How Jill Osborn is thriving as Deputy General Counsel at Vocus
Vocus People
When Jill Osborn relocated back to Australia back in November 2018 after almost six years working in London, she was looking for her next career move – and for a company where she could make a meaningful impact.
Jill joined Vocus in 2020 as Deputy General Counsel and quickly saw the opportunity to help shape, influence and improve how legal support worked across the business.
“I remember starting at Vocus with few expectations and was surprised and impressed by the culture, people and energy – it’s a great place to work and somewhere you can have a real impact,” Jill says.
Today, Jill leads a team of legal professionals who aim to accelerate the business and help achieve its goals while meeting its legal and regulatory obligations.
Impact at every level
For Jill, one of the standouts of working at Vocus is the ability to get close to the work, connect with people across the business and see the results of the value her team creates.
“The people here are really smart, down-to-earth and good at what they do,” she says. “You can talk to everyone, even the CEO. Things move quickly and there’s a real ability to influence and improve ways of working.”
Jill says Vocus’ collaborative culture have given her and her team the opportunity to work closely with other teams across Vocus, providing practical legal support that helps the business move forward with confidence.
Opportunities to grow
Jill says Vocus’ can-do mindset and culture create meaningful opportunities for people to explore new paths, take on stretch projects and grow their careers in different directions.
“You can get involved in a lot of stretch projects here,” Jill says. “If you want to get involved in sustainability work or a diversity project, you can put your hand up and get involved straight away. Being able to shape your career and work experiences is a real benefit of working at Vocus.”
She has seen this play out within her own team. Jill remembers a sales professional who wanted to become a lawyer - and they were supported to join the legal team while completing their law degree, and then moved into a legal role once qualified. Another lawyer later moved into procurement, building their experience in a new part of the business.
“It’s great that people have the ability to move internally and grow as professionals, no matter what direction that takes them in,” Jill says.
Flexibility that makes a difference
As a mother of two girls, flexibility is important for Jill and her family. Vocus’ hybrid way of working gives her the ability to balance the demands of a senior legal role with the practical realities of family life.
“Whether I need to do drop-off or pickup or work from home when my kids aren’t well – the level of flexibility is perfect for someone with a young family like me.”
She also values the moments that bring people together in person.
Jill describes the in-office days as social and high energy and says she appreciates the times where teams come together to build connection, collaboration and shared experiences.
Transforming legal support
Jill and her team are always looking for better ways to work and support Vocus to win in market. One of their key initiatives was a legal transformation project designed to make legal support simpler, faster and easier to access across the business.
The project included a centralised, searchable contract repository and a new way for people to engage with the legal team, giving team members the ability to find contracts and manage legal matters in one place.
After launching the new approach, Jill says the feedback was excellent and the results have continued to improve over time.
“Feedback was that it created a much better, faster tool in one easy location for managing all legal matters,” she says. “It helped us drastically decrease the time to allocate legal work and halved the average contract signing time.”
A culture of connection
For Jill, what stands out at Vocus is the mix of people and a culture that gives teams room to improve how things work.
It’s that combination of flexibility, opportunity and real business impact that has made Vocus such a rewarding place for Jill to continue building her career – and to help make legal support more connected, accessible and effective for teams across the business.
