Senior Legal Counsel - NIOA

• Senior in-house legal role within a leading Australian defence organisation
• Advise on complex commercial, government and international contracts
• Brisbane-based role supporting a growing global business

NIOA is a leading Australian-owned defence company with a growing international footprint and a long history of partnering with government, defence and industry.

An opportunity now exists for an experienced Senior Legal Counsel to join NIOA’s legal team in Brisbane, providing high-quality commercial and legal advice across the NIOA Group.

Reporting to the General Counsel, you will work closely with senior leaders and key stakeholders across the business, providing pragmatic, solutions-focused advice across a broad range of commercial, contractual and regulatory matters.

A significant focus of the role will be drafting, reviewing and negotiating complex commercial agreements, including contracts, subcontracts, deeds, variations and contract change proposals. You will also support negotiations with the Commonwealth, commercial partners and suppliers, including matters involving international and cross-border transactions.

Beyond transactional work, you will help NIOA proactively identify and manage legal risk, interpret legislative and regulatory developments, strengthen contracting frameworks and policies, and contribute to ongoing improvement and innovation across the legal function. As a senior member of the team, you will also have the opportunity to support and mentor more junior legal colleagues.

About You

You will be an experienced commercial lawyer with at least eight years' post-admission experience, ideally combining strong private practice foundations with experience working in-house.

You will bring sophisticated drafting and negotiation capability and demonstrated experience working with complex commercial contracts. Exposure to defence or government contracting, particularly in an international or cross-border environment, will be highly regarded.

Importantly, you will be commercially minded and comfortable operating as a genuine business partner. You can distil complex legal issues into clear, practical and succinct advice, exercise sound judgement under pressure and balance appropriate risk management with the commercial needs of a fast-moving organisation.

You will be proactive, adaptable and highly collaborative, with the confidence to work across different areas of the business while contributing to a small, high-performing legal team.

Candidates must hold a current unrestricted Queensland Practising Certificate and be eligible to obtain and maintain a Baseline Security Clearance.

This is an excellent opportunity for a senior commercial lawyer seeking high-quality, complex legal work in an Australian organisation operating at the intersection of defence, government, manufacturing and international business.

Get In Touch

If this role feels aligned to your background, experience and career goals, we would very much welcome a confidential conversation.

Please contact Ashleigh Stewart on 0408 856 689 / Ashleigh.Stewart@davidsonwp.com

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Applications close Thursday 22^nd October 2026.