Senior Manager, Legal

Australian Financial Complaints Authority Limited; Melbourne; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Gold AWEI Accreditation 2025

Accredited Family Friendly Workplace

Flexible leave options

Job summary

Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) in Melbourne seeks a Senior Manager, Legal Counsel to join its Legal & Privacy team. This role leads complex litigation, provides strategic legal advice to senior leadership and partners with the organisation to navigate regulatory challenges.

You will manage external counsel, monitor developments, and help shape AFCA's legal strategy while fostering a collaborative, high-performing team culture.

Qualifications

• Extensive post‑admission experience in litigation and regulatory matters.
• Ability to provide clear, practical, commercially-focused legal advice to senior stakeholders.
• Strong analysis and problem-solving skills with sound judgment.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex litigation, judicial reviews and regulatory matters involving AFCA.
• Provide strategic, commercially-minded legal counsel to senior leaders across the organisation.
• Oversee external counsel and develop litigation strategies for optimal outcomes.
• Identify and manage legal and reputational risks.
• Monitor legislative changes and assess potential impacts on AFCA.
• Draft legal submissions, reports and executive recommendations.
• Contribute to strategic legal projects and capability development within the team.

Skills

Litigation expertise

Regulatory experience

Strategic advisory

Stakeholder management

Risk assessment

Legal writing skills

Contract negotiation

Education

Post-admission experience

Law degree

Job description

Australian Financial Complaints Authority – Melbourne VIC

Make a real impact at AFCA. Where fairness drives every decision. Help us deliver world-class, independent complaints resolution for Australians. As a not-for-profit and progressive financial ombudsman, we’re championing positive change. Achieving our purpose takes progressive thinking, accountability and resilience. At AFCA, our inclusive leadership values every voice. We offer our people flexible work options, thoughtful benefits and opportunities to deepen expertise. Flourish in a diverse, caring culture. Feel the difference of belonging to an organisation intentionally designed to put people first.

Company Description

Fairness feels good

Make a real impact at AFCA. Where fairness drives every decision. Help us deliver world-class, independent complaints resolution for Australians. As a not-for-profit and progressive financial ombudsman, we’re championing positive change. Achieving our purpose takes progressive thinking, accountability and resilience. At AFCA, our inclusive leadership values every voice. We offer our people flexible work options, thoughtful benefits and opportunities to deepen expertise. Flourish in a diverse, caring culture. Feel the difference of belonging to an organisation intentionally designed to put people first.

Job Description

At AFCA, fairness feels good. Every day, we help consumers and small businesses resolve financial complaints fairly and independently. Behind that work sits a trusted legal team that helps navigate complexity, manage risk and protect the integrity of the organisation.

Senior Manager, Legal Counsel to join our Legal & Privacy team. This is a rare opportunity for a highly experienced litigation lawyer to work on complex, high-impact matters while partnering with senior leaders across the organisation. This role goes beyond providing legal advice. You'll play a key role in shaping legal strategy, managing significant litigation and dispute matters, influencing organisational decision‑making and helping AFCA navigate an evolving legal and regulatory landscape. As a trusted advisor, you'll provide strategic legal counsel on matters that are often complex, sensitive and high profile.

What you'll do:

• Lead the management of litigation, judicial review and other legal proceedings involving AFCA.
• Provide practical, commercially minded legal advice on a broad range of legal, regulatory and organisational matters.
• Partner with senior leaders to identify and manage legal and reputational risks.
• Oversee external legal providers and develop litigation strategies that deliver the best outcomes for AFCA.
• Support complex complaint, jurisdictional and regulatory matters.
• Monitor legislative and regulatory developments and provide advice on potential impacts to AFCA.
• Prepare legal advice, submissions, reports and recommendations for executive stakeholders.
• Contribute to strategic initiatives and legal projects that support AFCA's long-term objectives.
• Foster a collaborative, high‑performing team culture and support the development of legal capability across the organisation.

Qualifications

You are an experienced legal professional who combines strong technical expertise with sound judgement, strategic thinking and a pragmatic approach to solving complex problems.

You’ll bring:

• Significant post‑admission experience gained within a law firm, regulator, government agency or in‑house legal team.
• Strong litigation and dispute resolution experience, including managing complex and sensitive matters.
• Exceptional legal analysis and problem‑solving skills.
• A demonstrated ability to provide clear, practical and commercially focused advice to senior stakeholders.
• Strong influencing and stakeholder management capabilities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to distil complex issues for different audiences.
• A proactive and solutions‑focused mindset, with the confidence to navigate ambiguity and competing priorities.
• Sound judgement, resilience and a collaborative approach to working with others.

Additional Information

• Gold AWEI Accreditation 2025 – Recognised for LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion.
• Accredited Family Friendly Workplace – Supporting work‑life balance and inclusivity.
• Hybrid working – Flexible arrangements with two days a week in our modernoffices designed for collaboration and wellbeing.
• Additional and inclusive leave options – Flexible public holidays, gender affirmation leave, women’s health leave, and bonus paid time off over the end of year holiday period.

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, cultures, abilities, sexual orientations, and gender identities. If you require any accessibility support during the recruitment process, please reach out to our team at *******@afca.org.au.

We believe fairness starts with people. That’s why we don’t use AI or automated tools to screen candidates. As a result, our processes may take a little longer, and we thank you for your patience.

About AFCA

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) was established in 2018 as a private not‑for‑profit ombudsman service providing free, fair and independent help with financial disputes. The original team has grown to over 1600 dedicated professionals. Since 2018, AFCA has received more than 634,000 complaints, helping to secure $2.1 billion in compensation for consumers.

AFCA is a 2026 Circle Back Initiative Employer - we are committed to responding to every applicant.