Director Legal COE

Overview

Lead the Legal Tower in the GBS CoE for Fresenius Medical Care's Global Legal Function, driving transformation, optimization and strategic enablement of the Legal organization.

What you'll do

• Develop and execute the global Legal GBS strategy aligned with Fresenius Medical Care's corporate objectives and legal priorities
• Establish and continuously evolve the GBS Legal Tower Operating Model to improve effectiveness, scalability, risk management and business partnership
• Drive a culture of operational excellence, accountability, innovation and continuous improvement across the global Legal function
• Lead and develop a high-performing GBS Legal organization team
• Design, standardize, optimize and govern non-core legal processes
• Lead legal transformation and modernization initiatives to enhance service quality, efficiency, transparency and stakeholder experience
• Implement best practices, governance frameworks, operating procedures and service standards
• Establish and monitor legal service delivery metrics and performance measures
• Drive process automation and workflow optimization to improve productivity and reduce operational risk
• Lead delivery of Global Trade Governance & Operations (GTGO) project management, including project planning, timelines and stakeholder coordination for trade compliance initiatives
• Govern sanctions-list screening processes (Level I and II) for business partners, leveraging risk assessment systems
• Oversee governance of globally rolled-out trade policies and Global Standard Operating Procedures (GSOPs) via the enterprise policy management platform
• Manage budget planning and tracking for Global Trade Operations projects and initiatives
• Lead the Legal PMO function, including project governance, portfolio management and delivery oversight for Global Legal Function initiatives
• Own Global Guideline Management, including the policy lifecycle (drafting, review, approval, publication) via the enterprise guideline management platform
• Establish and maintain a Legal KPI and reporting framework for the PMO function, including dashboards tracking portfolio health, milestone adherence and guideline compliance
• Directly manage the Legal PMO & Guideline Management Manager and their team of Legal PMO Coordinators and Senior Legal PMO Specialists
• Establish a centralized library of pre-approved templates, clauses and playbooks to standardize contract terms and reduce legal risk across the organization
• Own governance and administration of the CLM/contract repository
• Partner with Procurement, Sales and business stakeholders to embed self-service contracting capabilities where appropriate, escalating higher-risk or non-standard terms to legal counsel
• Monitor contract compliance, obligations tracking and spend-linked contract analytics to support business decision-making
• Lead the GBS Paralegal Services function, spanning OHS regulatory and works council coordination, corporate housekeeping and entity governance, M&A/financing transaction support, and US corporate & litigation support
• Directly manage the Paralegal Manager and their team of OHS, Corporate/M&A and US Corporate & Litigation Paralegals
• Ensure consistent quality standards and service delivery across paralegal workstreams while respecting the distinct legal and regulatory requirements of each
• Maintain clear escalation pathways between paralegal teams and supervising attorneys/counsel on matters requiring legal judgment
• Lead the GBS patent support function, providing white-label patent support, drafting, prosecution support, prior art and freedom-to-operate searches, technology landscaping, and docketing/portfolio support to FME's patent attorneys
• Ensure patent support work is properly scoped as attorney support rather than independent representation, consistent with jurisdictional restrictions on who may practice before the USPTO and EPO
• Attract, hire and retain top legal operations, paralegal and patent support talent to build a high-performing GBS Legal CoE
• Design career pathways and capability-development frameworks that support growth from entry-level to expert/leadership roles across the CoE's functions
• Establish mentorship, coaching and succession-planning practices for the CoE's management layer and senior individual contributors
• Champion India as a strategic hub for legal talent, building FME's employer brand within the local legal operations and GCC/GBS ecosystem
• Foster an inclusive, engaged and continuous-learning culture aligned with FME's values, with regular feedback, recognition and engagement mechanisms
• Partner with HR and Talent Acquisition to define competitive, locally benchmarked compensation and career frameworks for the CoE

What you'll need

• Bachelor's degree in Legal
• 10+ years of progressive experience in Legal Advisory, Legal Operations, Legal Management, Shared Services, Corporate Functions, Consulting, or related operational leadership roles
• 7+ years of experience leading cross-functional teams in complex (matrix) organizations
• Demonstrated success leading global transformation programs, operating model redesign, and technology implementation initiatives
• Strong understanding of legal service delivery models, governance frameworks, and operational best practices

Nice to have

• Master's Degree in Legal
• Legal Operations, Project Management, Lean Six Sigma, Change Management, or equivalent professional certifications
• Experience working within highly regulated multinational organizations
• Healthcare, life sciences, medical technology, pharmaceutical, or related industry experience

Details

• Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
• Hybrid work environment