Overview:
The Assistant General Counsel – EMEA is a senior regional legal leadership role responsible for delivering high‑quality, commercially focused legal support to Waters’ businesses across the assigned region. The role primarily supports the regional commercial teams for Waters Material Sciences, Waters Advanced Diagnostics, Waters BioSciences, and Waters Analytical Sciences, serving as a key legal partner to Regional and Field Leadership Vice Presidents and their Leadership Teams.
The incumbent works closely with senior commercial leaders to enable growth, support go‑to‑market execution, and manage legal and compliance risk in line with enterprise priorities. The role provides timely, pragmatic, and business‑focused legal advice across a broad range of commercial matters and plays a critical role in helping leaders navigate risk, trade‑offs, and decision‑making in dynamic regional environments.
A core expectation of the role is strong coordination and alignment across the global Legal organization. The Assistant General Counsel works closely with peer Assistant General Counsels supporting other regions—particularly the Americas and Greater China—to ensure consistency of legal guidance, shared priorities, and effective handling of cross‑regional matters.
The role also partners closely with the Deputy General Counsel for Waters Analytical Sciences, BioSciences, and IT to align on strategic priorities and to ensure appropriate visibility and awareness of regional legal work and material issues relevant to these functions, while retaining regional accountability for execution.
To support the business effectively at scale, the role emphasizes prioritization, process discipline, and effective ways of working. The Assistant General Counsel ensures legal demand is managed efficiently, high‑volume work is delivered through scalable approaches, and legal resources are deployed where they add the most value.
In addition to commercial support, the role advises key regional functional teams, including Global Operations, IT, Finance, and other enabling functions as needed. The role operates within an established enterprise risk framework, exercising judgment appropriate to scope while escalating complex or novel matters in close partnership with the Deputy General Counsel, Associate General Counsels, and other senior Legal leaders.
The position works closely with Legal Operations and the Global Capability Centre (GCC) in Bangalore, leveraging a dedicated Senior Legal Counsel based in Bangalore to support volume management, consistency, and efficient delivery of legal services across the region.
Application end date: Tuesday 30th June 2026
Responsibilities:
Regional Commercial Leadership Partnership
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Serve as the primary regional legal advisor to commercial leaders across Waters Analytical Sciences, Advanced Diagnostics, BioSciences, and Material Sciences.
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Partner closely with Field Leadership Vice Presidents and their Leadership Teams to support regional business strategy, growth initiatives, and execution.
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Provide clear, practical legal advice on commercial transactions, customer agreements, channel partner arrangements, pricing, tenders, and related matters.
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Help leaders understand legal risks, options, and trade‑offs to enable informed and timely decision‑making.
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Support regional go‑to‑market initiatives while aligning with enterprise risk appetite and legal standards.
Global & Enterprise Legal Alignment
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Coordinate closely with peer Assistant General Counsels supporting other regions, particularly the Americas, APAC and Greater China, to ensure consistent legal guidance, aligned priorities, and effective handling of cross‑regional matters.
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Partner with the Deputy General Counsel for Waters Analytical Sciences, BioSciences, and IT to align on strategic priorities and ensure transparency and visibility into regional legal activities, risks, and themes relevant to these functions.
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Support identification and resolution of issues with cross‑regional or enterprise impact, ensuring appropriate visibility and alignment across Legal leadership.
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Share regional insights and best practices to strengthen global legal consistency and effectiveness.
Volume Management, Prioritization & Ways of Working
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Own the regional legal intake, prioritization, and triage model, ensuring matters are assessed and routed based on risk, complexity, and business impact.
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Manage high volumes of commercial legal work through disciplined prioritization and clear differentiation between bespoke and standardized support.
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Promote consistent use of templates, playbooks, standard positions, and scalable legal processes.
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Continuously assess and improve legal processes and ways of working to increase speed, consistency, and sustainability of legal delivery.
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Set and manage expectations with business stakeholders regarding prioritization, turnaround times, and escalation paths.
Business & Functional Partnership
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Advise regional functional teams, including Global Operations, IT, Finance, and other support functions, on legal, contractual, and governance matters.
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Support manufacturing, supply chain, sourcing, technology, and services‑related matters as applicable within the region.
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Coordinate with global functional legal leads to ensure alignment between regional execution and global legal strategies.
Collaboration & Escalation
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Partner closely with the Associate General Counsels for the relevant business divisions to ensure consistent legal guidance, appropriate escalation of complex or high‑risk matters, and effective allocation of work across the Legal organization.
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Exercise sound judgment in determining which matters can be resolved independently, which should be handled through the GCC or other delivery channels, and which require escalation for senior legal review.
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Coordinate across Legal to ensure resources are deployed efficiently and aligned with enterprise and regional priorities.
Delivery Model & Legal Operations
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Work in close partnership with Legal Operations and the Global Capability Centre (Bangalore) to deliver efficient, high‑quality legal services.
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Provide direction, prioritization, and oversight to the Senior Legal Counsel in Bangalore supporting the region.
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Champion process‑led, technology‑enabled approaches to managing volume and improving the overall legal service experience.
Risk Management, Governance & Execution
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Identify and manage legal and compliance risks arising from regional commercial and operational activities.
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Ensure alignment with enterprise policies, governance requirements, and risk appetite.
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Drive execution of assigned initiatives and continuous improvements within the regional legal support model.
Qualifications:
- Demonstrated experience operating at Assistant General Counsel or equivalent senior counsel level in a complex, multi‑jurisdictional organization.
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Strong background in commercial contracting and business support, preferably in regulated or technology‑driven environments.
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Experience partnering closely with senior commercial leaders and cross‑functional stakeholders.
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Proven ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver practical legal solutions at pace.
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Excellent written and verbal communication skills with confidence engaging senior stakeholders.
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Bachelor’s degree required; Juris Doctor or equivalent advanced legal degree required.
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Admission to practice law in at least one jurisdiction.
Company Description:
Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) is a global leader in life sciences and diagnostics, dedicated to accelerating the benefits of pioneering science through analytical technologies, informatics, and service. With a focus on regulated, high-volume testing environments, our innovative portfolio harnesses deep scientific expertise across chemistry, physics, and biology. We collaborate with customers around the world to advance the release of effective, high-quality medicines, ensure the safety of food and water, and drive better patient outcomes by detecting diseases earlier, managing routine infections, and combating antibiotic resistance. Through a shared culture of relentless innovation, our passionate team of ~16,000 colleagues turn scientific challenges into breakthroughs that improve lives worldwide.
Diversity and inclusion are fundamental to our core values at Waters Corporation. It benefits our employees, our products, our customers and our community. Waters complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws. Qualified applicants are considered without regard to sex, race, color, ancestry, national origin, citizenship status, religion, age, marital status (including civil unions), military service, veteran status, pregnancy (including childbirth and related medical conditions), genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, legally recognized disability, domestic violence victim status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Waters is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. All hiring decisions are based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time.
