Senior Legal Counsel

Job Type: 12-month secondment

Location: This role could be based in our Birmingham, Edinburgh or London office, with time spent working both in the office and at home.

Flexible working: All roles are open to part-time, job-share and other types of flexibility. We will discuss what is important to you and balancing this with business requirements during the recruitment process.

Closing Date: 30/08/2026

Salary and benefits: Starting from £90,000 plus bonus, private medical cover, 38 days annual leave, excellent pension, 12x salary life assurance, career breaks, income protection, 3x volunteering days and much more.

Who are we? We’re Standard Life, a retirement specialist focused entirely on retirement savings and income. We champion the belief that everyone’s journey to and through retirement can be better, and for more than 200 years, we’ve been helping our customers plan and prepare for their financial futures.

The role: This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced senior lawyer to join as Senior Legal Counsel on a 12-month fixed term contract as maternity cover, providing legal advice across corporate and strategic projects at Standard Life. Working as part of the Corporate and Investments Legal team, you’ll provide pragmatic, commercially focused advice to senior stakeholders and colleagues across the business. You’ll take ownership of complex legal matters, work with a high degree of autonomy and use external counsel effectively where specialist support is required. This role offers the opportunity to apply and deepen your legal expertise while supporting the delivery of key corporate and strategic projects.

What are we looking for? We’re looking for a senior qualified lawyer with experience gained in-house or in private practice. You’ll bring strong technical expertise, sound legal judgement and the ability to advise with confidence on complex matters. A background in financial services would be helpful, together with an understanding of asset management operations, asset classes and investment vehicles. Excellent legal drafting, negotiation and analytical skills, with the ability to provide clear, practical and commercially focused advice on complex matters. Significant experience advising on and negotiating investment services agreements, such as investment management agreements, custody agreements, fund link agreements and ancillary services agreements. Experience advising on investment-related commercial contracts, such as IT agreements and market data licences, with the ability to identify and manage key legal and commercial risks. Experience managing external counsel to deliver cost-effective, business-aligned advice on complex or specialist matters. Excellent relationship-building and stakeholder management skills, with the confidence to collaborate effectively across General Counsel, senior stakeholders and external suppliers.

We want to hire the whole version of you. We are committed to ensuring that everyone feels accepted and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. If your experience looks different from what we’ve advertised and you believe that you can bring value to the role, we’d love to hear from you. If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, please let us know so we can help you to be at your best.