Director, Assistant General Counsel, South East Asia & India (SEA&I)
Singapore
WHO YOU’LL WORK WITH
The SEA&I Legal Director reports to the VP Global, NA, APLA & Converse Marketplace Counsel and leads the legal function for Southeast Asia. You will be a member of the SEA&I Leadership Team and partner closely with teammates across OGC (Office of the General Counsel), the business, and global and regional functions. You will build and lead a legal team based in Singapore to support the evolving needs of the SEA marketplace. Depending on the successful candidate’s experience, including demonstrated legal leadership and deep India experience, the role may also include leadership responsibility for the India legal team.
WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR
We are looking for a high-judgment, business-focused legal leader who operates with clarity, ownership, and accountability. You are able to independently manage complex legal and commercial matters across a diverse set of markets, consistently delivering clear, practical, and business-ready guidance.
You demonstrate strong commercial acumen, sound legal judgment, and a disciplined approach to execution. You proactively identify risks, validate assumptions, and drive solutions without relying on direction for matters within your remit. You go beyond transactional law and regulatory compliance, bringing a deep understanding of business objectives and anticipating risks in a fast-paced, matrixed environment.
You are confident engaging senior leaders, bringing a clear point of view and communicating with precision, clarity, and impact. You operate effectively across geo and global teams, navigating complexity while maintaining strong alignment and accountability. This role requires legal rigor, commercial pragmatism, and the ability to deliver concise, actionable guidance across a broad range of legal, regulatory, and business issues impacting SEA&I.
You are an effective people leader who builds trust, develops capability, and drives accountability across the team. You foster a collaborative, solutions-oriented environment and enable the team to balance legal risk with business priorities while operating effectively in a resource-constrained setting.
Required Qualifications:
- Juris Doctor (JD), Master of Laws (LL.M.), or international equivalent; licensed to practice law in Singapore and/or another relevant jurisdiction.
- Minimum 10+ years of legal experience, including substantial experience in a leading law firm and/or in-house legal department; experience in a multinational environment strongly preferred.
- Substantive experience advising on commercial, consumer, digital commerce, sales, distribution, marketing, and marketplace matters across multiple Southeast Asia markets, including experience in several of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines; experience spanning all or most of these markets is strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated experience advising on marketplace and route-to-market models, including direct retail, wholesale and distributor models, digital commerce, and third-party marketplaces.
- Experience navigating market-entry and expansion issues, including legal entity structures, business licensing, foreign ownership restrictions, and regulatory requirements across multiple jurisdictions.
- Demonstrated experience drafting and negotiating complex commercial agreements and managing strategic transactions.
- Strong experience partnering across Tax, Customs, Finance, Corporate Governance, Supply Chain, Technology, and Commercial teams to develop and implement legally compliant and commercially viable operating models.
- Excellent communication skills in English, with the ability to provide clear, concise, and business-focused guidance to stakeholders at all levels.
- Strong financial and commercial acumen, including understanding of key business drivers, revenue models, and margin implications.
- For candidates who will assume leadership responsibility for the India legal team, significant India legal experience and demonstrated experience leading lawyers and/or a legal function are required.
WHAT YOU’LL WORK ON
You will be a trusted advisor to the SEA&I business, delivering clear, practical, and commercially focused legal guidance and helping enable Nike’s evolving marketplace strategy across the region.
You will:
- Lead legal strategy and deliver business-aligned legal support across Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines, with responsibility for India determined based on the successful candidate’s experience and final team structure.
- Build, lead, and develop the legal team in Singapore, creating the capabilities and operating model needed to support the evolving SEA marketplace.
- Advise on marketplace strategy and expansion, developing practical paths to enable Nike Direct, Nike.com, third-party marketplaces, and evolving wholesale, distributor, and partner models.
- Lead legal analysis of route-to-market and operating-model structures, including legal entity, licensing, foreign ownership, distributor, merchant-of-record, consignment, and marketplace arrangements.
- Proactively identify and address legal and regulatory barriers to growth, providing leadership with clear options, trade-offs, and recommendations.
- Partner across Tax, Customs, Finance, Corporate Governance, Supply Chain, Technology, and Commercial teams to develop marketplace solutions that are legally compliant, operationally viable, and aligned with business priorities.
- Draft, negotiate, and manage complex commercial agreements, including strategic transactions, partner arrangements, dispute resolution, and agreement lifecycle management.
- Support the evolution of Nike’s marketplace by ensuring legal strategy keeps pace with changes in consumer channels, digital commerce, fulfillment models, and strategic marketplace partnerships.
- Strengthen and continuously improve the legal operating model through scalable processes, templates, playbooks, technology, and effective use of external resources.
- Collaborate with Legal Directors and OGC teammates across APLA and globally to share best practices and effectively manage cross-border and regional issues.
- Communicate complex issues with clarity and discipline, providing a clear point of view and concise, actionable recommendations to senior leaders.
- Where the role includes India leadership, lead and develop the India legal team and provide strategic legal leadership for the India business, working closely with India, territory, and APLA leadership.
