Legal Counsel (Property & Planning)

As Legal Counsel, you will play a key role in supporting the full lifecycle of UKFE's property, land and infrastructure activities. From strategic land assembly and acquisitions through to development agreements, planning support and estate management matters, you'll provide practical legal solutions that help drive programme success.
You will act as a trusted adviser to internal stakeholders, supporting major projects, negotiating complex agreements and helping establish legal frameworks, governance processes and best practice as UKFE continues to grow.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Legal Advice
Provide pragmatic and commercially focused legal advice on property, land, planning and infrastructure matters.
Partner with colleagues across Property, Programme Delivery, Commercial, Engineering and Corporate Services.
Identify legal risks and opportunities, offering practical and proportionate solutions.
Support decision-making on significant property, development and infrastructure projects.
Manage external legal advisers where specialist expertise is required.
Land Acquisition & Development
Advise on land acquisitions, disposals, leases, licences and related property transactions.
Support strategic land assembly and development projects from inception through delivery.
Draft, review and negotiate a broad range of property and development agreements.
Advise on title matters, land rights, access arrangements and development constraints.
Work collaboratively with project teams to facilitate successful infrastructure delivery.
Planning, Estates & Infrastructure
Support property and land aspects of planning and consenting processes.
Draft and negotiate leases, easements, wayleaves and access agreements.
Advise on landlord and tenant matters, rights over land and utility-related issues.
Deliver legally robust solutions that enable programme objectives and long-term estate requirements.
Legal Risk & Governance
Identify and manage legal risks associated with property, planning and infrastructure matters.
Support governance and decision-making processes for significant projects and transactions.
Ensure compliance with relevant legislation, internal policies and delegated authorities.
Assist with disputes, claims and other property-related legal matters.
Contribute to the development of legal templates, guidance and governance frameworks.
Stakeholder Engagement & Continuous Improvement
Build strong relationships across UKFE and with external stakeholders, including government bodies, landowners and delivery partners.
Communicate legal advice clearly and effectively to both legal and non-legal audiences.
Support knowledge sharing, training and continuous improvement initiatives.
Help shape efficient legal processes and ways of working across the organisation.
About You
We're looking for a qualified legal professional with significant experience advising on property, land, infrastructure or development matters. You'll be a collaborative and commercially minded lawyer who enjoys working in a complex, fast-paced environment and partnering with operational teams to deliver practical outcomes.
You will bring:
Qualification as a Solicitor, Barrister or equivalent legal professional.
Strong experience in property, land, planning, infrastructure or development law.
Experience drafting and negotiating complex property and development agreements.
The ability to balance legal risk with commercial and programme delivery objectives.
Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
A proactive and solution-focused approach to legal problem solving.
Why Join UKFE?
This is an opportunity to contribute to a nationally significant programme that is helping to advance fusion energy and support the UK's transition to a cleaner, more sustainable future.
In return, you'll work alongside talented and passionate colleagues on pioneering projects, gain exposure to complex and novel legal challenges, and help shape the legal frameworks supporting one of the most exciting clean energy programmes in the world.
Essential:
Qualified solicitor in England and Wales, or equivalent legal qualification, with a current practising certificate or professional registration where required.
Significant experience advising on commercial property and real estate matters, gained in-house, in private practice or in a comparable legal environment.
Strong drafting, review and negotiation skills across a broad range of property agreements, including acquisitions, disposals, leases, licences, easements, wayleaves and other land-related documentation.
Ability to provide clear, concise and pragmatic legal advice to non-legal stakeholders.
Sound judgement, including the ability to balance legal risk with commercial and programme delivery objectives.
Strong communication, stakeholder engagement and relationship-building skills.
Ability to work independently, manage competing priorities and know when to escalate.
Experience identifying legal risks and developing practical, proportionate solutions.
Curiosity and learning agility, including the ability to develop expertise quickly in unfamiliar legal, commercial or technical areas.
Beneficial:
Experience advising on major infrastructure, renewable energy, clean energy, regeneration or development projects.
Experience supporting nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) or other major capital programmes.
Experience advising on strategic land assembly, development agreements or complex land acquisition projects.
Familiarity with planning law and the interaction between planning, property and infrastructure delivery.
Experience supporting Development Consent Order (DCO) projects, compulsory acquisition or other statutory consenting processes.
Experience advising on utility agreements, easements, wayleaves and other third-party land rights.
Experience working within an in-house legal team or closely with programme delivery teams.
Experience working within government, arm's-length bodies or other public sector organisations.
Experience managing external legal advisers and multidisciplinary project teams.
Interest in fusion energy, clean energy or other large-scale innovation and infrastructure programmes.

Employment type
Full-time

Work arrangement
Hybrid