Senior Legal Manager

Overview

Senior Legal Manager Jobs in Istanbul, Türkiye at FLORMAR

Title: Senior Legal Manager

Company: FLORMAR

Location: Istanbul, Türkiye

At Flormar, our journey is shaped by our values.

At every step, we act with passion, proud of everything we do, seize opportunities with agility, and make sustainable contributions to the future.

Because for us, this is not just a workplace; it is the way to touch lives and color the future together!

Key Competencies That Will Make You Stand Out

• Law degree from a reputable university; admitted to the Bar in Türkiye. LL.M. is a plus.
• At least 9 years of post-qualification experience, including 2 years of managerial experience and 3 years of team management experience, with a meaningful portion in-house within FMCG, retail, cosmetics or an e-commerce-intensive business; law-firm foundation in commercial/corporate practice welcomed.
• Proven track record across commercial contracts, consumer and e-commerce law, data protection (KVKK; GDPR exposure preferred) and competition law; cosmetics or regulated-product experience a strong plus.
• Genuine interest in and hands-on adoption of AI: actively uses AI tools in their own legal work, follows AI regulation, and is motivated to build an AI-enabled legal function rather than delegate the topic.
• Experience with cross-border contracting and subsidiary management; fluent written and spoken English is essential.
• Based in, or willing to relocate to, Istanbul; regular presence at the Gebze production facility and occasional international travel.
• Strong executive presence and business judgement; capable of advising senior management, shareholders and the Board on strategic, commercial and governance matters.

What to Expect in This Role

Legal Team Leadership & Legal Operations

• Lead, develop and coach a team of two Company Attorneys; define role splits, allocate and triage workload by risk and business priority, and build succession and skill depth within the team.
• Design the operating model of the legal function: intake and prioritisation of business requests, service-level expectations, escalation paths and a clear division of work between in-house resources and external firms.
• Build self-service tools for the business — standard templates, negotiation playbooks, approval matrices and short practical guidelines — so routine matters are handled at first contact without legal bottlenecks.
• Introduce simple legal-function KPIs (contract turnaround time, matter volumes, dispute exposure, external spend vs budget) and report them periodically to the CFO.

AI Adoption & Legal Innovation

• Champion the use of AI within the legal function: deploy AI-assisted tools for contract review and drafting, legal research, document summarisation and matter tracking to increase the throughput of a lean team and reduce reliance on external firms for routine work.
• Set the guardrails for responsible AI use in legal work — confidentiality and privilege protection, accuracy verification, no client or personal data in unapproved tools — and coach the team to work AI-first within those rules.

External Counsel Management & Legal Spend

• Own the external law firm portfolio end to end: define which matter types go outside and which stay in-house, consolidate the firm panel, and match each firm to the work where it genuinely adds value.
• Negotiate engagement terms and fee structures (fixed fees, capped fees, retainers, success-fee elements where appropriate); eliminate open-ended hourly arrangements wherever a scoped alternative exists.
• Coordinate local law firms in each country where the company has subsidiaries, managing cross-border legal processes through them while retaining ownership of outcomes in-house.

Commercial Contracts & Channel Legal

• Draft, review and negotiate the full contract landscape of the multi-channel model: distributor agreements (domestic and international), OT / chain-retail trading terms, store lease and franchise-type arrangements, marketplace and intermediary agreements, logistics and fulfilment contracts, procurement, manufacturing, licensing and service agreements.
• Build and maintain a channel-based standard contract suite with fallback positions, and run a contract lifecycle process (approval workflow, signature authority, archiving, renewal and expiry tracking).
• Support international expansion legally: subsidiary and branch matters (including the European entity), Amazon EU and pan-European seller arrangements, cross-border distribution, export and e-export documentation and incoterm/payment-term risks.

