Legal Counsel (Lome, Togo)

What you would be expected to do

• Participate and contribute to cross functional projects and initiatives to minimize legal risks and ensure achievement of the business goals.
• Develop risk mitigation strategies and implement preventive measures.
• Ensure the organization complies with all applicable laws, regulations, and industry standards.
• Monitor changes in legislation and regulations, adapting the company’s policies and procedures accordingly.

• Handle legal due diligence by investors and their advisors.
• Ensure completion of all conditions related to funding (both pre-and-post) in a timely manner and handle periodic reporting/compliances related to legal.
• Develop standard templates used frequently in fundraising, like NDAs, term sheets, ESG policy matters, standards disclosures, etc.

• Register, protect, and manage the company’s intellectual property rights, including trademarks, patents, and copyrights
• Handle proprietary  property disputes and licensing arrangements.

• Oversee the drafting, review, and negotiation of contracts, and legal documents
• Provide guidance on contract terms and ensure that they are in the company’s best interest.
• Ensure any and all obligations with respect to ESG are reflected in customer and supplier contracts to the extent applicable.
• Manage contract disputes and resolutions as necessary.

• Manage and oversee litigation and legal proceedings involving the company.
• Work with external legal counsel when necessary.
• Seek cost-effective solutions and negotiate settlements where possible.

• Ensure that the company operates in compliance with corporate governance Standards.

• Maintain knowledge of industry-specific regulations and compliance requirements.
• Establish relationships with relevant regulatory agencies and oversee regulatory submissions as needed.

• Create and develop a roster of preferred attorneys and law firms across geographies for various activities listed above.
• Provide legal advice and guidance to various departments within the company
• Develop and deliver legal training and education programs to enhance legal awareness throughout the organization.

You might be a strong candidate if you

• Minimum of 5 years of relevant legal experience, with a strong background in corporate law, commercial transactions, and litigation.
• Bachelor's degree in Law (LL.B.) from a recognised institution, with professional qualification and admission to the Bar in a relevant Francophone jurisdiction.
• Demonstrated experience engaging with government enforcement agencies, judicial authorities, and regulatory bodies within a Francophone market.
• Sound knowledge of local corporate laws, regulatory frameworks, and business compliance requirements.
• Familiarity with international fundraising and financing documentation standards, including NVCA and LMA frameworks, and their applicability to the local legal environment.
• Strong analytical, critical-thinking, negotiation, and dispute-resolution skills.
• Ability to interpret complex legal matters, assess risks, and provide practical, business-oriented legal solutions.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in French, with proficiency in English considered an advantage.
• Strong interpersonal and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to engage effectively with internal teams, external counsel, government agencies, and business partners.

What Sun King Offers

• Professional growth in a dynamic, rapidly expanding, high-social-impact industry
• An open-minded, collaborative culture made up of enthusiastic colleagues who are driven by the challenge of innovation towards profound impact on people and the planet.
• A truly multicultural experience: you will have the chance to work with and learn from people from different geographies, nationalities, and backgrounds.
• Structured, tailored learning and development programs that help you become a better leader, manager, and professional through the Sun Center for Leadership.

About
Sun King is the world’s leading off-grid solar energy company, combining cutting-edge product design, fintech, and field operations to deliver energy access for the 1.8 billion people who live without an affordable and reliable electric-grid connection.Sun King has built a new kind of energy utility: distributed, green, customer-centric, and affordable. We bring clean, reliable, decentralized energy directly into people’s lives — from solar kits that provide first-time energy access to multi-kilowatt systems that serve both off-grid users and grid-connected customers powering larger homes, schools, hospitals, farms, offices, and light manufacturing.Already, 25 million homes and businesses rely on Sun King for electricity supply and the appliances and services it enables: lighting, televisions, fans, refrigeration, and smartphones. Sun King combines energy generation, energy-efficient appliances, installation, and financing into one seamless offering. Think of it as a distributed utility, designed for wherever energy is needed and designed to scale with its users as incomes and energy needs grow.Sun King makes solar products affordable to low-income households and businesses via ‘pay-as-you-go’ (PAYG) purchase financing. Sun King installs solar after customers pay a small deposit. Customers then make small, manageable payments of as little as US $0.14 a day via mobile money or cash.Instead of paying for expensive, polluting, and health-damaging kerosene for lighting or diesel for power, customers unlock savings through accessing solar power and after one to two years of payments, customers own their solar equipment outright.Sun King collects payments digitally through mobile money systems and its 35,000 field agents — over 1 million payments each day. To date, Sun King has extended more than $1.4 billion in PAYG loans to customers.Sun King began by powering homes and businesses with solar systems delivered through PAYG financing. Now, we’re using the same model to make smartphones and clean cooking equipment affordable: helping households connect to the digital economy and transition from wood-based fuels to modern, sustainable alternatives.Sun King employs 3,500 full-time staff in 14 countries, with specialties spanning product design, data science, logistics, customer service, sales, software, operations, and more — all with a passion to serve off-grid families. Sun King is committed to gender diversity in the workplace. Women represent 42% of Sun King’s workforce.