Job Description
Posting Start Date:  3/16/26
Offer ID:  1947
Unit:  Limagrain Field Seeds Research
Job Title:  Senior Legal Counsel
Job Location:  Chappes
Contract type:  Permanent
Job Description: 

Function

Within the Licensing / Legal Department, part of Limagrain’s Field Seeds Research, and reporting to the Head of Licensing, you will play a key role in providing senior‑level legal support for our legal & licensing activities in France and internationally. You will contribute to securing access and use of genetic material, breeding technologies and traits, protecting Limagrain’s intangible assets, and mitigating risks associated with these activities.

Main Goal

Your main responsibilities include:

Contract drafting & negotiation
Drafting, reviewing and negotiating complex agreements in English and French, including: service agreements, NDAs, material transfer agreements, research collaboration and consortium agreements, co‑hybridization and crossing agreements, traits and technology license agreements, licenses on germplasm and more.

Contract lifecycle management
Overseeing contract execution and follow‑up, ensuring the proper implementation of all contractual components (financial, legal, germplasm management, etc.).

Legal analysis & advisory
Providing legal advice and strategic support to internal and external stakeholders: Head of Licensing, Licensing team members, Traits & Technologies departments, researchers and breeders across different crops and geographies, affiliate legal teams, cooperative farmers, and JVs.

Legal monitoring & training
Leading communication and training workshops on key legal topics relevant to the Licensing department and field crops R&D.

Drafting and reviewing legal procedures.

Tools, templates & knowledge management
Developing and updating contract templates and clauses; managing and enriching contract databases

Management

Supervise a “Junior Legal Counsel”

Job description

What we expect of you

  • Master’s degree (Master 2) in business law or intellectual property law,  with demonstrated experience in contract drafting in technologies, preferably in life sciences.
  • Fluent in French and English, with experience in an international context (mandatory).
  • Knowledge of agriculture biotechnology is preferred.
  • Strong interpersonal skills in order to facilitate and enforce guidelines or legal rules and ensure compliance in good relationships with stakeholders.
  • Demonstrated ability to multi-task, prioritize and handle multiple projects simultaneously in a complex environment.
  • Excellent writing skills.
  • At least 5 years’ experience in a similar position.

Your benefits and working environment

Recruitment process

Information at a Glance

Limagrain Field Seeds, with its international multi-crop LG brand is the global Feld Seeds division of Group Limagrain. Limagrain Field Seeds covers all continents with subsidiaries in over 40 countries and sales in 77 countries. Limagrain Field Seeds supplies LG branded seeds of Maize, Wheat, Sunflower, Winter Rape and other regional crops to all farmers large or small. A strong commitment to progress through technology ensures that plant variety improvements arrive continually from 84 research sites and are adapted for maximum local performance.

Limagrain is a global company with deep local roots. Our parent company is an agricultural cooperative based in the Limagne-Val d’Allier plain, in the heart of Central France’s Auvergne region, while we are an international seed and agri-food group with some 9,600 employees working in 53 countries. As the 4th largest seed company in the world, we achieved sales of 2.522 billion euros in 2023-2024, with additional sales of 729 million euros from activities carried out in collaboration with our strategic partners.