Head Of Legal in London

Join to apply for the Head Of Legal role at Thirdfort. We're on a mission to protect society from fraud and money laundering. We've already protected over 3 million people through life's big transactions, with a core aim to protect 3.5 million people by the end of 2025. Fraud and regulation are rising, costing the UK economy over £100bn every year; this makes it more difficult for businesses to protect themselves and their clients from fraud and money laundering.

Thirdfort helps businesses facilitate these anti-fraud checks so that individuals know they can transact safely and seamlessly with professionals during big transactions. Our anti-fraud platform provides a secure way for professionals in regulated sectors like lawyers, estate agents and accountants to transfer funds and verify sensitive information through app-based document checks, facial recognition and open banking. Over 1,000 businesses now trust Thirdfort to verify their clients. We are FCA regulated and have raised over $25m in capital from leading fintech investors.

The Role

We're seeking a dynamic, solutions-oriented commercial lawyer to lead our legal team. The legal team has been integral to Thirdfort's growth story, working closely with the founders, C-suite and all teams across the business to help achieve our goals. This role is varied, fast-paced and demanding. You'll balance needs from across the organisation, stay at the forefront of regulatory and industry trends, and help the business manage legal risk. You'll manage an associate legal counsel and set the legal strategy, while also being comfortable getting hands-on yourself and being a strong partner to teams across the business.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic legal advice to the co-founders, C-suite and broader leadership team as required.
• Set and manage objectives and key results for the team and contribute to the broader planning and management requirements of the business.
• Line-management responsibility for an associate legal counsel.
• Support commercial teams to manage and close a wide variety of commercial deals with clients and partners, improving legal and contracting processes, playbooks and templates.
• Enable teams by helping answer questions and solve problems on privacy, commercial law, AI and more.
• Give strategic and regulatory advice across the organisation while paying particular regard to the commercial context, to ensure the legal function is an enabler of company growth.
• Manage the legal aspects of supplier contracts, draft and negotiate outbound SaaS agreements, complex technology contracts and key vendor agreements.
• Responsibility for managing and constantly iterating on the company's data privacy compliance programme.
• Work with the founders, associate legal counsel and external counsel on potential corporate transactions such as fund-raising or M&A.
• Constantly refine and iterate ways of working so the legal team can work more efficiently and support the needs of the business as they develop.
• Coordinate and implement any commercial litigation needs of the business.

You may be right for this role if you:

• Are a qualified solicitor (England and Wales) with at least 6 years PQE in an in-house legal department and/or a well-respected law firm.
• Have experience at a startup or high-growth company – a significant plus.
• Are an excellent communicator, negotiator and have top-tier writing skills.
• Have high motivation and the ability to operate independently and act decisively on BAU as well as novel legal issues.
• Are hungry to learn about the world of fraud and money laundering and use your legal and professional background to add value to the business.
• Are pragmatic, output-focused and enjoy working with and learning from colleagues from different teams and backgrounds.
• Are passionate about legal ops, AI and leveraging technology and smart ways of working to efficiently scale a legal function.

Life at Thirdfort

Driven by our values, our culture promotes a collaborative and open environment where Thirdforters can take ownership, have impact and feel empowered when it comes to their growth and development. We understand the importance of our teams' wellbeing and recognise that a one-size fits all approach rarely works, so we aim to provide the flexibility individuals need to work in the way that suits them and their families best.

Our Benefits

• Compensation – £110,000 – 140,000 p.a. base salary
• Flexible working hours
• Enhanced parental leave
• Customisable wellness budget and £250 WFH Budget
• Up to 30 days working from abroad
• Uncapped holiday
• Enhanced sick leave
• Private healthcare with our provider, AXA
• Regular company and team socials
• Uncapped budget for personal development
• Share options for all employees
• Enhanced employer matching pension scheme with salary sacrifice options
• Access to our Cycle to Work scheme

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analysing resumes or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgement. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans.