Senior Legal Counsel

Wärtsilä is a world leader in marine technology and leading the industry's transformation towards a decarbonised and sustainable future. With the world’s widest portfolio and service network, we – Wärtsilians - deliver efficient, safe and sustainable integrated products and solutions to enhance the business of our customers. The opportunities presented through digitalisation and new technologies are offering a new era of shipping. Did you know that shipping is the world’s most efficient mode of transportation and that 88% of the world's trade is carried by sea?

We want to change the course towards an interconnected and cleaner maritime future and are constantly on the lookout for future-oriented talent to join our team and to work towards enabling sustainable societies through innovation in technology and services - together. Are you ready to jump onboard?

Would you like to be part of Wärtsilä’s journey to decarbonize the maritime industry? Marine Legal & Compliance supports Wärtsilä’s Marine businesses by enabling growth, safeguarding the business, and upholding trust. The team works across the full contract lifecycle and helps the business balance commercial opportunity with legal, compliance, financial, operational, and reputational risk. This role will serve as a senior regional legal partner for Latin America, with a strong focus on commercial contracting, compliance-sensitive transactions, dispute prevention and handling, and business partnering across sales, delivery, lifecycle, and selected strategic initiatives.

Main responsibilities

• Draft, review, structure, and negotiate complex commercial agreements in support of Marine businesses, including project sales, equipment delivery, lifecycle/service agreements, framework agreements, amendments, NDAs, notices, and other legal documentation.
• Provide practical, solutions-oriented legal advice to business stakeholders in Latin America across the full contract lifecycle, including pre-bid, bid, negotiation, execution, delivery, claims, and disputes.
• Act as the primary legal business partner for matters involving customers and opportunities in Latin America,
• Support negotiation strategy and escalation analysis under Marine Legal & Compliance policies, including use of contract templates, GTCs, approval matrices, and deviation processes.
• Partner closely with Sales, Project Delivery, lifecycle/service teams, business control, risk, compliance, trade compliance, safety, cyber, data privacy, sourcing, and other internal stakeholders to ensure that legal and compliance considerations are addressed in commercial activities.
• Advise on cross-border and public-sector / state-owned-customer transactions in the region, including risk allocation, liability, subcontracting, assignment, delivery, compliance, and procurement-related issues.
• Support compliance and integrity initiatives relevant to the region, including anti-corruption, Know Your Business Partner / third-party risk, Code of Conduct, and related awareness-building.
• Contribute to legal training, template development, continuous improvement, and simplification of contracting processes, and help business teams understand when and how to involve Marine Legal & Compliance.
• Provide legal support in strategic areas relevant to Marine’s current priorities, including decarbonisation, new fuels, regulatory implementation, safety, and selected digital/cyber/data issues as they arise in regional transactions.

Required qualifications

• Qualified to practice law in Brazil or, alternatively, in the relevant jurisdiction of hire.
• LL.M. degree required.
• Strong post-graduation legal experience as a practicing attorney at a reputable law firm, and preferably as in-house counsel.
• Strong experience drafting and negotiating sophisticated commercial agreements in Portuguese and English; ability to also draft and negotiate in Spanish is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to advise business stakeholders independently, negotiate high-complexity matters, and balance legal protection with commercial practicality

Preferred experience

• Experience supporting marine, industrial equipment, lifecycle/service, energy, oil & gas, infrastructure, or other technically complex B2B sectors.
• Experience with Latin American civil-law jurisdictions, especially Brazil and broader South/Central America.
• Experience with public procurement / government-related counterparties, state-owned entities, or other regulated counterparties.
• Familiarity with anti-corruption, third-party risk / KYBP, data/privacy, trade compliance, cyber/security-related clauses, and policy-based contract governance.
• Experience delivering internal training, building playbooks/templates, and working in a policy-driven contracting environment.

What success looks like in this role

• Trusted legal partner to Marine stakeholders in Latin America.
• Strong, business-facing negotiator who can lead matters independently in Portuguese and English, and preferably Spanish.
• Able to identify the big picture quickly, understand the contract and the business need, assess legal/commercial/compliance risk, involve the right stakeholders, and move matters forward pragmatically.
• Collaborative, commercially minded, solution-oriented, and comfortable operating in a matrixed global organization.

Why join us

You will join a highly capable global legal and compliance team that plays a central role in supporting Wärtsilä Marine’s commercial, compliance, and decarbonisation agenda. Marine Legal & Compliance works at the intersection of contracting, technology, regulation, safety, and strategic business partnering, with opportunities to contribute meaningfully to both regional business execution and wider global initiatives.

Last application date: 17/04/2026 

At Wärtsilä we value, respect and embrace all our differences, and are committed to diversity, inclusion and equal employment opportunities; everyone can be their true self and succeed based on their job-relevant merits and abilities. 

Please note that according to Wärtsilä policy, voluntary consent for a security check may be required from candidates being considered for this position, depending on the applicable country.

This is Wärtsilä 

Wärtsilä is a global leader in innovative technologies and lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy markets. Our team of 18,300 professionals, in more than 230 locations in 77 countries, shape the decarbonisation transformation of our industries across the globe. Read more on www.wartsila.com. 

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