Deputy Head of Legal Practice / HoLP/MLRO (Hybrid) in London

Conveyancing in the UK is overdue for reinvention.

Transactions take too long, lawyers spend too much time on admin, and clients often feel left in the dark.

It's fragmented, under pressure, and struggling to cope with growing complexity.

Our client is a CLC regulated conveyancing law firm designed from the ground-up around AI to bring speed, clarity and consistency to the conveyancing process.

Their clients are home buyers and sellers and they partner with estate agents and other intermediaries who introduce clients to them.

They're right at the start of their journey having launched in May 2026 with their first cohort of conveyancers, clients and introducers.

The team and technology behind them is what makes it special.

Our client is a spin-out of one of the world's leading legal AI companies focused exclusively on automating real estate law.

Their founding team built the technology that powers 1 in 10 residential property transactions in the UK today.

Their expert conveyancers have decades of experience and have collectively completed thousands of transactions.

The Opportunity

They're looking to hire a conveyancing compliance expert to join their rapidly growing team in a role that doesn't exist anywhere else.

You'll wear two hats.

As Deputy Head of Legal Practice (Deputy HOLP) and Deputy Money Laundering Reporting Officer (Deputy MLRO), you'll help keep the company safe, compliant and trusted.

As a Compliance Legal Engineer, you'll work alongside the conveyancers and legal engineers to build the AI compliance agent that makes that protection faster, sharper and more consistent than any firm has managed before.

This is an early, high-impact role and a rare chance to help set the compliance standard for an AI-native law firm from the beginning.

You won't just police the rules, you'll be teaching technology to spot risk, surface the right checks at the right moment, and free up lawyers to focus on clients.

If you've ever felt that compliance is treated as a brake rather than an engine, this is your chance to prove the opposite.

What You Will Do

• Deputy HOLP: Support the Head of Legal Practice in making sure they meet their obligations under the CLC Handbook and Code of Conduct.

Help oversee legal casework standards, supervision and file quality, monitor for compliance risk, and step in to cover the HOLP's responsibilities in their absence.

• Deputy MLRO: Work alongside the MLRO to ensure they comply with our AML obligations, including receiving and assessing internal suspicious activity reports, help decide when a report should be escalated to the National Crime Agency, and provide cover so the firm's reporting line is never interrupted.
• Build the AML and compliance framework: Help develop, maintain and test the firm's policies, controls and risk assessments, from client due diligence and source of funds to file reviews, sanctions screening and conflict checks.

Keep them current as regulation and risk evolve, and make sure they work in practice, not just on paper.

• Compliance
• Legal

Engineering: This is what makes the role unique.

Work hand in hand with the conveyancing and legal engineering teams to build an AI compliance agent: defining the checks, encoding the rules, designing how risk is detected and surfaced, and testing and refining the system so it is accurate, explainable and trusted.

You'll translate dense regulation into logic a machine can apply consistently, while keeping a human firmly in control of every decision that matters.

• Run a small caseload to understand and support the role of the conveyancers, and stay ahead of and inspire ideas for continuous improvement and innovation.
• Set the compliance culture: Train and support colleagues so good compliance is second nature, act as a trusted point of contact for regulatory questions, and help build a culture where speed and rigour reinforce each other rather than compete.
• What They Are Looking For

Essential

• A conveyancing compliance expert with strong, current knowledge of the regulatory landscape: the CLC Handbook (or equivalent SRA experience), the Money Laundering Regulations, POCA, and AML best practice in a property law context.
• You hold a current practising certificate free of conditions and have great residential conveyancing
• Hands-on experience running or overseeing AML and compliance in a conveyancing department or law firm, including client due diligence, source of funds, risk assessments, file reviews and suspicious activity reporting.
• AI-first mindset: You've invested time to learn about AI and experimented with various AI tools at work and at home, and you're excited to use AI and automation to create meaningful skills leverage - not just efficiency gains.
• A builder's instinct: you can break a complex rule down into clear, logical steps, and you're energised by the idea of teaching technology to apply it.

You don't need to write code, but you think in a structured, systematic way.

• Comfortable operating in a fast-moving environment, exercising sound judgement on when to slow down, escalate or seek additional review to protect clients and the firm's reputation.

Desirable

• Experience as a HOLP, MLRO, or their deputy, or in a senior compliance or risk role in a regulated legal business.
• Exposure to legal technology, process design, or building and testing automated checks or workflows.
• What They Offer

This role is ideal for someone who wants to work with intensity at the frontier of AI to solve a problem everyone involved in the home buying and selling industry can relate to.

You'll enjoy meaningful ownership and a broad remit, and work alongside a high calibre team that have experience in the industry and AI, and care deeply about the problems they are solving.

• Competitive Salary and 5% employer pension
• Share options
• 25 days annual leave (plus bank holidays)
• Financial support for CPD requirements
• Vibrant central London offices with panoramic views and a great atmosphere
• Regular team lunches and socials, plus free snacks, drinks and barista coffee
• 30% off gym membership (to balance out the free snacks!)

• Indoor and outdoor ping-pong tables!