carsales

General Counsel

carsales  •  Melbourne, AU (Hybrid)  •  2 months ago
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Job Description

CAR Group has been driving innovation and growth since the 1990s. Collectively, our world leading marketplaces bring together deep expertise powered by a talented team, data, and technology across Oceania, Asia and The Americas.

We deliver world leading technology and advertising solutions designed to make buying and selling a great experience and are the parent company of wholly owned digital marketplaces in Australia (carsales), South Korea (Encar), the United States (Trader Interactive) and Chile (chileautos), in addition to being a majority shareholder of webmotors in Brazil.

With a vision to be the global leader in online vehicle marketplaces, we’re transforming how people buy and sell across the world. We discover new ideas and bring them to life. We continue to grow, and we continue to evolve—and we’re committed to taking innovative steps to get there.

When it comes to your career, we want to offer meaningful opportunities that empower you to make a lasting impact. But for that to happen, we strive to feel small—small enough to stay agile, learn across teams, and connect authentically with each other.

CAR Group General Counsel (GC) is a critical role, responsible for leading the legal and regulatory agenda of a large, complex, ASX Top 50 organisation with global operations.

Reporting to the Global CFO, the GC will act as a trusted adviser to the Executive Leadership Team, ensuring the business operates with speed, integrity, and confidence across Australia and key international markets.

The role requires a modern, commercially minded legal leader who actively leverages AI and legal technology to drive high quality and efficient legal services, while maintaining strong governance and risk discipline.

We embrace hybrid working—combining the flexibility of remote work with the energy and connection of in-person collaboration. We champion flexibility and offer a range of policies and leave options to support your wellbeing.

What’s on offer

  • Recognition as one of Australia’s Best Workplaces™ by Great Place to Work®, a Family Friendly Workplace, a WORK180 endorsed employer.
  • A highly engaged, collaborative team where you’ll learn from exceptional talent.
  • 24 weeks paid parental leave for primary caregivers, four weeks for secondary caregivers, and six weeks paid gender-affirming care leave.
  • Regular hackathons, continuous learning opportunities, and wellbeing initiatives that support your mental, emotional, and physical health.

What you’ll be doing

Strategic Legal Leadership

  • Act as principal legal adviser to the CEO and Global Leadership Team on all material matters.
  • Enable business strategy through pragmatic, risk-aware legal advice that supports growth, innovation, and shareholder value.
  • Balance legal risk with commercial outcomes in a fast-paced, technology-enabled environment.

Australian Legal & Global M&A Leadership

  • Oversee Australian legal matters, including corporate, commercial, competition, privacy, and disputes.
  • Provide deep expertise in Mergers & Acquisitions, including:
  • Strategic acquisitions and divestments
  • Due diligence, structuring, negotiation, and execution
  • Post-merger integration and risk management
  • Partner closely with Corporate Development, Finance, and Strategy teams on inorganic growth.
  • Lead competition law strategy across jurisdictions and oversee merger clearance processes for acquisitions.

Capital Markets & Disclosure

  • Advise on ASX continuous disclosure obligations.
  • Support equity and debt capital market transactions.
  • Manage legal risk associated with fundraising and public disclosures.

Global Regulatory & Compliance Oversight

  • Take enterprise-wide leadership for identifying, interpreting, and managing global legal and regulatory requirements across all operating jurisdictions.
  • Ensure appropriate governance frameworks, policies, and controls are in place to meet local and international obligations.
  • Proactively brief and advise the CEO on emerging global regulatory risks, trends, and material compliance issues.
  • Lead enterprise litigation strategy and provisioning discipline.
  • Oversee response to regulatory investigations, data breaches and major incidents.
  • Coordinate effectively with regional legal, risk, and compliance stakeholders.

AI-Enabled Legal Operations

  • Own legal budget and external counsel strategy.
  • Champion the use of AI, automation, and legal technology to:
  • Increase speed and quality of legal advice
  • Improve contract management, risk assessment, and compliance monitoring
  • Scale legal capability efficiently in a global business

Leadership & Capability Building

  • Lead, develop, and inspire a high-performing legal team.
  • Build strong cross-functional relationships with executives, regulators, and external advisers.
  • Model leadership aligned to the organisation’s values, culture, and strategic ambition.

Qualifications

What we’re looking for

We’re looking for an experienced senior legal professional with a background in large, complex, and preferably ASX-listed organisations. Individuals with a proven ability to advise Boards and CEOs on high impact strategic matters encouraged to apply.

  • Deep expertise in Australian law, with a strong track record in M&A and complex transactions, demonstrated experience operating across multiple jurisdictions and managing global regulatory requirements.
  • Experience in technology-enabled, digital, or marketplace businesses.
  • Demonstrated use of AI and legal technology to drive efficiency and effectiveness.
  • Exposure to international regulatory environments (e.g. US, Asia, or Latin America).

We know not everyone will meet every requirement, and that’s okay. If you’re excited about the role and believe you can make a difference, we’d love to hear from you.

Additional Information

A few other things we want you to know...

  • As an equal opportunity employer, CAR Group welcomes applications from individuals of all backgrounds, identities, abilities, and life experiences. We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued and supported.
  • If you have a disability or require adjustments to participate fully in the recruitment process, please let us know—we’re here to support you.
  • We understand the importance of work-life balance and offer flexible working arrangements, including part-time options. If you’d like to explore this, just ask during the process.
  • We’re also a proud Circle Back Initiative employer, which means we commit to responding to every applicant.
  • Successful candidates joining the CAR Group team will need to complete a National Police Record check and must have full-time Australian working rights.

So come and join us— because every role is a big role in our plans to go big.

carsales

About carsales

At carsales, we’re all about making buying and selling a great experience. For over 25 years we’ve been evolving with the new economy to help people choose how they move today and tomorrow.

We started out with the idea of digitising print classifieds back in 1997 when we thought that ‘this internet thing might actually be starting to take off’. Fast forward to today and we have close to 800 team members across Australia and New Zealand and we’re part of CAR Group - an ASX 50 business and a global leader in digital marketplaces across Oceania, Asia and The Americas.

And don’t let our name fool you – we might have the word “car” in there, but we’re about so much more....

When it comes to your career, we want to provide big opportunities to help you make a big impact. But for this to be possible, we strive to feel small. Small enough to quickly change tack, small enough to learn from different departments and small enough to connect authentically with leadership.

Not something you’d expect from one of the country’s biggest tech companies, is it?

There are a lot of things to love about carsales. Our uniqueness comes from having the rare combination of being able to provide all the benefits of a big tech company – being growth, security and resource – coupled with the feeling of a small organisation, which gives agility, opportunity and autonomy to our people. We’re a place where you can truly move your career forward and we’re proud to offer a dynamic workplace experience which transcends a mere list of perks and benefits.

Our people are Software Developers. Engineers. Product Managers. Data Analysts. Designers. Sales, Media and Advertising specialists. Researchers. Customer Service stars. Content Producers. Finance experts. Photographers. Marketing magicians. Legal eagles. And People and Culture peeps.

Industry
IT & Software
Company Size
501-1,000 employees
Headquarters
Melbourne, AU
Year Founded
1997
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