Location
Sheffield, East Suffolk, Flexible, Remote
Hours
80-100% Full Time Equivalent (FTE)
Salary
£56,000 - £62,500 per annum (depending on experience)
About the Role
Pure Leapfrog is a national sustainability and decarbonisation charity committed to supporting a Just Transition to a net-zero and nature-rich society. We work across Carbon, Energy, Buildings & Retrofit, People & Place, Sustainable Finance and Natural Capital. With over twenty years of experience supporting the community energy sector, we help communities develop, finance and deliver community-owned energy projects, providing practical legal, financial and commercial expertise.
We are seeking an experienced, curious and commercially-minded solicitor to lead the Community Energy Legal Services project. This role involves exploring and developing a new approach to legal support for the UK community energy sector, working alongside our community energy practitioners to address legal challenges in real project development.
The successful candidate will act as the principal legal expert for the project, leading legal research and analysis, engaging with community energy organisations, lawyers and stakeholders, and helping design a sustainable, sector-embedded legal service. This role is not a conventional in-house legal position but combines legal practice with research, innovation and service design.
Key responsibilities include leading legal research, identifying recurring legal needs, exploring regulatory frameworks, providing legal insight across projects, engaging with law firms and regulators, developing governance and business models, monitoring legal developments, translating complex legal issues for non-legal audiences, conducting stakeholder engagement, drafting legal documents and contributing to the wider community energy and net zero transition work.
This is a fixed-term 1-year contract with the possibility of continuation subject to funding. The role offers an opportunity to shape and potentially implement a pioneering legal support model for community energy, working collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team and sector partners.
Experience
- Qualified solicitor in England & Wales with current practising status
- Minimum two years post-qualification experience
- Strong grounding in commercial and contractual legal work, ideally with experience in energy, projects, infrastructure, property, finance or regulation
- Experience researching and analysing complex legal and regulatory issues independently
- Strong legal drafting and research skills
- Commercial awareness and understanding of how legal considerations impact project development, finance, risk and decision-making
- Comfortable working with ambiguity and developing innovative solutions
- Experience communicating complex legal concepts clearly to non-lawyers
- Ability to build constructive relationships and work collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams
About You
- Intellectually curious, commercially minded and motivated to create impactful solutions
- Confident written and verbal communicator, comfortable presenting to diverse audiences
- Able to identify limits of own expertise and seek specialist advice when needed
- Motivated to use legal skills for positive environmental and social impact
- Shares Pure Leapfrog’s commitment to community ownership, environmental sustainability and a fair transition to net zero
Qualifications
- Qualified solicitor in England & Wales with current practising status
- No specific community energy expertise required, but willingness to develop knowledge alongside sector experts is essential
Desirable
- Experience or knowledge of renewable energy or wider energy infrastructure projects
- Familiarity with community energy or community-owned enterprises
- Understanding of UK energy markets, policy or regulation
- Experience with Power Purchase Agreements or energy supply/offtake arrangements
- Knowledge of commercial contracting within energy or infrastructure sectors
- Experience with property arrangements related to renewable energy projects
- Background in project finance, investment, due diligence or developing investible projects
- Understanding of cooperatives, community benefit societies, charities or social enterprises and their governance
- Experience working with regulators, government departments or industry bodies
- Skills in developing templates, guidance, training or legal knowledge resources
- Interest or experience in research, innovation, service design or developing new legal/advisory services