Dy. Head Legal

VVF GROUP

Deputy Head – Legal

Role Brief / Job Description

Function	Legal — enterprise-wide legal risk, contracts and multi-state litigation across VVF India
Reports To	Legal Head
Location	Corporate Office, Mumbai; regular travel to plants and courts across Maharashtra, Gujarat & Himachal Pradesh

Own VVF India's legal risk and contractual backbone end-to-end — from revenue-critical contracts across manufacturing, supply and consumer-brand agreements, to a live, multi-state litigation portfolio spanning Maharashtra, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Operates as a strategic partner to the MD and business heads, not a transactional legal-support function — bringing independent judgment on litigation strategy and risk appetite, not just executing instructions.

●       Own contract strategy for all revenue-bearing agreements — CMB manufacturing, distributor/customer and supply/raw-material contracts — as a P&L lever, not paperwork; build and govern standard templates, a risk-tiered approval matrix, and a central repository with renewal/obligation tracking.

●       Own and drive to resolution VVF's active property/land litigation portfolio across Maharashtra, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, with direct accountability for outcomes, not just monitoring.

●       Bring working command of state-specific land, revenue and tenancy law, and standing relationships with counsel before the relevant High Courts and revenue/collector authorities in these three states.

●       Set litigation strategy (fight vs. settle) per matter, risk-rate it, and manage external counsel to cost and outcome.

●       Own the legal/compliance calendar across all plants — Factories Act, environment & pollution consents, hazardous chemicals rules, labour codes, FSSAI, Legal Metrology — and lead regulator interactions (audits, inspections, show-cause notices).

●       Run anti-bribery, POSH and code-of-conduct frameworks jointly with HR.

●       Support Board/committee matters — related-party transactions, subsidiary governance — and advise on M&A, JV, investment and cross-border structuring.

●       Protect trademarks, product claims, packaging and advertising for consumer brands (e.g., Softsens); govern IP ownership in CMB and R&D arrangements.

●       Own Company Secretarial compliance and filings — scope pending confirmation (see note below).

●       Build and lead a lean in-house legal function; track and report external legal spend by matter and firm to the CFO/MD each quarter.

●       Owns: litigation strategy and settlement approach for all matters within the delegated threshold, external counsel appointment and cost governance, the contract approval matrix, and the compliance calendar.

●       Does not own: final Board-level litigation/settlement authorization above the delegated threshold (rests with MD/Board), or group-wide procurement contract terms set centrally (Global Supply Chain Head) — Legal reviews but does not set these.

●       Consults the CFO on matters with material financial/audit exposure and the MD on reputational or Board-level risk; the final legal-strategy call rests with the Head – Legal.

●       18–22 years PQE with direct ownership (not support) of a multi-state litigation portfolio, ideally including property/land disputes — generalist litigation exposure alone is not sufficient.

●       Demonstrated, specific working knowledge of courts, revenue authorities and land law in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

●       Track record negotiating and governing high-value commercial contracts in a manufacturing or contract-manufacturing environment.

●       LLB required; LLM, Company Secretary, or arbitration accreditation preferred; enrolled with the Bar Council.

●       Comfortable operating as a strategic advisor to MD/CFO/Board, not solely an execution-level legal function.

●       Standard contract templates and a risk-tiered approval matrix live across all business units.

●       Full litigation register live — every property/land matter across Maharashtra, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh risk-rated, with budget and named strategy; material progress achieved on currently open matters.

●       Compliance calendar covers every plant with named owners; zero missed statutory deadlines.

●       External legal spend tracked and reported to CFO/MD quarterly, against budget; business teams receive contract turnaround within an agreed SLA.