Director of Legal (Public, Property and Employment)
Date: 8 Oct 2025
Location: Palestra, TfL Corporate
Company: TfL, GLA or OPDC
Director of Legal
((Public and Regulatory, Property and Planning and Employment))
Position Type - Full Time
Grade - Director
Reporting into – General Counsel
Contract – Permanent
Location – Palestra Head Office (Hybrid)
About Us
Transport for London (TfL) is one of the world’s leading transport authorities overseeing London's extensive transport system, facilitating 31 million journeys daily.
We run the day-to-day operation of the Capital's public transport network and manage various modes of transport, including buses, Underground, the Elizabeth line, Overground, trams and river services, along with road networks and road user charging schemes. In addition to our core transport purpose, we have a significant advertising portfolio, and we engage in substantial property development, including supporting the provision of affordable housing. With a workforce of approximately 28,000, we impact millions of lives daily and this is an exciting opportunity to join as a Director of Legal.
The Legal Directorate is instrumental in delivering high-quality, strategic legal direction and advice across TfL and to the Greater London Authority (GLA) group (including the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, the London Legacy Development Corporation and the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation) to ensure that the operations, projects, and policies are legally compliant and aligned with the broader Mayoral strategies.
The overall Legal Directorate encompasses a wide range of specialisms including Commercial Law, Commercial Disputes Resolution, Public and Regulatory Law, Property and Planning Law and Employment Law. Our team works closely with other TfL departments and the GLA bodies to provide robust legal advice on major initiatives, projects, policies and transactions that often have significant financial, operational, and reputational implications.
About the Role
As the Director of responsible for the Public and Regulatory Law, Property and Planning Law and Employment Law teams within the Legal Directorate, you will play a pivotal role in setting the legal strategy for TfL and the wider GLA group, overseeing a directorate of approximately 50 legal professionals and managing an associated budget of around £3 million. You will also oversee external legal spend for TfL and the GLA bodies and will be the lead for the Legal Directorate on the relationship with the GLA group.
In this senior leadership position, you will provide expert legal counsel on a wide range of contentious and non-contentious matters, including but not limited to, complex, high profile public law issues affecting TfL and other members of the GLA group, property development and planning law matters and employment law policies and matters. You will also work closely with the Legal Director who is responsible for the Commercial Law and Commercial Disputes Resolution teams, ensuring a seamless service to all clients. Your advice will be crucial in helping TfL and the GLA bodies achieve the Mayoral strategies while ensuring compliance with relevant legislation and regulations.
You will be responsible for ensuring that the Public and Regulatory Law, Property and Planning Law and Employment Law teams maintain the appropriate levels of expertise and resources across all specialisms. Additionally, you will lead the teams in managing legal risks, providing strategic guidance on high profile and complex issues and disputes (including judicial reviews) that could have significant reputational and financial impact.
In this role, you will regularly interact with the most senior levels of the organisations we advise, including the Commissioner, Executive Committee, and Directors of TfL, senior officers across the GLA Group including the Mayor’s Chief of Staff and Deputy Mayor’s and key stakeholders across Government departments, and external partners.
This is a unique opportunity to lead a high-performing legal team in one of the UK’s most dynamic public sector organisations, influencing the legal landscape of London’s transport network and beyond.
About You
You will be a professionally qualified solicitor or barrister in the UK (or equivalent jurisdiction) operating at a senior level, with extensive post-qualification in-house experience within a complex public sector or regulated environment (essential).
Your background will demonstrate a deep expertise of multiple areas of law with particular experience in public and regulatory law matters, both contentious and non-contentious, with a proven track record of successfully managing significant legal matters of high value and complexity (essential).
As a strategic leader, you will possess exceptional communication and influencing skills, with experience of engaging credibly and effectively at the highest levels of your organisation (up to and including Board level) and of navigating politically sensitive issues (essential). You should be able to demonstrate a highly developed ability to assimilate complex and ambiguous information and to get to the core of situations to provide clear legal direction. Strong communication and negotiations skills will be essential to bring credibility to relationships.
You will have experience leading large and diverse teams of in-house legal professionals (essential), fostering a culture of collaboration, development, and excellence and will be driven by best practice and ensuring your team remains at the forefront of legal expertise through ongoing professional development and training programmes. You will also be able to collaborate with the Director who is responsible for the Commercial Law and Commercial Disputes Resolution teams, ensuring a seamless service to all clients, deputising for them as appropriate, particularly on management matters.
You will have extensive experience of overseeing relationships with external legal providers (essential), ensuring that your organisation’s legal services are delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner.
Your ability to balance legal risks with strategic objectives will be crucial in helping TfL navigate the complex legal landscape in which it operates, ensuring that all business activities are conducted in accordance with statutory powers, internal standing orders, and relevant regulations.
How to apply
Please submit an up-to-date copy of your CV along with a cover letter (no more than 2 A4 pages Arial size 12).
We recommend that you consider the motivations, skills, knowledge and experience required for this role and ensure your application outlines where you meet the required criteria.
Closing date for applications will be Monday 27th October 2025
We anticipate for 1st stage interviews to be held on w/c Monday 17th November 2025
We will make every effort to give you as much notice as possible, however some interviews/assessments could be organised at short notice.
For a more detailed copy of the job description or any questions on the role, please contact Senior Executive Recruitment Consultant Jay Patel, talentacquisitionandexecutiverecruitment@tfl.gov.uk
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. We want to represent the city we serve, which will help us become a more innovative and efficient organisation. Our goal is to make our recruitment as inclusive as possible. We are a disability confident employer who guarantee an interview to any disabled candidate who meets all of the essential criteria.
Hybrid Working (for eligible roles only)
Hybrid working within this role enables a balance of 50 per cent of time split between the office and home over a 4-week period. Hybrid working arrangements can evolve subject to business requirements.
NPL Applications:
Applications to internally advertised roles can only be accepted from temporary workers who are on PAYE terms via agency, or PAYE via Umbrella Companies. Temporary workers who are paid through their own limited companies are not covered by the Agency Worker Regulations and are ineligible to apply.
Additional Information - Eligibility (for Internal Employees)
Probation:
In line with our Resourcing Policy (Feb 2014), internal employees are required to complete their probationary period before applying for internal TfL positions. Please ensure you have successfully completed your probation before submitting an application for this role, otherwise your application may be withdrawn.
Formal Warnings:
Internal employees with any current formal warnings are not eligible to apply for internal TfL vacancies until expiry of the warning. Ineligible applications may be withdrawn. Details of what is defined as a current formal warning can be found on Platform: