Posted 12 August, 2026

Interim Head of Legal and Data Protection (Mat Leave Cover)

Grant Thornton

Dublin, Ireland Full Time

Reference: 218_663412_115397

Interim Head of Legal & Data Protection (Maternity Cover)

Role Purpose

To provide senior interim leadership across the firm's Legal and Data Protection functions The role holds responsibility for continuity of live litigation and complaints, oversight of the Data Protection team and senior stakeholder engagement across the wider Risk function.

Key Responsibilities

Litigation & Complaints

Own and progress all live litigation matters and firm complaints, including settlement strategy.
Manage engagement with professional bodies and regulatory correspondence.
Instruct and manage external litigation panel firms as required.
Provide judgment-based advice to the Head of Risk on high-stakes disputes.

Data Protection & Governance

Provide day-to-day leadership and direction to the Data Protection team.
Oversee DPIAs, transfer assessments, and integration-related DP workstreams.
Continue the firm's EU AI Act readiness programme and AI literacy training oversight.
Represent the DP function at senior leadership and Risk forums.

Team Leadership & Development

Lead, support, and develop the Legal and Data Protection team members.
Maintain team cohesion, workload balance, and wellbeing.
Provide coaching and technical guidance to junior team members, particularly within DP.

Senior Stakeholder Engagement & Cross-Risk Coordination

Act as trusted advisor to the Head of Risk and senior firm leadership.
Coordinate cross-team projects to maintain progress and collaboration across the Risk function.
Manage relationships with external counsel, regulators, and professional bodies.

Essential Criteria

Senior qualified solicitor (10+ PQE), Irish-qualified.
Strong litigation and complaints experience within a regulated professional services environment.
Significant Data Protection experience essential.
Commercial contracts literacy to backstop the contracts team.
Proven people leadership experience across multidisciplinary teams, including junior lawyers.
Senior stakeholder gravitas.
Sound judgment and ability to make binding decisions on litigation, regulatory, and escalation matters independently.

Desirable Criteria

Prior in-house experience in a Big 4 or top-tier professional services firm.
Familiarity with professional body regulation (CAI, ACCA, ICAEW).
Significant Data Protection experience
Exposure to cross-jurisdictional matters (IE, UK/NI, IoM, Bermuda, Gibraltar, US).
Experience of firm integrations or global platform transitions.

#LI-KS1

We are Grant Thornton

Grant Thornton Ireland is rapidly approaching 3,000 people, in 9 offices across Ireland, Isle of Man, Gibraltar and Bermuda. With a presence in over 149 countries around the world and a global network of 73,000 people, we bring our clients the local knowledge, national expertise and global presence to help them succeed - wherever they're located.

At GT, we work as trusted advisors, bringing local knowledge and national expertise, with a global presence, to help businesses succeed - wherever they are located. We make business more personal by investing in building relationships and empowering our clients to make the right decisions for their organisation now and for the future. Whether that is working with the public sector to build thriving communities, with regulators and financial institutions to build trust, or with a diverse range of businesses to help them achieve their goals, Grant Thornton Ireland work hard to support clients to act on the issues that matter.

At GT Ireland we don't just predict your future, we build it.

A Career at GT

Looking for a more fulfilling role in professional services? One where fresh thinking, collaboration and diversity are valued? At Grant Thornton we do things differently.

What does this mean for you?

A career in a more inclusive working environment, a more collaborative work culture, a more supported, flexible working role, more possibilities to grow and more opportunities to help shape the future for your clients. We respect and value your experience. And we want you to bring your authentic self to work and be at your best. It is how it should be.

Grow with us

At Grant Thornton, we care about our people and work hard to make you feel valued. If you are looking to deepen and develop your skills, knowledge, and experience throughout your career, then that is what you will get, and more.

Our Benefits

Please follow this link for information on our generous benefits package.

Equity, diversity and inclusion
At Grant Thornton, we provide equitable opportunities for all our colleagues. We are a responsible, sustainable business where equity, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) is at the forefront of our workplace culture agenda, and today, we continue to build and develop on our existing ED&I structure and strategy to meet our workplace culture needs. People are at the heart of our business and teams built with varied individuals present diverse viewpoints, which need to be heard and valued.

We are all at our best when we are able to be ourselves and we view integrity and authenticity as integral values to bring to our day-to-day work-life at the firm. We are excited to see the personality and perspectives you will bring to our team because we know we will all benefit from them. Diversity of thought, background and experience enables better decision-making, improves the quality of our delivery, and helps us to meet the needs of our clients. Our firm is built on people and their ideas, so we want to hear all the new perspectives and fresh thinking you have to offer. You form the bedrock of our firm's best-practice principles and we will champion you as leaders from day one.

Reward and benefits
Our reward and benefits are designed to create an environment where our people can flourish. We are committed to building a culture where our people have access to the necessary benefits to help promote a healthy lifestyle and thrive.

Recognition
We want to create a culture of recognition and celebrating success, by saying thank you to people who surpass our expectations and recognising the right values and behaviours. Our Shout Out recognition scheme is our way of highlighting and promoting achievements. Whether you simply want to say thank you, celebrate a special occasion or give an award for doing something exceptional, you can do all of this and more through the scheme.

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