Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Aramco has hired Bjarne Philip Tellmann as deputy general counsel following his departure from British consumer healthcare business Haleon at the end of March.

Tellmann says he will oversee global corporate compliance at the oil giant and lead its transformation efforts across the business. He will work alongside Aramco GC Nabeel Al Mansour, who has led the legal team since 2016.

Aramco is the world’s largest oil producer with an output of more than 12 million barrels of oil a day. Its net income was $121bn in 2023.

In a LinkedIn post, Tellmann said: “It is a great privilege for me to be working for such a dynamic and vibrant company that is contributing to the realisation of Vision 2030,” referring to Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification programme.

Tellmann spent just under two years as GC at Haleon where he led its spin out from GSK in 2022 and listing on the London Stock Exchange. He was previously GC at GSK before the de-merger, having joined from education publishing business Pearson where he was GC and chief legal officer for more than six years.

Prior to that, Tellmann was an associate GC at Coca-Cola, among other roles, having previously been deputy GC at Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company. He started his career at White & Case as an associate attorney in its corporate department, before joining Sullivan & Cromwell in Frankfurt. His first in-house role was as an international attorney at personal care business Kimberly-Clark in London.

He added: “The last four years I have been on an amazing journey; first joining GSK to help de-merge and list its consumer healthcare business as Haleon in what was the largest such transaction in modern UK history – and then joining Haleon as a founding member of its executive team to help build it into a world-class FTSE 20 company. I’m deeply grateful to have been a part of that effort and to have worked alongside so many amazing colleagues.”

Earlier this month, Haleon said it had lined up Tesco GC Adrian Morris as Tellmann’s replacement, though his arrival date has yet to be confirmed. Tesco CEO Ken Murphy said Morris will continue to lead the supermarket giant’s legal team while the company searches for his successor.