About Patra

Patra is an outcome-focused operating partner working exclusively for the insurance industry. Combining expert global teams, process intelligence, and purpose-built technology, Patra delivers measurable results to clients. With 20 years of deep domain expertise, exceptional client retention rates, and significant sustained investment in AI, Patra partners with agencies, brokers, MGAs, MGUs, and carriers to transform how insurance operations are delivered.

Role Description The Senior Legal Officer is a strategic member of the executive leadership team of our subsidiary in India, a technology forward BPO operation. The role, reporting to the Global US-Based Chief Legal Officer,is not solely a legal function. This is a business leadership role first, and a legal expertise role second.

The ideal candidate thinks like an operator: someone who can sit at the management table, weigh legal risk against commercial reality, and make judgment calls on matters like phased regulatory compliance, negotiated timelines with government bodies, or risk-tolerant contract positions — rather than defaulting to the most conservative legal reading. Routine legal drafting and research can be delegated to outside counsel; what this role must deliver is executive judgment, negotiation strength, and Board-level communication.

This role is responsible for protecting and advancing the company's interests across its IT services, including its agentic AI platform, software solutions, and BPO operations — but critically, is expected to translate complex legal, regulatory, and statutory requirements into practical, risk-calibrated business decisions.

The successful candidate must be comfortable directly engaging and, where necessary, pushing back on government officials, regulators, and statutory authorities — scoping down overreaching requests, insisting on secure and appropriate handling of company and employee data, and protecting the company's position without being obstructionist. A strong understanding of Indian corporate and labor law, IT/ITES regulations, data privacy, and international outsourcing frameworks is assumed as baseline technical competence; what distinguishes this hire is the ability to operate at senior-executive altitude.

- Executive Leadership

- Serve as a trusted advisor to the senior leadership team on legal risk, regulatory exposure, and strategic decision-making.
- Prepare and deliver presentations to senior leadership and the Patra India Board of Directors on legal, regulatory, and compliance matters, translating legal complexity into clear business implications and recommended courses of action.
- Represent the company's legal and regulatory posture in leadership and Board discussions.




- Proactively flag legal and regulatory developments that materially affect business strategy and recommend a business-appropriate response (full compliance, phased compliance, negotiated timeline, or formal challenge).

2. Regulatory & Government Relations
- Serve as the company's primary point of engagement with statutory and government authorities (labor commissions, tax authorities, MCA, SEZ/STPI, and others).
- Exercise judgment and negotiating skill when authorities make requests that are overly broad, procedurally improper, or pose data-security risk — scoping requests appropriately, insisting on secure and lawful channels, and escalating internally where needed rather than complying by default.
- Build and manage relationships with regulators that protect the company's interests while maintaining constructive, compliant standing.

3. Contract Strategy & Negotiation
- Own negotiation strategy (not just drafting) for high-value client/vendor contracts, MSAs, SoWs, SaaS agreements, outsourcing agreements, and NDAs.
- Ensure contracts comply with Indian law and international norms, including U.S., and make commercial risk trade-off calls where legal and business interests must be balanced.
- Oversee a contract governance framework: obligation tracking, renewal management, and enterprise-wide risk exposure reporting to leadership.

4. Data Protection & Privacy Compliance
- Own the company's data protection strategy under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA), IT Act, and sectoral guidance, aligned with global frameworks (GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA where applicable).
- Set policy and risk tolerance for cross-border data transfer mechanisms, and represent the company's data governance posture to clients, regulators, and the Board.

5. Employment & Labor Law Strategy
- Advise the Global CLO and HR leadership on complex employment matters, workforce restructuring, and disciplinary/termination strategy with sensitivity to business continuity and reputational risk.
- Ensure enterprise compliance with labor codes, the Shops & Establishments Act, Payment of Wages Act, and related statutes.
- Exercise judgment on matters requiring negotiation with labor authorities or unions, balancing legal exposure against operational impact.

6. Dispute Resolution, Litigation & External Counsel Management
- Direct pre-litigation strategy, arbitration, and mediation; make the call on when to escalate to litigation versus negotiate a resolution.
- Select,



manage, and hold accountable outside counsel across jurisdictions — this role is expected to direct external legal spend and strategy, not simply route matters externally.
- Represent the company personally before statutory authorities and, where appropriate, the Board on significant disputes.

7. Corporate Governance & Regulatory Compliance
- Own enterprise compliance with the Companies Act 2013, IT Act, FEMA, and other applicable law; oversee filings with MCA, SEZ/STPI authorities.
- Advise senior leadership on the business impact of new and pending regulation affecting IT/ITES/BPO operations, with a recommended strategic response.

Minimum Requirements

- Education: LL.B. from a recognized university; LL.M. in corporate/technology law strongly preferred.
- Experience: 10 years of progressive legal experience, including significant time in a senior in-house counsel, General Counsel/Deputy General Counsel, or law-firm partner/senior counsel capacity — ideally within IT/ITES/BPO or a comparable global services sector.
- Demonstrated Board/executive exposure: proven track record preparing materials for and presenting directly to a Board of Directors or equivalent senior governance body, in India or a comparable jurisdiction.
- Regulatory negotiation track record: documented experience directly engaging government or statutory authorities on sensitive or high stakes matters and making judgment calls that balanced legal exposure with business interest.
- Knowledge:
- Indian corporate, IT, and outsourcing law
- Data privacy & cybersecurity regulation (DPDPA, GDPR, CCPA)
- Employment & labor codes
- Role is based at our Patra India Headquarters in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. Minimum 2 weeks on-site requirement each month.

Work Standards

- Operates as a business executive who happens to have deep legal expertise — not a lawyer who occasionally weighs in on business matters.
- Comfortable and confident presenting to, and being questioned by, a Board of Directors.
- Willing and able to push back — including on government officials and regulators — when a request is disproportionate, improperly scoped, or creates undue risk, while maintaining constructive institutional relationships.
- Decisive under ambiguity; able to recommend a course of action (not just flag risk) and own the outcome.
- Comfortable working in a quick-paced global IT/outsourcing environment, with the gravitas to represent the company externally at a senior level.
- Ethical, detail-oriented, and proactive, while never losing sight of the commercial objective.

Patra Corporation is an equal opportunity employer committed to celebrating diversity and creating a safe and inclusive environment for all employees.

📌 Head of Legal (Visakhapatnam)
🏢 Patra
📍 Visakhapatnam