Longchamp Senior Compliance, Corporate and Insurance Counsel

About Longchamp

Longchamp is a family-owned French leather goods house. Jean Cassegrain founded it in Paris in 1948, making leather-covered pipes before the house turned to luggage and handbags. Its collections also include shoes and ready-to-wear.

Role & Responsibilities

• Structure and develop the Compliance function within the Group Legal Department, in coordination with relevant departments.
• Oversee the corporate legal affairs of Group companies, including complex or structurally significant transactions.
• Lead the Group’s insurance activities, with operational support from the Legal Assistant for routine matters and direct involvement in complex or sensitive cases.
• Manage the operational legal team, structure workflows, ensure quality and timely handling of matters, and act as the interface between operational teams and the Legal Department.
• Design, formalize and deploy a pragmatic Compliance framework suited to the Maison’s activities, excluding personal data and competition law.
• Identify needs; establish and monitor related procedures and tools; raise awareness among operational teams; and coordinate actions with relevant departments.
• Monitor action plans and report on Compliance to the Group Legal Department.
• Set legal direction for major corporate matters and directly handle complex or sensitive cases.
• Supervise the drafting and monitoring of intra-group contracts in this area, and directly handle matters requiring specific expertise or approval.
• Coordinate selected matters with local counsel for subsidiaries where appropriate.
• With the team’s support, oversee routine corporate legal affairs for Group companies, regularly update the Group’s corporate database, and prepare and monitor key corporate transactions, including company formations, approval of accounts, capital increases and share transfers.
• Lead the strategy for implementing, renewing and monitoring insurance policies in coordination with the French broker.
• Coordinate the Group’s international insurance programmes.
• Handle major or sensitive claims directly.
• Approve insurance clauses in Group contracts, particularly leases and sales commission agreements.
• Oversee the Legal Assistant’s routine insurance administration, including certificates, straightforward claims, broker notifications and information gathering.
• Monitor insurance-related invoicing with the Legal Assistant.
• Allocate matters according to team members’ skills, workload and priorities, and define the expected level of involvement for each matter, including direct handling, supervised delegation and final approval.
• Monitor the progress and quality of work.
• Support team members’ skills development and encourage them to take ownership.
• Establish an efficient, collaborative and solutions-oriented organization.
• Improve operational legal processes to strengthen the department’s overall efficiency.
• Provide management reporting and escalate critical legal alerts to department leadership.
• Remain accountable for the progress and quality of work, whether handled directly or delegated to team members.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree (Bac + 5) in business law.
• At least 7–10 years of experience, excluding internships, in the relevant areas.
• Very good command of business English and office tools, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Excellent drafting, analytical and contract negotiation skills.
• Significant initial management experience.
• Sense of responsibility and ability to lead a multi-subject legal function, delegate effectively and ensure the team achieves its objectives.
• Ability to manage complex matters independently, particularly contracts, compliance and litigation.
• Collaborative mindset.
• Excellent written and oral communication, with the ability to advocate for positions and foster constructive dialogue.
• Strong organization, rigor, responsiveness and adaptability.
• Ability to create a trusting team environment.

Skills

Experience

At least 7–10 years in the relevant areas, excluding internships; significant initial management experience.

Education

Advanced degree (Bac + 5) in business law.

Culture

Leatherworkers learn their trade in the house’s workshops. At Segré, craftspeople also repair bags, while in boutiques and department-store concessions sales advisers help clients choose among materials, sizes and finishes.

About Cerulean

Cerulean is the definitive career portal for the global luxury industry. We match exceptional professionals with exclusive opportunities at the world's most prestigious brands. From haute couture and fine watchmaking to prestige beauty, hospitality, and boutique retail, Cerulean centralises luxury employment to help you find the career for which you were destined.