General Counsel (UK based) Legal · City of London

As our General Counsel, you will be responsible for optimising our legal processes, procedures & policies and will take full ownership of legal, regulatory and compliance frameworks currently in place from the ground up. Starting with a commercial mindset, you will take the lead on drafting, reviewing and negotiating all contracts: client, partner, supplier or otherwise. As a member of Pirum’s leadership team, you will play a key role in helping us to deliver our strategic priorities, acting as a sounding board for business decisions, analysing problems and providing solutions that are both legally sound and commercially effective for business.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Lead and oversee all legal matters related to securities finance products, including securities lending, repo, and collateral management platforms.
• Lead negotiations of complex commercial agreements with clients, partners and suppliers, working closely with sales and product colleagues to provide pragmatic business orientated advice to support revenue growth.
• Build and lead a small in-house legal and compliance function, including a junior lawyer or paralegal, counsel to ensure cost-effective use of outsourced capacity.
• Embrace Pirum's AI-native mission by identifying and adopting AI tools and workflows within the legal and compliance function — including contract review, regulatory monitoring, and policy management — to improve speed, consistency, and capacity.
• Advise leadership team on legal, regulatory, and strategic issues impacting the business globally. Act as a key point of contact for FCA regulatory matters; support the business in meeting its obligations as an FCA-authorised firm, including advising on regulatory change and contributing to governance frameworks appropriate to that status.
• Lead and oversee the company’s Environmental, Social and Governance strategy, ensuring alignment with regulatory obligations and embedding ESG considerations into governance, risk management and decision-making.
• Support M&A, and other strategic transactions, including Legal Due Diligence.
• Establish and maintain corporate governance practices.
• Advise on data privacy, cyber security, and technology related legal risks, particularly in digital platforms and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
• Monitor and interpret regulatory change in fintech, and securities markets, translating it into actionable business guidance.
• Partner with technology and product teams to embed legal considerations into business operations.
• Develop internal policies, training and controls to promote a strong culture of compliance and ethics.
• Represent Pirum at trade association working groups for legal and regulatory matters.

Skills, Knowledge & Attributes

• 8+ years PQE with strong commercial and technology experience.
• Extensive experience in drafting and negotiating complex commercial agreements with institutional clients, including financial services (ideally within capital markets) and SaaS.
• Preference for leading law firm/ equivalent training – with tech focus and demonstrable desire to work in fintech arena.
• Strong experience in negotiating securities finance/or capital market agreements.
• Building legal infrastructure – experience setting up or scaling an in-house legal function, including frameworks, templates, processes and external counsel strategy.
• Implementing technology and AI within a legal function would be ideal.
• Proven experience in understanding key contractual risk areas, including liability, service levels, and termination rights.
• Proven ability to balance legal risk with commercial objectives, providing pragmatic advice in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience partnering with sales, product and senior stakeholders to close deals and support revenue growth.
• In-house experience working for our clients on the other side of our agreements – understands the inner workings of the institutions we are dealing with.
• Determine red lines, nice to haves, and can concede points and understand contractual risks and obligations to the firm in the negotiation.
• Develop and maintain relationships with external legal firms as required.
• Able to quickly develop an intimate understanding of our contracts and legal frameworks, suggesting and implementing improvements where required.
• Knows how to effectively manage and mitigate risk – will seek to identify actual and potential legal risks ahead of pre‑acquisition due diligence and manage them accordingly ahead of a potential exit event.
• PE experience - prior experience operating in a private equity backed business would be desirable.
• An ability to understand commercial issues and predict where they are likely to arise; the ability to explain legal concepts clearly and succinctly; the ability to juggle multiple workstreams; and the ability to think creatively to find solutions to problems within the confines of the relevant legal framework.
• Data protection / information security – practical exposure to data privacy, information security and technology risk issues would be a plus.

Requirements

• Excellent negotiation and influencing skills.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral.
• Ability to prioritise and manage high volumes of contracts without compromising on risk assessment.
• Experience building and improving contracting processes, templates, and playbooks to increase efficiency and consistency.
• Self‑motivated, pro‑active and autonomous, highly organised & adept at record keeping, with good.

Pirum is an Equal Opportunities employer. We see diversity as integral to our success as a company and are committed to providing an inclusive, mutually respectful workplace that is free of discrimination and harassment. We believe in recognising our people based on merit and ability alone and do not discriminate, or tolerate discrimination, whether on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership status, pregnancy/maternity, religion or belief.