Barclaycard Payments - Legal Counsel - VP - BPL

Purpose of the role: To ensure that the payment activities are conducted in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and to help the bank manage legal risks associated with these activities.

Accountabilities:

• Development and implementation of best practice legal strategies for risk management and compliance.
• Legal advice and support to the bank's payments-related activities including merchant acquiring, card issuance, cross currency payments, payment systems and mobile payments.
• Representation of the bank in legal proceedings related to payment services, such as litigation, arbitration, and regulatory investigations.
• Creation and review of legal documents such as payment services agreements, cardholder agreements, and other payment-related agreements to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations and, where relevant, negotiate with counterparties.
• Pro-active identification, communication, and provision of legal advice on applicable laws, rules and regulations (LRRs).
• Keeping up to date with regards to changes to LRRs in the relevant coverage area.
• Ensuring that LRRs are effectively allocated to, and adequately reflected within, the relevant policies, standards and controls.

Vice President Expectations:

• To contribute or set strategy, drive requirements and make recommendations for change.
• Plan resources, budgets, and policies; manage and maintain policies/processes; deliver continuous improvements and elevate breaches of policies/procedures.
• If managing a team, define jobs and responsibilities, planning for the department’s future needs and operations, counselling employees on performance and contributing to employee pay decisions/changes.
• Lead a number of specialists to influence the operations of a department, in alignment with strategic as well as tactical priorities, while balancing short and long term goals and ensuring that budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements.
• If the position has leadership responsibilities, demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard.
• Advise key stakeholders, including functional leadership teams and senior management on functional and cross functional areas of impact and alignment.
• Manage and mitigate risks through assessment, in support of the control and governance agenda.
• Demonstrate leadership and accountability for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work your team does.
• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategies.
• Create solutions based on sophisticated analytical thought comparing and selecting complex alternatives.
• Seek out, build and maintain trusting relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders in order to accomplish key business objectives, using influencing and negotiating skills to achieve outcomes.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship - our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset - to Empower, Challenge and Drive - the operating manual for how we behave.

The Barclaycard Payments Legal Team is responsible for providing legal support to Barclaycard Payments acceptance business as it continues its day-to-day operations and undergoes a significant carve-out and transformation. The team advises on commercial contracts, payment products and propositions, regulatory change, customer and supplier matters, and the legal arrangements needed to establish a more operationally independent business. This is an excellent role for a commercially minded lawyer looking to develop their in-house career within a dynamic, regulated and technology-led sector.

To be successful, you should have:

• A qualified solicitor, barrister or equivalent lawyer, with relevant post-qualification experience.
• Experience drafting, reviewing and negotiating commercial contracts.
• Ability to provide practical legal advice in a commercial or regulated environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain legal issues clearly to non-lawyers.
• Good organisation and matter-management skills, including the ability to manage competing priorities.
• A collaborative, curious and solutions-focused approach, with sound judgement and attention to detail.

Some other highly valued skills may include:

• Experience in payments, merchant acquiring, financial services, fintech, technology or another regulated sector.
• Knowledge of payment services or electronic money regulation.
• Experience of technology, outsourcing, supplier or data-related contracts.
• Experience supporting a business transformation, carve-out, legal-entity reorganisation or contract-transfer programme.

This role will be located in London or Northampton.

Our Work Experience is the combination of everything that's unique about us: our culture, our core values, our company meetings, our commitment to sustainability, our recognition programs, but most importantly, it's our people. Our employees are self-disciplined, hard working, curious, trustworthy, humble, and truthful. They make choices according to what is best for the team, they live for opportunities to collaborate and make a difference, and they make us the #1 Top Workplace in the area.