Company: Birdlife International
Location: Cambridge
Posted: May 1st, 2026
Application deadline: Wednesday 20 May 2026 – 23:59 BST
Location: Cambridge, UK (hybrid working, maximum one week per month in Cambridge)
This is a hybrid role with the requirement to spend up to one ‘IBAT week’ per month in the David Attenborough Building in Cambridge.
Full-time: 35 hours per week
Contract: Open-ended
Salary: £50,000-53,000 per annum depending on skills/experience, plus competitive 12% pension benefit
Annual Leave: 25 days pro rata in year 1, increasing by 1 day p/a to 28 days
We’re BirdLife International, the only global Partnership conserving birds and all life on our planet. We exist to give one voice to nature, and to unite and strengthen conservation across borders.
We are looking for an IBAT Legal Manager to operate as our in‑house legal advisor to the IBAT business unit, providing contractual and other legal support to its operations.
The IBAT platform is the world’s most authoritative biodiversity platform, providing trusted data to assess biodiversity risks and align with global frameworks to support nature‑positive goals.
In this role, you will be drafting and negotiating IBAT subscription and collaboration agreements whilst also carrying out legal research and due diligence, ensuring statutory or regulatory compliance.
How you will do this:
Contracting – Managing the IBAT contracting process from initiation to completion and ongoing compliance. Working with IBAT customers and collaborators, providing advice on risk and monitoring and improving ways of working.
Legal research – Carrying out due diligence into prospective IBAT customers and carrying out research into specific topics, keeping colleagues updated on developments in applicable legislation.
Intellectual property – Researching third parties who are using IBAT data commercial without an appropriate licence agreement and ensuring and managing protection and appropriate use of intellectual property rights and trademarks.
Compliance – Advise on and assist with implementing data protection across the IBAT business unit. Maintaining up to date understanding of compliance requirements.
Policies and procedures – Developing policies, procedures and training materials to support statutory and organisational compliance across IBAT. Provide training in legal and organisational compliance and operational processes.
Risk management – Create and manage IBAT’s risk management process including the set‑up, review and update of the risk management framework, creating and maintaining a risk register and leading risk reporting.
Insurance – Assist in the review and negotiation of all insurance policy terms relating to IBAT to ensure that cover is adequate.
What we are looking for:
Educated to Degree level, you’ll have thorough knowledge of English contract law, familiarity with general legal environments, frameworks and commercial contract law.
Demonstrable knowledge of data privacy legislation and how to achieve compliance within the IBAT business unit.
Knowledge of intellectual property law.
Substantial experience of working in a fast‑paced commercial contracts role.
In addition, knowledge of competition law and of operating within an international environment is desirable.
You’ll be adaptable and culturally sensitive with a passion for conservation.
You’ll be a meticulous person with excellent time management skills and attention to detail. Self‑motivated and able to work with minimal supervision, you’ll also be aware of when to seek clarification. We’ll need you to have excellent written and verbal communication skills enabling you to summarise and simplify complex information to a range of audiences.
See the full job description here.
Some of our benefits:
We are able to offer a hybrid model of working on‑site and from home/remote for most roles, which helps to ensure a flexible work‑life balance.
A chance to work in the award‑winning David Attenborough Building, which brings together much of the Cambridge‑based conservation community on a ‘conservation campus.’
A generous pension scheme, up to 12% company contribution.
Holiday starting at 25 days excluding Bank Holidays and increasing for every year of service up to a maximum of 28 days.
Full access to LinkedIn Learning with access to more than 13,000 high‑quality, on‑demand courses.
Cycle to work scheme.
Employee Assistance Programme, including access to Health Assured online health portal (webinars, nutritional advice, 4‑week programmes, financial wellbeing and more).
BirdLife values a diverse workforce and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. Find out more about our Diversity statement.
We are committed to building and maintaining an inclusive and supportive culture, a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed on merit. We aim to promote a more inclusive environment, which attracts all candidates and signals our commitment to celebrate and promote diversity.
We will consider putting into place appropriate reasonable adjustments for candidates who may have a disability.
Interviews: First interviews will be held remotely during the week of 1 June.
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