Position Reports to:
TBC

Location:
Cape Town or Johannesburg

Purpose of the Position:
Produces legal agreements and offers for clients, whether for land and/or commercial agreements, around Power Purchase Agreements. Responsible for overseeing all legal aspects of commercial transactions, including contract drafting and assisting with negotiation and legal compliance.

Key Responsibilities

• Contract Management: Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating documented commercial offers for clients, including both land and commercial agreements, around Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). Reaching agreement with landowners through negotiation, as well as producing agreement documentation while driving the signing process. Identifying potential legal risks in contracts and proposing mitigation strategies, while standardising contract templates to ensure consistency and efficiency.
• Negotiation & Agreement Process: Negotiate the PPA key-terms (based on Mpuma Power’s existing templates) with commercial clients and page-turning agreements, until a mutual agreement is in place.
• Legal Agreements & Advice: Do the legal agreements with panel and inverter suppliers, while overseeing all legal agreements with third party providers. Providing legal guidance to business teams on commercial matters -including sales, procurement, and operations- to ensure the smooth execution of commercial agreements. Analysing legal implications of business decisions and proposing solutions.
• Compliance: Monitoring changes in relevant law and regulation to ensure compliance across all commercial activities. Developing and implementing compliance policies and procedures related to commercial transactions.
• Risk Management: Identifying and assessing potential legal risks associated with commercial transactions, then implementing risk mitigation strategies and advising on risk management practice.
• Dispute Resolution: Managing commercial disputes, including negotiation with counterparties and potential litigation and collaborating with external counsel on complex disputes.
• Oversight: Of all relevant legal and commercial projects, transactions and risk management.

Required Skills & Knowledge

• Legal & Commercial: Expertise in all relevant legal and commercial matters, including drafting agreements and advice.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Capacity for reaching mutual agreements with landowners, panel and inverter suppliers, and other third party providers, as well as driving the signing process and negotiating all PPA’s key-terms.
• Financial & Budgeting Acumen: Financially literate and competence in managing budgets and expenses, while providing value added services (like calculating power-usage and savings for prospective clients in Mpuma Power deals).
• Technology Proficiency: Intermediate to advanced proficiency in MS Excel, MS Word, MS PowerPoint, and MS Outlook.
• Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with fluency in English (a second South African language is advantageous).

Qualifications & Experience

• Minimum Education: Completed tertiary qualification in a relevant subject.
• Work Experience: Minimum 3+ years of experience in a similar role in commercial law, including contract drafting and negotiation. Industry experience is advantageous in solar, renewables, civil engineering, construction, legal, or commercial property.
• Expertise: Deep understanding of relevant legal statutes and regulations.
• Commercial Agreements & Negotiation: Proven track record in managing process and closing commercial agreements, as well as documentation creation, editing, and recording.
• Performance Monitoring & Reporting: Proficient in tracking, analysing, and reporting on key project performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure efficiency and accountability.

Required Characteristics & Competencies

• Self-Direction & Planning: Systematically self-organising; including activities, setting timeframes, and prioritising tasks to ensure efficient project execution. Ability to work independently and manage multiple projects simultaneously. Able to follow and execute on a brief.
• Solutions Orientated: Excellent analytical and problem solving skills.
• Negotiating & Stakeholder Management: Reaching agreements with various stakeholders, whether one-on-one or multiple parties, while maintaining personable interactions and still delivering on KPIs.
• Result-Oriented: Maintaining disciplined focus on delivering KPIs (including milestones, budget, and quality standards).
• Flexibility: Adaptable to change in project conditions, challenges, and adjusting priorities.
• Confidence & EQ: In addition to being personable when interacting with stakeholders. Strong communication and interpersonal skills to collaborate with cross-functional teams.
• Articulacy & Writing: Must be articulate in speech and writing. Writing well and engagingly, including writing good letters and emails, is a key competency. For example, comfortable instructing lawyers on the basis of a commercial agreement with a client.
• Professionally Driven: A personal commitment to continual professional personal growth and self-betterment in such a way as to enhance professional expertise, credibility , KPI delivery.