Legal & Compliance Officer

Purpose of the role

To give the group a single, trusted internal source of legal and compliance judgment — keeping every entity across South Korea, the USA, the UAE, Singapore, and Hong Kong lawfully compliant, contractually protected, and properly incorporated, and equipping management to make decisions on sound legal advice.

Scope: Group-wide — all entities across South Korea, USA, UAE, Singapore, and Hong Kong (and future markets)

Employment type: Full-time employee, company-sponsored UAE employment visa.

Experience level: 4–6 years, with demonstrated legal expertise and aptitude

Travel: International travel required, including for new company incorporations

Reports to: Managing Director / Board

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Requirements

We are hiring a Legal & Compliance Officer, based in the UAE, to be the internal legal and compliance authority for the group across all of these jurisdictions.

This is a substantive, hands-on legal role for someone with genuine legal expertise and strong legal aptitude. You will research, interpret, and advise management and department heads on compliance, contracts, corporate governance, licensing, labour matters, and company incorporation — turning complex, multi-jurisdiction legal questions into clear, practical guidance the business can act on. You will own the legal and compliance operations end-to-end and be the first point of authority internally.

The role suits a legally trained, research-driven professional who is comfortable working across very different legal systems at once, forming reasoned views, and advising decision-makers with confidence.

Key responsibilities

Legal research, interpretation & advisory (core)

• Serve as the internal first point of authority on legal and compliance questions across the group.
• Research and interpret the applicable laws and regulations of South Korea, the USA, the UAE, Singapore, and Hong Kong, and advise management and department heads on compliance, contracts, licensing, labour, and incorporation matters.
• Translate multi-jurisdiction legal complexity into clear, actionable guidance and written advisory notes for the business.
• Track legal and regulatory changes across all markets and proactively brief management on impact and required action.

Contracts — labour, supplier & client agreements

• Draft, review, and verify labour, supplier, client, agency, logistics, and NDA/non-compete agreements.
• Advise on governing law, jurisdiction, liability, IP, indemnity, and confidentiality terms, and negotiate as required.
• Maintain the group contract register with obligation, renewal, and expiry tracking.

Corporate governance, incorporation & entity management

• Own corporate governance and statutory records for all group entities.
• Advise on and manage company incorporation and the full entity lifecycle (formation, amendments, renewals, restructuring, closure), coordinating with registries, free-zone authorities, and local agents.
• Lead incorporation of the group's entities in new countries as it expands — researching each new jurisdiction's incorporation, ownership, licensing, and compliance requirements, advising management on the right structure and entry route, and driving the setup through to completion (including recent/active expansion such as South Korea).
• Travel internationally to support and advise on new company incorporations and entity setup.

Licensing & statutory compliance

• Own the group-wide calendar of trade-licence renewals, statutory filings, and regulatory submissions; ensure nothing lapses.
• Manage cross-border obligations relevant to a trading firm — UBO, economic substance, AML/KYC, and trade compliance (sanctions, export controls, trade finance).

Legal cases & dispute management

• Research, assess, and advise management on legal cases, disputes, and risk exposure across jurisdictions.
• Prepare and manage matters end-to-end: pre-litigation correspondence, evidence, strategy input, and the dispute register.
• Coordinate and instruct external counsel where required.

Risk management & internal controls

• Build and maintain the group risk and compliance registers; run periodic assessments and remediation.
• Design and monitor compliance policies, internal controls, and training.
• Act as liaison with external counsel, auditors, banks, and regulators.

Responsible authority for **identifying and confirming external-counsel review;**The Officer owns the research, interpretation, drafting, and advice to qualify and engage external counsel licensed in the relevant jurisdiction before the company acts on them:

• Final enforceability opinions — the definitive confirmation that a contract or structure is enforceable under the law of a specific country (Korea / USA / Singapore / UAE / Hong Kong).
• Live litigation — formal court filings, litigation strategy of record, and binding settlement decisions.

Essential

• Legal expertise and strong legal aptitude — a law degree (LLB/LLM) or equivalent legal training, or demonstrable equivalent legal experience.
• 4–6 years in a legal, compliance, governance, or company-secretarial role, ideally within a trading, commodities, logistics, or multinational group.
• Proven ability to research, interpret, and advise on legal and regulatory matters across more than one jurisdiction.
• Hands-on contract drafting, review, and negotiation experience.
• Experience with, or a strong grasp of, company incorporation in new/foreign jurisdictions — researching local requirements and setting up entities end-to-end.
• Working knowledge of UAE corporate, licensing, and labour frameworks (mainland and free zone).
• Willingness and ability to travel internationally, including for incorporations.
• Excellent written English, sound judgment, and discretion with confidential information.

Preferred

• Qualified or part-qualified Company Secretary (ICSI), or equivalent GRC certification (e.g. ICA, CAMS).
• Experience across the USA, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the GCC, and in coordinating external counsel.
• An Indian professional background with GCC experience is well suited to this role.
• Familiarity with AML/KYC, sanctions/export controls, ESR, and UBO regimes.

Benefits

• A high-ownership internal legal & compliance role with group-wide visibility, direct management access, and international travel.

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