Senior Legal Counsel / Contracts Manager

Make your mark with Thiess

Every day, all around the world, Thiess supports and celebrates our people. We recognise talent, reward transparency, champion diversity and embrace change.

Join us and hone your skills and develop new ones. Take on big challenges and grow through mentorship, collaboration, and empowerment.

The Opportunity

Reporting to the Head of Legal & Commercial, you will play a key role in managing complex legal and contractual matters across the region, ensuring commercially sound outcomes aligned to business objectives.

You will:

• Provide strategic, practical legal and commercial advice across a range of operational and project matters
• Advise on contract risk, claims, variations, and dispute avoidance strategies
• Support tenders, contract negotiation, review, and execution
• Provide legal input across head contracts, subcontracts, services agreements, and joint ventures
• Support resolution of disputes and manage escalation of key risks
• Engage and manage external legal counsel where required
• Providing guidance on regulatory obligations, compliance frameworks, and investigations
• Supporting due diligence and counterparty risk assessments
• Assisting with workplace investigations and complaints handling
• Contributing to incident response and regulatory engagement activities

About you

You are a commercially minded legal professional who thrives in complex, fast-paced environments and can balance legal risk with operational priorities.

You will bring:

• 8-15+ years' experience in legal practice (in-house and/or private practice)
• Strong experience within construction, mining, or infrastructure sectors
• Demonstrated expertise in contract negotiation and claims management
• Experience advising on complex, high-value projects
• Strong commercial acumen and problem-solving capability
• Excellent communication skills and ability to influence senior stakeholders
• High attention to detail and ability to manage competing priorities

Qualifications:

• Bachelor of Laws and admission to legal practice (or equivalent contracts/commercial experience)
• Australian practising certificate (desirable)
• Postgraduate qualifications (advantageous)

What's on offer

At Thiess, our people are the heart of everything we do. We're committed to creating a workplace where everyone can thrive - safely, confidently and with opportunities to grow.

• Competitive salary package.
• Ongoing training & development opportunities.
• A strong safety-first culture across all operations, built on care, respect and accountability.
• Range of corporate discounts including health insurance (Medibank), travel & retail products.

About Us

Thiess works with clients in Australia, Asia, and the Americas in the dynamic field of open-cut and underground mining. The pioneering spirit of our founders - the legendary Thiess brothers - is our legacy and has inspired our vision to harness the power of people and technology to drive sustainable change for more than 90 years.

Learn more about Our Vision, Purpose & Values.

At Thiess, we're creating a culture of curiosity, knowledge-sharing and continuous learning - supporting our people to contribute to Thiess' success and continued growth in sustainable mining.

We recognise the value of an inclusive and diverse workplace through our vision: everyone matters always. We're focused on creating an inclusive environment to enable our people to bring their best self to work because they feel safe, included, and empowered.

Learn more about working at Thiess.

How to Apply

This role is an opportunity to take the next step in your career. With our culture of recognition, development, and a stimulating and satisfying work environment, there is no better time to join Thiess.

Please click the "apply" button below to apply for this role.

Thiess follows a Pre-Employment Process for all successful applicants, which includes two employment references, a National Police Check, and a medical assessment. These checks are essential to your application, and your recruiter will support you through the process.

Should you require assistance applying for this opportunity, please contact us at [email protected].

Applications close: Monday 20 July 2026