Senior Legal Counsel

About the role

We are looking for a qualified, mid-ranking lawyer with financial services/payments regulatory experience to join our high performing Zepz Group Legal Team on a permanent basis. The team supports legal, company secretarial and data privacy matters.  The role will be UK-based, but will support our global business. It is a highly visible role and so offers excellent exposure to a number of departments within the company as well as strong growth and development opportunities.

As a member of the team you will aim high, embrace challenges and always do what’s right; acting with integrity and building trust as you contribute to the company’s technical direction and long term decision making.

Reporting to a senior member of the team, you will:

• Be heavily involved in a breadth of ‘business as usual’ and 0-1 project work that may include: advising on regulatory matters and issues that arise from our operation as a payment services provider business, including the regulatory constraints in which the business operates, product launches, country launches and licensing as well as liaising with regulators in various jurisdictions, including the UK, Belgium, Australia and South Africa; 

• Commercial contracting work including drafting; negotiating and advising on contracts related to the payments ecosystem, our products and payment institutions;

• Leading on product launches across our global send and/or receive jurisdictions; 

• Managing customer services issues, including day-to-day complaints management and referrals to the Financial Ombudsman Service or equivalent as well as litigation; and/or advising on transactional and other strategic projects including drafting intra-group agreements and other contracts to support group restructuring and M&A so that the business can move forward at pace, while protecting our interests.

• Address general or ad-hoc legal queries from business stakeholders and other team members including in respect of intellectual property and day to day corporate work;

• Keep abreast of regulatory developments in the payments/e-money financial services industry and assess the impact of these developments on the business and manage stakeholders accordingly;

• Work closely with the Global Risk and Compliance teams to ensure the company operates within a robust regulatory and compliance framework;

• Help develop appropriate legal templates and processes and actively work to collaboratively align the legal objective and business objectives;

• Assist with the know-how, professional development and training needs of the Legal team including help develop appropriate legal templates and processes  and support more junior members of the team;

• Liaise with multiple stakeholders, both internally and externally to Zepz, and so must be able to communicate confidently and effectively and have excellent stakeholder management skills; and

• Actively work to align the legal objectives and business objectives collaboratively.

What we’re looking for from you

• Excellent technical skills: demonstrated ability to draft clear, professional and legally robust correspondence, advice, contracts, policies and other documentation as required, with appropriate form and style;

• Recent experience of working with businesses in the payments/financial services sector and awareness and knowledge of the external business environment relevant to Zepz;

• Experience of applying regulations relevant to financial services and payment institutions and/or handling general commercial legal matters and/or experience in leading corporate or banking transactions; 

• Experience negotiating complex commercial contracts and ability to influence and persuade in decision-making processes both internally and externally; 

• A commercial mindset and ability to think creatively to achieve the commercial objectives of the business and to deliver legal advice in the appropriate commercial and regulatory context and within tight timeframes;

• First class interpersonal and communication skills: able to, and enjoy, building and maintaining good relationships both internally and externally at all levels;

• Comfortable working in an automation-led, fast-paced environment and juggling multiple priorities; and

• Ability to work independently, but also a team player: fostering knowledge sharing and being prepared to be involved in the day-to-day.