Corporate Counsel Lead

The world of finance moves fast. At FIS, we’re faster. Our teams are empowered to learn, grow, and make an impact–in their careers and communities. We deliver innovation that advances the way the world pays, banks and invests. If you want to grow personally and professionally, we’d like to know: Are you FIS?

About the team:

The FIS Legal team is comprised of 200+ attorneys and paraprofessionals worldwide who are a part of the Legal, Compliance & Corporate Affairs (LCCA) group, which includes professionals who serve as advisors to and partners with our businesses. Teams within our group work collaboratively with each other and with our business colleagues to solve problems in an effective and pragmatic manner. We view our role as one of strategic enablement and support for our business leaders in a variety of legal, compliance and corporate affairs matters. We strive to assist our businesses in meeting their objectives with sound, reasonable and well-considered legal counsel and compliance analysis and support.

This role sits within the FIS Regulatory Legal team. Regulatory Legal is a global team that provides expert legal advice on a broad range of existing and emerging financial services and technology laws and regulations; regulatory policy matters; engagements with regulators; regulatory compliance and financial crime risk; sustainability regulations; and antitrust/competition issues. Regulatory Legal ensures that FIS’ products, services, and regulated entities have the legal support necessary to operate in compliance with applicable regulations, and the team serves as a trusted and strategic partner to all businesses and corporate functions globally across the enterprise. This includes both day‑to‑day advisory work and issue‑driven support.

What you will be doing:

• Serve as an SME on AI legal and regulatory matters globally, partnering with specialists across the LCCA group, and other key stakeholders across the Company, including Risk, Technology, The People Office (TPO) and the Commercial Office.
• Guide the business through rapidly evolving laws, rules and regulations relating to AI, helping to implement a scalable control environment that enables growth and innovation while ensuring compliance with regulatory expectations.
• Partnering with Public Policy, act as a thought leader for the Company on AI regulatory policy and legislative developments.
• Provide specialist legal support in the development of sustainable AI policies, governance frameworks and trust-related artifacts.
• Advise on responses to regulatory notices, enquiries, exams, or other correspondence with regulatory agencies in relation to AI issues.
• Lead and oversee gap assessments against evolving AI laws, rules, regulations and industry best practice.
• Partner with Business, Data Privacy & IP Legal teams to advise on AI-related contract terms in client and vendor agreements.
• Advise Marketing & Communications on draft publications from a legal perspective.
• Partner with key stakeholders across the Company to evaluate and advise on regulatory risks and mitigation strategies for new AI products and partnerships.
• Provide training and awareness to colleagues on compliance with emerging AI regulations and AI regulatory risk issues, and provide legal counsel to TPO on AI colleague enablement training and literacy requirements.
• Partner with Cybersecurity and Data Privacy to advise on high impact issues at the intersection of AI and Cybersecurity.
• Direct and manage relationships with outside counsel as required, ensuring the delivery of timely, consistently excellent and cost-effective advice.

What you will need:

• J.D. with active membership in at least one state bar or admitted to practice in the UK or EU.
• Minimum 8–12 years of post-qualification experience (PQE) in a relevant legal practice area.
• Deep knowledge of, and substantial experience advising on, evolving global AI laws, rules and regulations, including the EU AI Act and U.S. state AI regulations.
• Relevant experience in adjacent legal fields, including Financial Services Regulatory, IP and Data Privacy will also be considered.
• Strong communication, research, writing, and analytical skills, including drafting of advice, as well as the ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to review and evaluate multi-faceted issues and counsel business colleagues on complex legal questions relating to various regulatory issues.
• Experience advising clients in a complex, diversified, global organization.
• Experience prioritising and managing multiple projects efficiently and effectively in a fast-paced business environment and driving complex projects to completion.
• Confident and proactive self-starter with strong interpersonal skills and a demonstrated ability to provide sound legal advice, exercise good judgement, and work well with management and cross functional stakeholders, including at senior levels.

Added bonus if you have:

• Cyber legal experience.
• Familiarity with AI governance frameworks and risk management, including the NIST AI Risk Management Framework or equivalent.

What we offer you:

• Opportunities to innovate in fintech
• Tools for personal and professional growth
• Inclusive and diverse work environment
• Resources to invest in your community
• Competitive salary and benefits