Job Description

The Legal Counsel – Commercial Contracts (all genders) will be a member of the European legal team and will be responsible for drafting, reviewing, negotiating, and managing commercial contracts. The successful candidate will work closely with other contract specialists and lawyers, as well as senior management and business professionals within WuXi AppTec to facilitate timely review and completion of a high volume of contracts with customers and suppliers in accordance with WuXi AppTec’s policies and standards.

This job is hybrid in Munich, Germany.

Responsibilities

Essential Job Functions:

• Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of commercial contracts, including customer, vendor, consultant, confidentiality, and collaboration agreements.
• Serve as a strategic legal advisor to sales, operations, finance, and business leadership by providing pragmatic, risk-balanced solutions that enable revenue growth while protecting the Company.
• Identify and assess risks and offer practical alternatives and mitigation strategies.
• Negotiate directly with customers and counterparties; manage outside counsel when required.
• Ensure contracts are consistent with regulatory requirements, Company policies, and evolving industry standards.
• Support dispute avoidance and resolution and assist Finance with collecting outstanding receivables.
• Track the status of contracts and projects and regularly communicate with stakeholders.
• Archive contracts and manage contract databases.
• Develop and maintain data-driven contract analytics, including volume, turnaround time and other metrics.
• Create and manage scalable contract templates, alternative clause libraries, and playbooks.
• Periodically assess emerging legal risks (e.g., AI use, data security, cross-border data transfers, evolving regulatory frameworks) and proactively update templates and processes accordingly.
• Partner cross-functionally on digital transformation initiatives (e.g., AI governance, data privacy compliance, cybersecurity clauses).
• Educate business stakeholders on contracting best practices and self-service tools.
• Deliver high-quality service to internal stakeholders, balancing responsiveness, commercial practicality, and risk management.

Qualifications

Education / Experience:

• Fully qualified under German law
• (First and Second State Examination with strong results), with eligibility for registration as an in-house counsel to the German bar. Alternatively, admitted to the bar and in good standing in another EU/EEA
• Full professional fluency in English.
• German fluency is preferred; French language skills are a plus.
• Minimum of 4-7 years of progressive experience drafting, reviewing, and negotiating complex commercial agreements, preferably in the life sciences, pharmaceutical, biotech, or CDMO industry.
• Experience negotiating master service agreements, development agreements, supply agreements, and related commercial contracts in a regulated environment strongly preferred.
• Experience at a leading law firm and/or in-house legal department supporting life sciences clients preferred.
• Demonstrated experience working with contract lifecycle management platforms and digital contract repositories.
• Exposure to or experience using AI-assisted drafting tools, automation platforms, or legal technology solutions in contracting workflows.
• Experience using data and metrics to improve contract cycle times.
• Familiarity with cross-border contracting considerations, data privacy regulations, and evolving regulatory frameworks impacting global life sciences companies preferred.

Knowledge / Skills / Abilities:

• Demonstrated ability managing and negotiating contracts, preferably at a CDMO, or at a company in the pharmaceutical or biotech industry.
• Excellent legal writing, analytical reasoning, and verbal communication skills, with the ability to distill complex legal issues into practical business guidance.
• Process-oriented mindset with the ability to identify inefficiencies and drive continuous improvement and scalability.
• Strong organizational and prioritization skills, with the ability to manage multiple transactions under tight deadlines.
• Excellent attention to detail while maintaining commercial pragmatism.
• Ability to work independently and confidently interact with management, business development, operations, and external counterparties.
• Ability to quickly learn and adapt to new information and conduct risk/benefit analysis; strong analytical skills; demonstrated business acumen.
• Ability to interpret contract metrics (e.g., cycle time, deviation analysis, risk trends) and translate insights into actionable process improvements.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite: experience with contract management tools preferred.