Overview
The Senior Legal Counsel will provide high-quality, business-focused legal support across a broad range of matters, including commercial contracting, M&A, corporate transactions and regulatory change (particularly in the payments space). This execution-driven role suits a lawyer who thrives in a fast-paced environment, can balance multiple priorities, and delivers pragmatic solutions that protect value and enable growth. The successful candidate will combine strong technical skills with commercial judgment, working autonomously and collaboratively with senior stakeholders to drive strategic initiatives and ensure timely, effective outcomes.
Job Responsibilities
- Lead and manage complex commercial contracting across the Group, including drafting, negotiating and maintaining master service agreements, vendor contracts and strategic partnership agreements.
- Drive M&A transactions end-to-end, including due diligence, drafting and negotiating transaction documents, coordinating conditions precedent and managing closing and post-closing integration.
- Support refinancing and debt-related projects, including reviewing and negotiating facilities agreements, security packages, covenant frameworks and ensuring timely execution of closing deliverables.
- Provide pragmatic, business-focused legal advice to senior stakeholders on a wide range of corporate and commercial matters, balancing risk with commercial objectives.
- Manage multiple workstreams simultaneously, prioritising effectively and ensuring timely delivery of high-quality outputs under tight deadlines.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with Finance, Strategy, Sales and Operations to enable business growth and strategic initiatives.
- Engage and manage external counsel for specialist matters, ensuring cost efficiency, quality, and alignment with Group objectives.
- Maintain governance and compliance standards during transactions, including preparing board papers, resolutions and ensuring audit readiness.
- Contribute to process improvement and legal operations, including template development, playbooks and automation initiatives to improve efficiency.
- Act as a trusted advisor and problem-solver, proactively identifying risks and opportunities and driving execution with minimal supervision.
- Partner with Compliance to embed key regulatory requirements into commercial contracts (e.g., data/security, audit, business continuity, subcontracting, termination), ensuring terms are right-sized for risk.
- Monitor relevant regulatory change affecting the Group (payments, AML/CTF, sanctions, data/operational resilience) and translate into actionable guidance/playbooks with minimal disruption to sales cycles.
- Coordinate and quality-control input from specialist regulatory counsel and local counsel, delivering integrated, business-ready advice and controlling external spend.
Requirements
- Law Degree (LLB or JD) from a recognised university.
- Postgraduate qualification (optional but valued) such as a Master's in law (LLM) with a focus on corporate, commercial or finance law.
- Advanced negotiation and drafting of complex commercial contracts.
- Strong understanding of company law and governance.
- Experience managing due diligence, SPA drafting, disclosure schedules, conditions precedent and post-par closing integration.
- Facilities agreements, security packages, covenant structures and CP/CS checklists.
- Risk identification and mitigation in transactional and operational contexts.
- Ability to run multiple workstreams, set timelines and deliver under pressure.
- Familiarity with multi-jurisdictional legal issues and coordinating local counsel.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to deliver clear and practical advice to diverse audiences.
- Working knowledge of payments/fintech regulation and its commercial impact (e.g., customer due diligence, safeguarding/segregation, outsourcing, operational resilience) is preferable but not essential.
- Strong grasp of AML/CTF and sanctions considerations in contracting and M&A, with ability to liaise with compliance, risk and external counsel.
- Awareness of data protection and information security standards relevant to payments and SaaS contracting (e.g., GDPR, DPIAs, international transfers).
Work Experience
- Solicitor with 5 years+ Post Qualification Experience.
- Corporate/commercial law experience gained in a top-tier law firm and/or in-house at an international company.
- Experience partnering with Sales, Finance/Treasury, Strategy, Tax, HR, Risk and Executive Teams, translating legal risk into commercial choices.
- End-to-end commercial contracting across a broad portfolio (enterprise customer agreements, vendor/SaaS, data/processor terms, DPAs, NDAs, statements of work, SLAs), including template creation and playbook creation and leading negotiations with senior counterparties.
- Running and coordinating buy-side and sell-side deals from term sheet to closing and post-closing integration.
- Issue-spotting, escalation strategies, settlement frameworks and instructing litigators where needed.
- Mentoring junior lawyers, creating pragmatic guidance notes and running brief training sessions for commercial teams.
- Experience translating regulatory requirements into commercial terms (e.g., operational resilience, service levels, data/security, audit, termination for regulatory cause).
- Exposure to the payments regulatory landscape and adjacent regimes (PSD2/PSR, licensing/authorisation, AML/CTF, sanctions, data protection), with ability to coordinate advice from specialist counsel is preferable but not essential.
Key Success Factors
- Act as a trusted advisor and problem-solver, proactively identifying risks and opportunities and driving execution with minimal supervision.
- Deliver high-quality, pragmatic legal advice that balances risk with commercial objectives.
- Successfully lead and close complex commercial contracts, M&A transactions and refinancing projects on time and within scope.
- Demonstrate strong commercial judgment and ability to translate legal issues into actionable business solutions.
- Manage multiple workstreams simultaneously, prioritising effectively under pressure.
- Build trust and credibility with senior stakeholders through clear communication and proactive engagement.
- Maintain audit-ready governance and compliance standards throughout all transactions.
- Drive measurable impact on deal velocity, cost efficiency and risk mitigation.
- Contribute to process improvements, including template development and legal operations enhancements.
- Exhibit autonomy, resilience and execution focus in a fast-paced, international environment.
- Integrates regulatory requirements seamlessly into deals, re-organisations and projects without slowing execution.
Benefits
- Competitive Salary and Bonus: We reward your expertise and contributions.
- Inclusive Onboarding Experience: Our onboarding program is designed to set you up for success right from day one.
- Marcura Wellness Zone: We value your work-life balance and well-being.
- Global Opportunities: Be part of an ambitious, expanding company with a local touch.
- Diverse, Supportive Work Culture: We're committed to inclusion, diversity, and a sense of belonging for all team members.
#J-18808-Ljbffr