Description:
- Requires an advanced degree of JD (or international equivalent legal degree) and admission to relevant regulatory bar and/or active practicing certificate in at least one jurisdiction.
- 15+ years of experience including senior in-house legal leadership roles within a large, complex, multinational organization.
- Extensive experience leading legal teams supporting day‑to‑day business operations across multiple legal disciplines.
- We're reskilling our people, leveraging transferable skills, and supporting the transition of our workforce to become experts in today's low carbon energy infrastructure and technology.
- Join us to broaden your horizons, explore diverse opportunities, and be part of delivering sustainable change.
Building on our past. Ready for the future
Worley is a global professional services company of energy, chemicals and resources experts. We partner with customers to deliver projects and create value over the life of their assets. We're bridging two worlds, moving towards more sustainable energy sources, while helping to provide the energy, chemicals and resources needed now.
Group General Counsel, Global Operations
Role Location: Houston
Role Purpose:
Serves as the senior legal executive responsible for day-to-day commercial legal support delivered across Worley's global operations, leading the regional legal teams that encounter and manage the full spectrum of legal issues arising in the ordinary course of business. The General Counsel, Global Operations provides enterprise leadership for Worley's legal operating model, ensuring that employment, governance, commercial, disputes, regulatory, and other operational legal matters are escalated and/or handled efficiently, consistently, and with strong commercial judgment.
Reporting to the Chief Legal Officer and serving as the business partner to Worley's Group President, Global Operations, this role has direct leadership responsibility for all Regional General Counsels and Strategic Portfolio General Counsels. The role acts as the primary point of escalation for complex or high‑risk matters and as a peer to Worley's Centers of Excellence leaders, determining which issues should be resolved by regional teams and which require subject matter expert involvement. This role ensures seamless collaboration between operations-facing legal teams and specialist experts, while maintaining clarity of accountability and speed of execution.
Global Level Summary
As Worley advances its Purpose of delivering a more sustainable world, the role of General Counsel, Global Operations is critical to enabling scalable, high‑quality legal support across the company's Major Projects and Global Operations. This role manages Worley's Regional General Counsels and Strategic Portfolio General Counsels (spanning EPC/Construction, Consulting, Supply Chain, Technology Solutions, and Commercial) and their Global regional legal teams, who act as the first point of contact with the business across all legal domains encountered in daily operations, including commercial contracting, employment and labor matters, governance, regulatory issues, disputes, and claims.
The GC, Global Operations ensures that legal issues are addressed at the right level, by the right capability, at the right time. By overseeing Regional GCs and Strategic Portfolio GCs and acting as the escalation interface to functional Centers of Excellence, this role creates a disciplined, efficient legal operating model that balances commercial agility, risk management, and specialist excellence.
Decision Making:
Accountable for legal decision‑making across global operations, including determining escalation thresholds and routing matters between regional teams and Centers of Excellence. Exercises judgment on when issues should be handled locally by regional teams versus escalated to subject‑matter experts. Develops and implements global approaches to commercial legal risk that materially affect operational performance, financial outcomes, and long‑term value creation.
Supervision Received:
Reports to the Chief Legal Officer and operates with broad authority over global operational legal delivery. Work is guided by overall legal strategy, governance frameworks, and risk appetite, with a focus on execution quality, consistency, and strong business partnership.
Supervision Authority
Leads a large, multi-layered global team of legal professionals. Accountable for selection, development, talent and performance management, and remuneration of Global Operations legal team. Helps set and implement vision, operating model, and long-term capability roadmap for the organization.
Communication:
Communicates complex legal and commercial issues clearly and pragmatically to executive leadership, regional presidents, and operational teams. Serves as the principal conduit between operations-facing legal teams and specialist Centers of Excellence. Models inclusive leadership, encourages diverse perspectives, and builds strong trust-based partnerships across regions and cultures.
Systems, Processes & Tools
Deep understanding of legal service delivery models, escalation frameworks, and matter management processes. Establishes clear guidelines, playbooks, and decision trees to support regional teams and to define when and how matters are escalated to Centers of Excellence. Drives continuous improvement, consistency, and innovation in operational legal processes.
Leadership & Capability
Lead Worley's regional legal teams responsible for escalating and/or managing the full range of day‑to‑day legal issues, including commercial contracting, employment, governance, disputes, regulatory matters, and claims. Ensure consistent quality, responsiveness, and commercial alignment in legal advice delivered to the business across all regions and strategic portfolios.
Escalation & Centers of Excellence Interface
Act as the primary escalation point for complex, high‑risk, novel, or strategically significant legal matters. Determine when issues should be handled by regional generalists versus escalated to functional Centers of Excellence (e.g., litigation, employment, compliance, IP). Ensure efficient collaboration and clear accountability between regional teams and subject‑matter expert.
Commercial Leadership & Deal Enablement
With the support of Center of Excellence peers, oversee regional legal support for major projects, strategic customer relationships, joint ventures, and portfolio-level commercial initiatives. Ensure that commercial legal strategies are consistently applied and that regional teams are empowered to deliver solutions that enable growth while managing risk.
Capability Building & Inclusive Leadership
Develop strong, commercially minded generalist lawyers and leaders across regions. Foster an inclusive culture that values diverse perspectives, encourages innovation, and builds confidence in decision‑making at the appropriate level. Support succession planning and leadership development for Regional and Portfolio GCs.
Business Partnership & Strategic Alignment
Serve as a trusted legal and commercial advisor to executive leadership, regional presidents, and portfolio leaders. Ensure legal teams are deeply embedded in business planning and execution, providing pragmatic, solution-oriented advice that supports Worley's strategic and commercial objectives.
Qualifications:
- Requires an advanced degree of JD (or international equivalent legal degree) and admission to relevant regulatory bar and/or active practicing certificate in at least one jurisdiction.
- 15+ years of experience including senior in-house legal leadership roles within a large, complex, multinational organization.
- Extensive experience leading legal teams supporting day‑to‑day business operations across multiple legal disciplines.
- Proven ability to manage geographically dispersed legal leaders in a matrix environment and to integrate specialist expertise through Centers of Excellence.
- Strong commercial judgment, business acumen, and a demonstrated commitment to inclusive, empowering leadership.
- Moving forward together
We're committed to building a diverse, inclusive and respectful workplace where everyone feels they belong, can bring themselves, and are heard. We provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants and employees without regard to age, race, creed, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, disability status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, citizenship status or any other basis as protected by law.
We want our people to be energized and empowered to drive sustainable impact. So, our focus is on a values-inspired culture that unlocks brilliance through belonging, connection and innovation.
And we're not just talking about it; we're doing it. We're reskilling our people, leveraging transferable skills, and supporting the transition of our workforce to become experts in today's low carbon energy infrastructure and technology.