Regulatory Affairs & Compliance

• Safeguard compliance with cosmetics legislation (TİTCK requirements and the EU Cosmetics Regulation) together with R&D, quality and regulatory functions; provide legal input on product claims, labelling, safety and market-surveillance interactions.
• Monitor legislation and regulatory change across all relevant fields and proactively brief the affected departments on new requirements and their practical implications.
• Conduct the company’s official correspondence with courts, regulators and public authorities, and complete the company’s registrations and filings in all mandatory official systems (VERBİS, ETBİS, İYS and equivalents), providing legal opinions in that scope.
• Own compliance with e-commerce and consumer legislation: distance-selling rules, platform/intermediary liability regimes, returns and warranty practices, and commercial electronic communications.
• Manage advertising-law risk, including Advertising Board (Reklam Kurulu) practice, comparative advertising, promotions and campaigns, and influencer-marketing compliance across social channels.
• Lead KVKK and GDPR compliance across the group’s data estate — loyalty programme, mobile app, CRM and e-commerce data: records of processing, consent and notice architecture, breach response and data-transfer mechanisms — ensuring alignment with both Turkish law and applicable group/shareholder data-protection standards.
• Manage competition-law exposure in a marketplace-heavy model: vertical agreements, resale-price and MFN-type risks, distributor exclusivity, and monitoring of Competition Authority practice on e-marketplaces; run periodic competition training and dawn-raid readiness.

Intellectual Property & Brand Protection

• Manage the global trademark and design portfolio (filing, renewal, watch services, oppositions) in coordination with IP agents across 100+ jurisdictions, prioritised by commercial footprint and budget; maintain and safeguard the IP records and portfolio archive.
• Run the anti-counterfeiting and grey-market programme: marketplace brand-protection tools (e.g. takedown and brand-registry mechanisms), customs recordals, cease-and-desist practice and enforcement litigation where warranted.
• Protect brand assets in the digital sphere: domain portfolio, social-media impersonation, unauthorised sellers and content misuse.

Strategic Projects, M&A & Investor Support

• Act as a strategic business partner to the CFO and CEO, supporting high-impact corporate initiatives, organisational transformations and international expansion projects.
• Lead and coordinate legal workstreams for mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and strategic investments, working closely with financial, tax and commercial advisors.
• Manage buy-side and sell-side due diligence processes, including data room governance, disclosure management, legal risk assessment and transaction readiness.
• Coordinate external legal counsel across multiple jurisdictions and maintain ownership of legal deliverables and transaction timelines.
• Support the establishment, restructuring and governance of international subsidiaries and regional headquarters, including Middle Eastern and European operations.
• Prepare concise Board and shareholder-level briefing materials on legal, governance and transactional matters, translating complex legal issues into actionable business recommendations.

Corporate, Governance & Sustainability

• Run corporate-law housekeeping for the Turkish entities and international subsidiaries: general assemblies, board resolutions, signature circulars, powers of attorney and registry filings.
• Provide legal input to Board and investor reporting; support financing, security and intercompany documentation together with the CFO.

Disputes & Employment Law Support

• Manage the litigation and enforcement portfolio (commercial, consumer, IP and employment disputes) with a settle-vs-fight discipline based on exposure, cost and precedent value; instruct and supervise external litigators.
• Partner with HR on employment-law matters across head office, stores and the Gebze production facility: terminations, disciplinary processes, workplace investigations and dispute prevention; day-to-day HR advisory remains with HR.

What Awaits You in Flormar’s Colorful World?

• Work from anywhere for three weeks each year thanks to our flexible working model.
• Start your weekends early during the summer with Happy Fridays.
• Celebrate your birthday wherever you like with your birthday leave.
• Enjoy the option of working remotely for a full year after maternity leave.
• Benefit from two weeks of paid paternity leave to create unforgettable memories with your growing family.
• Contribute to projects that make the world a better place with our social responsibility leave.
• Bring your passions into work life with our F Social clubs.
• Add colorful breaks and joyful moments to your day with Colorful Hours.
• Shape your own development journey: Udemy Business, Flormar Development Catalogue, leadership development programs and much more with you.

At Flormar, every new day is an opportunity to learn, discover and shine!

Are you ready to join us?

As Flormar, we adopt the principle of equal opportunity and equal behavior in education and recruitment. All applicants who applies to our job ads will be considered for employment; regardless to race, sex , color or social origin, ethnicity religion, pregnancy, disability, sexual orientation gender expression or political opinion