Manager – Legal | Emirati Talent – Majid Al Futtaim

Majid Al Futtaim is one of the Gulf’s largest diversified conglomerates, operating malls, retail, leisure and entertainment, and lifestyle destinations across the region, with a stated mission to create great moments and build experiences that stay with people. This Manager – Legal role is specifically positioned under the company’s Emirati Talent programme, reflecting a deliberate commitment to developing UAE national leadership within the legal function.

Day to day, a Legal Manager at this level typically handles contract review and negotiation, provides legal advice to internal business stakeholders across MAF’s various operating divisions, manages external counsel on specific matters, and helps ensure the group’s commercial activities stay within regulatory and legal boundaries. Given MAF’s breadth — from shopping malls to cinemas to retail franchises — the legal matters that land on this desk are likely to be genuinely varied rather than narrowly specialised.

It suits a UAE national lawyer with solid legal practice experience, ideally including in-house or commercial legal work, who is comfortable advising business stakeholders directly rather than working purely through external counsel. Strong commercial judgement, clear communication with non-legal colleagues, and comfort managing a varied legal workload across different business lines all matter.

Being part of MAF’s Emirati Talent programme also means access to structured development and mentorship specifically designed to build senior Emirati leadership within the organisation, which is a distinct and valuable career advantage beyond the role itself.

Legal risk management inside a conglomerate as diversified as Majid Al Futtaim is a direct line of defence for the business: every mall lease, retail franchise agreement, cinema contract, or commercial partnership carries legal exposure that, handled poorly, can translate into real financial or reputational cost. A Legal Manager advising across MAF's various business lines helps the company move commercially while staying within regulatory and contractual boundaries, which is what allows the business to pursue growth opportunities confidently rather than cautiously. Because this role sits within MAF's Emirati Talent programme specifically, it also carries a broader organisational purpose: developing senior UAE national leadership within the legal function supports the company's long-term Emiratisation commitments and succession planning at a senior level. Strong legal counsel at this level protects the business from costly disputes or regulatory issues before they happen, while also building the kind of commercially fluent, UAE national legal leadership that the company and the wider national talent development agenda both benefit from over time.

A Legal Manager role within Majid Al Futtaim's Emirati Talent programme offers a genuinely strong career development path, combining real in-house legal experience across a diversified group with structured mentorship and development specifically designed to build senior Emirati leadership. Working across MAF's varied business lines — malls, retail, leisure and entertainment — builds broad commercial legal experience that is hard to replicate in a narrower, single-industry legal role, since it demands versatility across contract types, regulatory contexts and stakeholder groups. This kind of in-house legal generalist experience, combined with direct exposure to how a major regional conglomerate makes commercial decisions, is excellent preparation for future general counsel or senior legal leadership roles. The Emirati Talent programme specifically signals a genuine, structured pathway to senior leadership for UAE nationals, which is a significant career advantage beyond what the role's day-to-day responsibilities alone would suggest. For a UAE national lawyer looking to build both broad commercial legal experience and a genuine route into senior leadership, this role offers a strong, well-supported platform to do both within one of the region's most respected conglomerates. This mix of practical skill-building and brand credibility from Majid Al Futtaim travels well, whether the next step stays within in-house legal or branches into an adjacent specialism.

• UAE national, as part of Majid Al Futtaim’s Emirati Talent programme
• Law degree and relevant legal qualification/licensing
• Experience in commercial or corporate legal practice, in-house experience is an advantage
• Strong contract review, drafting and negotiation skills
• Ability to advise non-legal business stakeholders clearly and practically
• Comfort managing a varied legal caseload across multiple business lines
• Experience working with or managing external legal counsel