Job Description

Overview:

We are PepsiCo

PepsiCo is proud to be one of the world's leading food and beverage companies. Every day, we are dedicated to bringing our mission to create more smiles with every sip and every bite to life. Our products are enjoyed more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. Our portfolio -- including Lay's, Doritos, Gatorade, Pepsi and Quaker -- consists of many iconic brands that generate more than US $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales, helping to deliver more than US $70 billion in net revenue in 2020.

Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Beverages and Convenient Foods by Winning with PepsiCo Positive. Through PepsiCo Positive, we are charting a new course to drive positive action for the planet and people. PepsiCo Positive is an end-to-end strategic business transformation with sustainability at the centre of how we will create growth and value by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change.

In South Africa (SA), you will find our products across the region at breakfast, lunch or dinner. At the gym or on the field. In the office or on the go. We refresh, restore and rejuvenate our consumers all day, every day with our key brands including Simba, Lay's, Liqui Fruit and Bokomo range of cereals. PepsiCo SA employs more than 13, 000 people across our three business divisions: Bakeries, Grains, Foods, Fruit, Snacks, Juice & Beverages.


Responsibilities:

To lead and deliver strategic legal initiatives in collaboration with the Senior Legal Counsel, ensuring alignment of global legal service projects, regulatory compliance, and risk mitigation across Sub-Saharan Africa. The role drives simplification, governance, and technology adoption within the legal function while supporting enterprise risk management and people-related legal frameworks.

Project Management:

Oversee global legal service projects, aligning timelines, deliverables, and transition requirements across the legal team.

Regulatory Monitoring:

Track new laws, judgments, and proposed regulations; analyze implications and draft recommendations, including government engagement and mitigation strategies.

Policy & Governance Support:

Partner with People Function to update internal policies, strengthen human rights governance, and optimize HR templates.

Risk Analysis:

Research labour law trends and precedents to enhance visibility and mitigate financial and reputational risks.

Technology & Simplification:

Drive ideation, design, and adoption of legal technology solutions and process simplification initiatives.

Enterprise Risk Management:

Monitor legal workstreams under ERM, conduct horizon scanning for emerging risks in SA, Botswana, and Sub-Saharan Africa, and prepare reports for mitigation.

Process Design:

Collaborate with the legal team to create frameworks that enhance service delivery and ownership.

Training & Development:

Identify and implement training programs aligned with team needs and General Counsel priorities.

Crisis Management:

Support product recall/withdrawal processes, advise on crisis strategies, and ensure compliance with regulatory notifications. Responsibility for all legal services for the benefit of the sales and commercial functions to include customer terms & promotional support, outsourced distribution. Partner with the Commercial CoE Lead in delivering projects, and workstreams within his ambit. Solid commercial acumen and excellent drafting and negotiation skills for high-value legal documents. Experienced people manager with accountability for the timeous delivery of legal services by lawyers within the team. Ability to timely resolve instructions in support of a fast-moving consumer goods company that requires agility from support functions such as the legal department. Excellent communication skills, management of high volume of workload against constant competing priorities. Track record in advising Leadership and Executive level stakeholders on high-stake legal workstreams. Legal oversight of all brand workstreams to include advertising, consumer facing campaigns, insights, content creation, risk management. Design and implementation of a Competition Law compliance plan and related legal support to analyse and mitigate potential risk. Lead any governmental engagements (requests for information, market inquiries, investigations, complaints.) Contracting requirements for all non-GP managed vendors across PepsiCo SA business. Primary legal contact for Bokomo Botswana JV with accountability for governance, structures and integration (fit for purpose legal service structure). Establish/maintain the legal framework for the Exports business ($27MM 46+ Countries) and Dried Fruit Exports (Agency Risk). Legal frameworks, delivery of strategic projects and mitigate risk. Manage Competition Law Risk for COMESA markets (Anticipate, Design mitigation plan and execution).Responsible for ensuring commercial functions are in compliance with all relevant laws, regulations and policies including implementation of overall compliance audits. Performs or manages daily compliance risk identification. Inspects, reports, develops and implements preventative measures and internal controls. Creates and delivers employee training on compliance matters. Responsible for advice/counsel across multiple areas of the business, including providing legal advice/counsel in business-related areas of expertise (marketing, business development, product development, etc.). Researches, analyzes, and interprets proposed and existing laws, statutes, and regulations. Identifies, evaluates, and addresses issues of legal risk by conducting risk analysis and modeling. Structures, drafts, negotiates and/or approves legal contracts, letters of agreement, policies and other documents related to a variety of trade, commercial, financial, and operational matters. Oversight and accountability for all dispute resolution and litigation to ensue within the Sales, Marketing and Commercial workstreams to include management of external counsel to protect and mitigate risk.
Designated Legal Approver for all committed spend$1MM in accordance with the Legal SoA Guardrails for PepsiCo SA.

Qualifications:

Requiered Qualifications:

Education

Bachelor of Laws ( LLB) or equivalent law degree Admission as an attorney or advocate in South Africa (

preferred

). Postgraduate qualification in

Corporate Law, Compliance, or Risk Management

.

Experience

Minimum

10 years of legal practice

, with at least

5 years in a senior leadership role

. Proven track record in

regulatory compliance, labor law, and enterprise risk management

. Experience working in

multinational environments

and handling

cross-border legal issues

. Strong background in

Competition Law

and engagement with regulatory authorities. Demonstrated ability to uphold

high standards of compliance

. Experience collaborating with

exportation entities and trust structures

. Commercial acumen with exposure to

marketing, trade marketing, and intellectual property matters

. Experience in

food industry legal frameworks

Familiarity with

global transformation initiatives, technology adoption, and process simplification

.

Certifications (Optional):

Project Management certification (e.g., PMP or Prince2). Compliance or Governance certifications (e.g., CCEP, CGISA).

Strategic Thinking:

Ability to anticipate legal and regulatory trends and align them with business objectives.

Influencing Skills:

Strong capability to engage senior stakeholders and influence decision-making.

Innovation:

Drive for continuous improvement and adoption of technology in legal processes.

Resilience:

Ability to manage high-pressure situations, including crisis management and regulatory challenges.

Collaboration:

Skilled at working across global and regional teams to deliver integrated solutions. Experience with

contract management systems

"PepsiCo is an Equal Opportunity Employer in line with the Employment Equity Act"