Legal Counsel

We are seeking an experienced and commercially focused Legal Counsel to lead the provision of high-quality legal advice, governance support, and regulatory guidance across the organisation. This is a fantastic opportunity for a legal professional who enjoys working at the intersection of law, business, risk, governance, financial crime, and compliance. You will play a key role in supporting strategic decision-making, protecting the business from legal and regulatory risk, and helping to shape a strong culture of compliance and accountability.

The role offers broad exposure across commercial contracts, governance, regulatory affairs, financial crime, sanctions, risk management, and stakeholder engagement, making it ideal for someone who enjoys variety and business partnering.

As Legal Counsel, you will provide pragmatic and commercially focused legal support to colleagues at all levels of the organisation. You will help ensure that legal, regulatory, and compliance obligations are understood, managed, and embedded within business operations.

Working closely with senior stakeholders, regulators, operational teams, and external partners, you will influence strategic initiatives, support key business decisions, and drive continuous improvement across legal and governance frameworks.

What you will do?

• Provide practical, commercially focused legal advice and support across a wide range of business activities.
• Support the development and delivery of the organisation's Legal and Governance strategy.
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders on legal, regulatory, governance, risk, and compliance matters.
• Monitor legislative and regulatory developments and advise on potential business impacts.
• Present balanced legal opinions, findings, and recommendations to support effective decision-making.
• Build awareness of legal and compliance obligations through training, guidance, and stakeholder engagement.
• Support operational and business teams in resolving legal, governance, and risk-related matters.
• Assist with business continuity planning and resilience initiatives.
• Contribute to strategic projects, business transformation programmes, and operational improvements.
• Build and maintain effective working relationships across the organisation to ensure legal and governance considerations are embedded within business activities.

Commercial Contracts & Procurement

• Support with drafting, reviewing, negotiating, and managing a broad range of commercial agreements, including client contracts, supplier agreements, third-party service contracts, non-disclosure agreements, professional services agreements, and terms and conditions.
• Provide practical legal and commercial advice throughout contract negotiations.
• Identify and mitigate legal and commercial risks while supporting business objectives.
• Support responses to client due diligence and legal questionnaire requests.
• Maintain and develop contract templates, precedents, and playbooks.
• Assist with supplier due diligence, revalidation, and third-party risk assessments.
• Support governance and risk management activities relating to supplier and partner relationships.

Governance, Risk & Regulatory Compliance

• Support governance activities and help maintain effective compliance frameworks.
• Assist with regulatory investigations, reporting obligations, compliance submissions, and regulatory correspondence.
• Liaise with internal stakeholders, regulators, and external partners where required.
• Support the management of conflicts of interest, undertakings, and other regulatory obligations.
• Assist with annual compliance surveys, practising certificate renewals, and governance reporting activities.
• Help develop and maintain effective policies, procedures, and controls.
• Ensure governance frameworks remain aligned with regulatory requirements and business needs.
• Support claims and complaints activities where legal input is required.
• Monitor changes in regulations and coordinate implementation of resulting business requirements.

Financial Crime, AML & Sanctions

• Provide legal and technical advice on anti-money laundering (AML), sanctions, financial crime, and regulatory compliance matters.
• Support all aspects of client onboarding, customer due diligence, and client acceptance processes.
• Review and approve New Client Acceptance Forms, ensuring enhanced due diligence requirements have been completed and due diligence procedures have been followed correctly.
• Work closely with the Financial Crime & Sanctions Team, New Client Onboarding Team, Audit Team, and the Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) to ensure ongoing regulatory compliance.
• Develop, maintain, and enhance AML, sanctions, and financial crime policies, controls, and procedures.
• Conduct periodic reviews of policies, procedures, and controls to assess effectiveness and identify improvements.
• Develop and deliver internal training programmes covering AML, financial crime, sanctions, and regulatory compliance.
• Provide practical guidance on complex sanctions issues and evolving regulatory requirements.
• Respond to due diligence questionnaires and compliance enquiries from clients, suppliers, and external stakeholders.
• Support tax evasion prevention compliance activities and associated risk assessments.
• Lead or support investigations into financial crime, sanctions, and regulatory concerns.
• Review Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and liaise with the Head of Legal regarding submissions to the National Crime Agency.
• Assist with regulatory reporting obligations and regulatory inspections.
• Ensure the organisation's financial crime framework remains aligned with legal, regulatory, and best-practice requirements.

Audit, Assurance & Continuous Improvement

• Coordinate and support internal audits covering client onboarding, customer due diligence, AML compliance, sanctions compliance, and financial crime controls.
• Support client audits, external audits, and regulatory reviews.
• Conduct risk assessments and provide recommendations to strengthen governance and compliance frameworks.
• Identify opportunities to simplify, streamline, and improve legal and compliance processes.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of new policies, controls, and governance arrangements.

Additional Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks applicable across all jurisdictions in which the organisation operates.
• Act in the best interests of the organisation at all times, demonstrating professionalism, integrity, and sound judgement.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues across all business functions to ensure risks are effectively identified, assessed, managed, and monitored.
• Support the continuous enhancement of legal, governance, risk, and compliance frameworks.
• Promote a culture of accountability, ethical conduct, and regulatory compliance.
• Provide support across the wider Legal and Governance function when business needs require.
• Build strong relationships with stakeholders across the organisation to support effective decision-making and risk management.
• Take ownership of personal development and actively engage in career progression and leadership development opportunities.

Who you are

Essential Skills & Experience

• Qualified Solicitor, Barrister, Chartered Legal Executive, or equivalent legal qualification.
• Strong experience providing legal advice within private practice or an in-house legal environment.
• Demonstrable experience in governance, regulatory compliance, risk management, and legal operations.
• Strong knowledge of commercial contracting and contract negotiation.
• Experience advising on regulatory and compliance matters within a regulated environment.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to evaluate complex issues and deliver practical solutions.
• Strong commercial awareness and business acumen.
• Excellent written, verbal, and stakeholder communication skills.
• Ability to influence and build credibility with senior leaders and stakeholders.
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines.
• Experience driving process improvement and operational efficiency.
• Excellent attention to detail and professional judgement.
• Strong Microsoft Office skills.
• Ability to work independently whilst collaborating effectively across teams.
• Flexibility to travel to other office locations when required.

Desirable Skills & Experience

• Experience within legal services, insurance, financial services, professional services, or another regulated industry.
• Specialist knowledge of anti-money laundering, sanctions, financial crime, and regulatory compliance frameworks.
• Experience supporting MLRO functions and managing Suspicious Activity Reports.
• Familiarity with data protection, privacy, and information governance requirements.
• Experience managing regulatory investigations, audits, and thematic reviews.
• Knowledge of supplier governance, procurement, and third-party risk management.
• Experience supporting major business transformation or strategic programmes.

What's in it for you?

• High levels of flexibility and a great work life balance.
• A well-rounded remuneration package (which includes private medical insurance, income protection insurance and discounted gym membership, amongst many other benefits).
• Opportunities for growth and progression including professional funding.
• In person and remote social events.
• Opportunity to get involved in a range of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) activities.

We are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, which aligns closely to our cultural principles (Determined, Clear, Creative and Supportive). If you are excited about this role and being part of our culture, but your past experience does not align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles!

Department: CSG - Business Operations (Audit / Risk / Client Account Management / Finance / Legal / People / Procurement / Property and Facilities / Sales and BD / IT)

Employment Type: Permanent

Workplace type: Fully remote