executive and Board clearly, and to explain complex legal issues to non-legal audiences.
• Excellent drafting and analytical skills.
• Professional knowledge and experience sufficient to develop, articulate and defend legal conclusions and recommendations at Board level and externally.
• A demonstrated commitment to staying abreast of developments in legal practice and relevant areas of law
• Sound legal reasoning, attention to detail, and the confidence to exercise independent judgement while drawing on the wider team around you.
• The highest standards of integrity, impartiality, independence of judgement, transparency and objectivity.
• Strong strategic and commercial judgement, balanced with legal rigour.
• Ability to work collaboratively and flexibly in a small, multi-disciplinary team.
• Resilience, sound organisational skills, and the ability to manage competing priorities at pace.
Desirable (some or all of the following)
• A track record of providing legal leadership at Board or senior executive level.
• Experience advising on governance, statutory powers, vires and constitutional matters.
• Familiarity with Jersey’s legal and regulatory framework, or a demonstrable ability to become proficient in it quickly.
• Experience of using technology to provide legal services, or a willingness and ability to develop such skills.
• Knowledge of the economic principles relevant to competition law.
• Experience managing or mentoring junior legal staff.
• Experience managing external counsel and legal budgets.
• A working understanding of Jersey’s system of government, its legal system, constitutional position and status in international affairs or a proven ability to acquire this rapidly.
• Comfort operating in a high-visibility, media-facing environment, with the composure to manage sensitive and confidential matters under scrutiny.
Note A – Background
The JCRA was established under the Competition Regulatory Authority (Jersey) Law 2001. It is responsible for administering and enforcing the Competition (Jersey) Law 2005, and also regulates the telecoms and postal sectors and the Ports of Jersey.
The JCRA strives to ensure that markets work well for the benefit of all stakeholders, Government, business, citizens and consumers, facilitating best value, choice and access to high-quality services.
Note B – What Can the JCRA Offer the Right Candidate?
• Breadth of experience, exposure to the full range of the JCRA’s legal work, governance, statutory decision-making, enforcement, litigation and policy, supported by a cross-disciplinary team and, in time, an additional lawyer, giving a depth and pace of career development rarely available in a larger or more specialised team
• Seniority and influence, a genuine seat at the leadership table, with direct access to the Board and Chair
• Reward – remuneration benchmarked at senior legal leadership / Head of Legal level, private healthcare, wellbeing allowance, pension, and support for professional subscriptions and continuing development
Profile – the opportunity to build a personal and professional profile with government, industry and international regulatory bodies
• International – the opportunity to work with the CMA, Ofcom and other international counterparts
• Variety and impact – the opportunity to lead legal work across every sector the JCRA oversees, and to see its real-world effect on Jersey’s markets
• Peers – working with a talented, supportive and engaging team in a friendly office environment
• Flexible working, modern IT and Office software, and the opportunity to support community and charitable initiatives
• Support with relocation costs, if required
Note C – Our Purpose and Values
The purpose of the JCRA is: “To make markets work for everyone in Jersey.”
In fulfilling this purpose, the JCRA is committed to a set of values which provide the framework for how it carries out its duties and responsibilities:
• We are open and fair in everything we do
• We make evidence-based, sustainable decisions
• We treat everyone with respect
• We are independent
• We are resourceful
August 2026
Interested..?
For more information or to apply for this job please contact:
Sarah McCluskey
sarah@hrnow.je