Senior Legal Counsel or Legal Director

Uber Boat by Thames Clippers is London’s leading river boat service, currently operating a fleet of around 25 purpose-built high-speed vessels, supported by an extensive pier network, homeport and dry-dock facilities. We were founded in 1999, and have a strong record of organic growth through route and fleet expansion, with more recent M&A activity adding to that growth. We employ over 500 colleagues across a range of marine, operational and central-support functions, and served around 6m customers in 2025. We are currently majority owned by Northleaf Capital Partners, a global private markets investment firm, who acquired their interest in our business in early-2022.

THE ROLE

We are seeking a UK-qualified solicitor to join the legal team as Legal Director or Senior Legal Counsel (dependent on experience), reporting to the General Counsel and Group Company Secretary. This role will be an integral part of a small but experienced and agile team that support legal, non-marine compliance and company secretarial work across our group, and who collectively work under the supervision and with the support of the General Counsel and Group Company Secretary, who founded the team and joined the business in 2022. This is a role with a broad and varied remit, but there will be a particular focus on property, construction and infrastructure work and supporting the legal aspects of our growth projects. As with any senior in-house role, there will be strong breadth and exposure to commercial work (albeit not a core-focus of this role), as well as sales, marketing, IT and communications. This role will also offer exposure to corporate, M&A, finance and transactional work at an exciting time for our business, and will provide strong autonomy and growth potential for the successful candidate.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

Mid to senior-level UK-qualified solicitor (as a guide, likely c. 5-8 PQE, although candidates from outside that range are welcome to apply if they can demonstrate the appropriate skills and experience, or if they have an alternative career path background), either as a first move in-house from private practice, or as a lateral move from a current in-house role for a candidate looking to experience a depth and range of work in an innovative and fast-growing operational business. A strong technical background in property and infrastructure work is key for this role, given the nature of our business and the strong growth pipeline we have, with a particular focus on pier and land development opportunities / partnerships. A broader generalist in-house skill set would be welcomed, as would experience of public-private partnerships and asset management, and the successful candidate will be able to develop their skills in commercial contracting and procurement, sales, marketing and communications, as well as transactional work. There will also be the opportunity to be involved in legal budget and advisor panel management, functional design work, and team development. The expectation is that in time this role will develop into a true “second-in-command” level role and have meaningful influence on the direction of our function, and likely assume some line management responsibility in time, developing the skills required to potentially lead a smaller legal function (or assume a senior role within a larger team) in the future. Interest in and experience of legal technology and operations is highly desirable but not essential. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to gain exposure to corporate, finance and governance work to develop their broader skills, as well as (if preferred) to be involved in corporate, M&A, finance and transactional work. We and Northleaf have exciting growth aspirations for our business, and we have completed two business/corporate acquisitions in the past two-years, and are actively considering further opportunities.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Support the business across a wide range of legal work and use strong legal research, analysis and drafting skills to help the business achieve its commercial objectives, with a balanced and proportionate approach to the acceptance of legal risk, with guidance from more senior colleagues where required.
• Work closely with our Chief Development Officer (CDO) and Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) and their respective teams to support the legal aspects of our growth and development pipeline, and deliver the legal aspects of multiple innovative and growth projects under the supervision and with the support of the General Counsel and Group Company Secretary.
• Depending on experience and individual aspirations, have involvement in data protection, privacy and more complex IT work, as well as the opportunity to gain exposure to corporate, finance and governance work.
• Undertake legal research as required (across a broad range of practice areas), maintain a knowledge of developing areas of law and industry best practice, and provide updates to the team and business as appropriate.
• You will be encouraged to develop your own professional network and attend industry and legal conferences and events as appropriate.
• Support with the development of precedent documentation and legal processes for more regularly occurring legal work, and suggest opportunities for process improvement where appropriate, including supporting the General Counsel and Group Company Secretary on the procurement and implementation of legal technology.

BEHAVIOURAL COMPETENCIES

As a business and as a legal team, we value excellence, people with drive, passion and purpose, people who show and so deserve to receive respect from their colleagues, and people who are reliable, and can be trusted to do the right thing. For this role, flexibility, diligence, agility and clarity of thought are more important than any particular legal background, although a strong knowledge of English contract law, excellent drafting skills and the ability to balance a clear understanding of risk with commercial pragmatism is key. The successful candidate will be supportive, collegiate, engaged, talented and authentic. The successful candidate will be able to communicate effectively (both in writing and orally), will be organised and reliable, and diligent, proactive and collaborative.

LOCATION & TRAVEL

Our head offices are located in East London at Trinity Buoy Wharf, across the River Thames from The O2 (nearest public transport: Canning Town (Jubilee) or East India (DLR)), which is also the homeport for the vast majority of our fleet. We operate a cross-river staff ferry connecting TBW to the Greenwich Peninsula, for The O2 and North Greenwich (Jubilee). The legal team is supportive of flexible working / hybrid arrangements, and recognize that modern lawyers have other things that they want or need to include in their lives, and the candidate will be trusted to manage their time accordingly. We also believe in personal development and professional growth, and the team is committed to investing in our people to achieve that. This role is available on a permanent and full-time basis, albeit we welcome applications from candidates seeking a four-day working week or other flexible working/hybrid arrangements, and specific requests can be discussed at interview stage.