WE ARE HIRING!
Position Title: Head of Legal and Compliance
Department: Legal and Compliance
Employment Type: Full-time
Help us reimagine the 21st-century University.
We are Fulbright University Vietnam (Fulbright), Vietnams first independent, not-for-profit, liberal arts university. We are an expanding international team of educational innovators, with deep roots in Vietnam, strong political and financial backing, and connections to educational institutions around the world. Importantly, Fulbright is committed to serving Vietnam society through rigorous research and responsible civic engagement.
We seek outstanding faculty and professional staff to join our growing team. Fulbrights team thrives on a passion for educating the next generation of Vietnam leaders equipped with the skills to tackle global challenges. We are creative, adaptive, determined with a good sense of humor.
If you want to see Vietnams youths meet their greatest potential, join us! Our flagship campus will be located in Saigon Hi-Tech Park, in Ho Chi Minh City (District 9). Until phase 1 of campus construction is completed in Fall 2026, we are located at Crescent Plaza, Tan Phu, in Ho Chi Minh City (District 7).
Job scope
The Head of Legal and Compliance, Fulbright University Vietnam Corporation and Fulbright University Vietnam (collectively FUV) provides strategic legal advice of the high standards to form part of the decision-making process throughout FUV by the Board of Trustees, the President, and the Vice Presidents and other department heads, as well as to earn trust from the donors, sponsors and partners. As FUV operates at the intersection of traditional and innovative education, the incumbent must possess the ability to deliver best-quality legal services in light of FUVs mission to inspire new generations of leaders and ambitious thinkers of diverse origin to serve Vietnam society and contribute to a better world.
The Head of Legal and Compliance provides legal supports in all aspects of the corporate, development, granting and donation, academic and operational issues. The Head of Legal and Compliance leads and ensures effective management of the Legal Department, the efficient use of external resources. The incumbent works closely with other senior executives to ensure effective communication and information flow on legal matters related to the operational and academic activities of FUV.
This is a demanding and multi-tasking position and will require an experienced leader with strong leadership, coaching and coordinating skills combined with profound business understanding in education sector.
Key duties:
- To ensure FUV to operate in compliance with laws and regulations, especially the Education law, Enterprise Law and Labor Law, to protect and optimize legitimate interests of FUV, contribute to building the reputation of FUV, by way of providing quality legal services;
- To develop a corporate legal strategy that both promotes legal interests and and optimizes the operational autonomy of FUV;
- To provide high quality legal input to the decisions of the Board of Trustees, the President, the Vice Presidents and other department heads;
- To drive a culture of professional excellence and agility, as well as provide vision and effective leadership for the Legal Team;
- To protect and defend FUV from legal risks.
Reporting Lines
Solid reports to: Vice President for Operations and Business Development
Dotted-line reports to: NA
List by title positions which report directly to this position:
- Senior Legal Counsel
- Legal Officer
Roles and Responsibilities
The roles and responsibilities of the Head of Legal and Compliance includes but is not limited to:
Corporate Consulting
- Reviewing/drafting contracts and legal documents during the operation of FUV;
- Reviewing/drafting MOUs and other agreements for academic cooperation with foreign and local institutions and universities;
- Building legal template repository, providing legal guidance for optimizing the template usage;
- Advising various legal issues, providing legal trainings and updates;
- Providing legal support and advice for FUVs education initiatives;
- Central file-keeping, developing and maintaining contract management system, ensuring complete and accurate copies of contract documentation are kept and accessible;
- Developing and managing relationships with external law firms, ensuring the use of external legal services with cost efficiency and best quality
Corporate Licensing and IP Registration
- Obtaining, maintaining and updating corporate licenses including enterprise registration, investment certificate, etc.
- Registering, maintaining and protecting FUVs IP rights;
- Advising other IP matters, including copyright associated with lectures, project works, presentations, researches, etc. conducted by FUV or funded by FUVs resources.
District 9 Campus and Special Transactions
- Advising legal matters related to the land lease contract with SHTP;
- Assisting in legal matters of District 9 Campus development project, reviewing contracts with contractors, consultants and suppliers for FUVs best legitimate interest;
- Assisting in legal matters of strategic financing/funding/granting transactions such as those with DFC, Sovico/HDBank and individual donors, providing legal advice, conducting or responding to legal due diligence, drafting/reviewing agreements for those transactions;
- Supporting post-transaction legal issues
Corporate Governance, Risk Management and Dispute Resolution
- Proposing steps and measures to improve the organisation and internal coordination of FUV, including registration of required boards, councils, personnels from both corporate and university perspectives;
- Proposing effective processes and systems for the execution of contracts and other legal documents;
- Contributing to new legislation related to FUVs operation, especially in education sector;
- Responding to authorities requests or investigations related to the compliance with Education Law, Enterprise Law, Labor Law and others;
- Assisting other departments in legal reporting;
- Assisting other departments including HR, Finance, Academic affairs in responding to authorities periodical or irregular investigations;
- Representing FUV in disputes, litigation or other legal proceedings (if any)
Other duties:
Contributing to team effort by welcoming new and different work requirements; exploring new opportunities to enhance the services of the department; helping others accomplish related job results as and where needed; and perform other duties as assigned.
What we look for
Education: Bachelors degree in law or above
Experience:
- Experience in leading a complex legal function and building strong corporate governance;
- Minimum 10-year legal practice with 4-year service as head of in-house counsel departments;
- A Professional Lawyer Certificate issued by the BAR Association is an advantage.
- Experience in international law is preferred.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Proficiency in English and Vietnamese
- Well versed in all aspects of Education Law, Enterprise Law, Labor Law and regulations; Experience in education laws and US rules and regulations is an advantage.
- Profound understanding of business needs, strong ability to view from different angles and propose solutions that best balances commercial and legal interests;
- Strong strategic, analytical and influencing skill;
- Excellent legal drafting skill;
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively with senior peers;
