(Senior) Legal Counsel - Business Partner Legal Commercial (all genders)

KWS is one of the world\’s leading plant breeding companies. Nearly 5,000 employees in more than 70 countries generated net sales of around €1.68 billion in the fiscal year 2023/2024. A company with a tradition of family ownership, KWS has operated independently for almost 170 years. It focuses on plant breeding and the production and sale of seed for sugarbeet, corn, cereals, vegetables, oilseed rape and sunflower. KWS uses leading-edge plant breeding methods to continuously improve yield for farmers and plants\‘ resistance to diseases, pests and abiotic stress. To that end, the company invested more than €300 million last fiscal year in research and development.

For our Global Legal & IP Team, we are seeking to recruit a (Senior) Legal Counsel – Business Partner Legal Commercial (m/f/d) for KWS Berlin GmbH. In this role, you will primarily be responsible for the legal matters of our globally active and rapidly expanding Business Unit Vegetables, providing high-quality, business-oriented legal advice. Acting as a proactive and pragmatic sparring partner, you will support the KWS business with an in-depth understanding of the seed industry and its market dynamics.

This is a permanent, full-time position based in Berlin or at our Headquarters in Einbeck.

Your Tasks:

• Provide pragmatic, solution-oriented legal advice on a wide range of issues mainly relating to our global Business Unit Vegetables, focusing on licensing, distribution, service, supply, lease, purchase, confidentiality, marketing, and other commercial agreements
• Manage and coordinate civil and administrative litigation matters
• Act as a trusted sparring partner to the business, identifying new business opportunities, structuring marketing models, and ensuring legally sound solutions with a strong commercial focus
• Provide legal support for mergers and acquisitions
• Member and organization of Company Boards
• Support the Expert Hub Legal by developing and implementing standard contracts, templates, model clauses, document management, and know-how/license management, as well as supporting overarching corporate matters
• Manage and coordinate the work of external legal advisors

• Fully qualified lawyer or comparable degree
• Extensive professional experience in commercial law within an international business environment
• Broad knowledge of national and international law
• Ability to provide legally sound yet pragmatic and business-focused advice
• High degree of flexibility, mobility, and resilience
• Excellent customer orientation combined with an entrepreneurial mindset
• Strong communication skills across diverse stakeholder groups and hierarchy levels
• Team player with an independent, structured working style and strong social competence
• Fluent in English (written and spoken); knowledge of Portuguese and/or Spanish is an advantage

• An exceptionally interesting and diverse job in an international environment with the opportunity to contribute innovative ideas
• Working in an international, highly motivated and dynamic team with flat hierarchies
• Targeted professional and personal development opportunities
• Flexible working hours with the possibility of hybrid work
• Flexible choice of location between our headquarters in Einbeck, Lower Saxony, and our \“KWS Kontor\“ in Berlin
• As a family-run company we are guided by the values of closeness, reliability, foresight and independence; this culture is lived out in practice, creating an open and friendly working atmosphere.
• True to our motto “Make yourself grow!”, we support employees\‘ professional and personal development.
• We offer excellent work equipment and sufficient parking spaces at the KWS location.
• We offer a company pension scheme, capital formation benefits, Christmas and holiday bonuses, special prices for company shares, childcare allowance and a job bike.