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Would you like to coordinate a wide range of activities for the Legal team? Would you like to guide your team towards a different way of working? Are you enthusiastic about strengthening legal work processes? And would you find it interesting to use legal tech in this context? Does this appeal to you? Then we are looking for you!

Where you will work

SURF is the ICT cooperative for Dutch educational and research institutions. Together with them, we work on digital services and complex innovation challenges to enhance the quality of education and research.

SURF is active across the entire ICT spectrum. We also have a unique position in the Netherlands, which means that virtually all our activities involve major legal issues. We conduct large tenders and innovation programmes such as NPuls. We also set up the contract structure for our 57 services. Finally, we work ethically and legally responsible on our own GPT-NL system. As Team Lead Legal, you and your team contribute to all these special and impactful activities from a legal perspective.

The team you will join

SURF is reorganising and this position is focused on the new structure. We are creating an independent Legal team under the Business Support Director; we are looking for a Team Lead Legal to head up this new team. You will manage one senior legal officer and eight senior lawyers who are currently spread across two existing teams. The Team Lead Legal reports directly to SURF's Business Operations Director.

SURF has an open corporate culture. You can always approach colleagues and ask for advice or information. We have annual team outings and regular meetings for each department. In this innovative organisation, employees also enjoy working independently.

What you will do

The structure is changing: two groups of lawyers are being merged. This will require a lot of attention in the beginning, from harmonising work processes to team building and connecting legal colleagues. The legal team is positioned as a second-line team (within the three-line model) and is at the heart of this change. As team lead, you are responsible for this transition. This means less focus on individual cases and more focus on policy, processes, templates and the self-reliance of the business.

What else will you be doing

• You will have final responsibility for the Legal team and will therefore be the first point of contact for the organisation.
• You will focus on collaboration, team building and a pleasant, safe working environment for the entire legal team.
• You will coordinate the team's work and prioritise (triage of cases and projects).
• You will be responsible for developing processes, collaboration and working methods. This includes, for example, work processes and the use of legal tech.
• You are a strategic advisor to the board, management and other stakeholders in the organisation. Others in the team also do this, in particular the legal officer, but also other team members if they are experts.
• You work independently and encourage others based on SURF's three core competencies: entrepreneurship, results-orientedness and connection.

Your skills and experience

You are an experienced senior lawyer with broad expertise and managerial experience. You are knowledgeable in many relevant areas of law and can coach, guide and assess the experts in your team. Above all, you are a leader who can build a team, focus on cooperation and create a pleasant working atmosphere. You empower team members and engage in honest dialogue. Finally, you establish a working method in which everyone is given the opportunity to contribute and knowledge is shared within the team, ensuring that the various legal areas are aligned.

• You have a master's degree in law and extensive experience as a manager of senior lawyers.
• You quickly grasp the connections, dependencies and areas of focus within the legal team in relation to SURF's activities.
• You have demonstrable knowledge and experience in areas of law that are important to SURF, such as ICT law, procurement law, administrative law, corporate law, privacy and contract law.
• You can advise at a strategic level (board and management) from a legal perspective, but you also understand the operational challenges
• You have ICT knowledge: this is necessary to understand the substantive world of SURF and to be a good sparring partner for the board and management.
• You are organisationally sensitive in a public environment.

Prior to starting this job, a VOG must be presented.

SURF takes pleasure in doing its recruitment itself; acquisition is therefore not appreciated.

Are you a strategic thinker with in-depth knowledge of educational technology and standards? Would you like to contribute to the digital transformation of Dutch education? Would you also like to play a key international role? You can do so by working together on the adoption, further development and interoperability of international standards. Are you interested? Then we are looking for you.

Where you will work

SURF is the ICT cooperative for Dutch educational and research institutions. Together with them, we work on digital services and complex innovation challenges to enhance the quality of education and research. The growing internationalisation of education, with programmes such as Erasmus+ and the European University Alliance, necessitates international services and innovations. As an International Standards Architect, you will make an important contribution.

The team you will join

You will be working in the team currently known as Education Logistics, but which will be renamed Architecture & Interoperability on 1 January 2026. This team is responsible for the architecture in this entire domain within the Accessible and Open Education & Research unit. In your role, it will be particularly important to work closely with the Flexible Education team. This team works on services such as edubadges and SURFeduhub, which are important building blocks of the standards in (international) collaborations.

Working at SURF means working for a unique and open organisation. This is evident in everything: the structure of the organisation, the set-up of the project teams, the culture in our offices and the atmosphere among colleagues. SURF offers excellent terms of employment and a flexible approach to work/life balance. Employees enjoy working independently. In addition, everyone is given the space and freedom to use and develop their talents as effectively and broadly as possible.

What you will do

• You represent SURF and Npuls' strategy for educational standards in the international arena. You also ensure that international developments are incorporated into this strategy.
• You translate policy objectives and user requirements into architectures and information models that are compatible with European models.
• You act as a bridge between educational institutions, EdTech suppliers and standardisation organisations.
• You represent the The Netherlands in international working groups (such as 1EdTech / IEEE / W3C / EDEH).
• You support European initiatives to promote cooperation between institutions, such as the European Digital Education Hub and GÉANT.

Your skills and experience

• You have good verbal and written English skills. You also have an academic level of working and thinking.
• You have experience with interoperability and semantic standards in education.
• You have thorough knowledge of at least one standard such as OOAPI, Open Badges/Verifiable Credentials, QTI, LTI, One Roster or EDUAPI.
• You are familiar with linked data, RDF, SHACL or OpenAPI.
• You have strong communication skills and experience with stakeholder management. You also work independently, are proactive and analytical.
• You are willing to travel and participate in international consultations in other time zones.

SURF takes pleasure in doing its recruitment itself; acquisition is therefore not appreciated.