About ESR
ESR is a leading Asia-Pacific real asset owner and manager focused on logistics real estate, data centres, and energy infrastructure that power the digital economy and supply chain for investors, customers, and communities. Through our fully integrated real asset fund management and development platform, we strive to create value and growth opportunities for our global portfolio of investors. We offer our customers modern space solutions to realise their ambitions across Australia and New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Greater China, Southeast Asia, and India, including a presence in Europe.
Role Overview
The Senior Legal Counsel (Funds) serves as legal adviser to ESR’s private capital business, executing the fund documentation process – from term sheets and private placement memoranda to limited partnership agreements, side letters and other investor documentation – and providing ongoing legal support on fund operations, fund governance and regulatory matters.
Working closely with the investment, capital raising, fund management, finance, tax and compliance teams across multiple APAC jurisdictions, the role keeps track of fund terms across regions and business units to ensure a coordinated approach to investors, and manages external counsel to deliver high-quality, cost-effective and timely outcomes.
Key Responsibilities
1. Fund Formation, Capital Raising & Legal Execution
- Manage and coordinate legal workstreams for fund establishment, capital raising, investor onboarding and related transactions, including term sheets, private placement memoranda, limited partnership agreements, shareholders’ agreements, management agreements, subscription documentation, side letters and other investor documentation.
- Review and negotiate key commercial and legal terms and provide practical advice to the business on fund structuring, investor requirements and execution issues.
- Draft and review commercial contracts, engagement letters and other routine agreements, with more complex or jurisdiction-specific matters supported by external counsel where appropriate.
- Develop, maintain and improve fund documentation templates, precedents, playbooks and internal legal processes to support efficient and consistent execution.
- Support ongoing fund lifecycle matters, including subsequent closings, amendments, investor consents and waivers, transfers, restructurings and other fund-related matters.
2. Fund Governance, Regulatory & Investor Terms
- Act as a legal adviser to ESR's private capital, capital raising and fund management businesses, working closely with both senior lawyers in Group Legal and relevant business teams.
- Provide ongoing legal support on fund operations, governance, regulatory matters, contractual interpretation and investor-related issues across the lifecycle of ESR-managed funds and investment vehicles.
- Advise on and support negotiations of key fund and investor terms, including governance and consent rights, investment restrictions, conflicts, investor protections, side letters and other bespoke investor arrangements.
- Maintain oversight of material fund and investor terms and precedents across ESR's funds and jurisdictions, identifying inconsistencies, precedent implications and potential cross-fund or cross-investor issues.
- Work with Compliance and external counsel to identify relevant legal and regulatory developments affecting ESR's private capital and fund management activities and support their practical implementation.
3. External Counsel & Stakeholder Management
- Instruct, coordinate and manage external counsel across relevant jurisdictions, including scoping work, setting expectations and timelines, reviewing and challenging advice where appropriate, and ensuring high-quality and cost-effective delivery.
- Work closely with internal stakeholders across capital raising, fund management, investment, finance, tax, compliance and other functions to provide practical, commercially focused and solutions-oriented legal support.
- Coordinate legal workstreams across multiple APAC jurisdictions and help ensure issues are escalated appropriately and transactions and fund matters are delivered efficiently.
Requirements
Academic and/or Professional Qualifications
- Degree in law from a recognised university and admitted to a common law jurisdiction (Singapore qualification preferred).
Experience & Skills
- 6–8 years’ PQE, with relevant experience in investment funds, private capital and/or corporate M&A, preferably involving real assets, fund formation, capital raising or investment transactions.
- Strong legal drafting, review and negotiation skills, with the ability to identify and communicate key legal and commercial issues and provide practical, solutions-oriented advice.
- Experience managing multiple transactions and complex legal workstreams, including working effectively with external counsel and internal stakeholders across different functions and jurisdictions.
- Strong commercial judgment, attention to detail and the ability to prioritise, take ownership and drive matters through to completion.
- Collaborative and resilient team player with strong interpersonal and communication skills, comfortable working in a fast-paced, cross-border and commercially focused environment.
- Strong understanding of confidentiality, data privacy, information security and responsible AI requirements, including appropriate handling of confidential and privileged information when using external technology platforms.
- Demonstrated ability to use AI and other legal technology tools effectively to improve the quality, efficiency and consistency of legal work, while exercising appropriate professional judgment and independent legal review.
- Skill in auditing AI-generated data to ensure high standards of accuracy and professional integrity
Optional Competencies
- 1–2 years of prior in-house experience within a global asset manager, investment manager, sovereign wealth fund or private capital platform will be viewed favourably.
- Exposure to private equity investments in real estate, energy infrastructure or digital infrastructure would be highly relevant.
- Demonstrates proficiency in leveraging Generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, or specialized financial AI) to streamline routine workflows, enhance data synthesis, and accelerate the drafting of reports or documentation
- Proactive in utilizing AI-assisted tools to identify trends within large datasets, automate repetitive analytical tasks, and augment decision-making processes through advanced prompt engineering and iterative testing.
Benefits
Grow with us – Career growth and learning
We believe our greatest strength lies in the growth and development of our team. From day one, we create an environment that builds confidence and lays the foundation for long-term success. Whether you’re launching your career or stepping into a leadership role, we provide the tools, learning opportunities, and personalised guidance to help you thrive.
More about career growth at ESR
Our values and purpose
Our values are the foundation of everything we do—shaping our performance, culture, and ambition. Our purpose is rooted in the pursuit of excellence across all areas of our business, with a focus on maintaining the highest standards of performance, accountability, and integrity.
When you join us, you commit to three core principles:
- We Do the Right Thing: Integrity is non-negotiable. We hold ourselves to the highest standards of accountability, ensuring that every financial decision and business move is ethical and transparent.
- We Win as One Team: Our culture thrives on collective success. We break down functional silos to ensure that our ambitions are met through seamless collaboration and mutual support.
- We Think Beyond the Present: We don’t just manage for the quarter; we build for the years to come. We challenge ourselves to look past immediate gains to secure long-term excellence and sustainable growth.
More about our values and purpose
