Head of Legal - Financial Services

Alma; Paris; On-site; EUR 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Alma is seeking a seasoned Head of Legal in Paris to define and drive the company’s legal and privacy strategy, ensuring regulatory alignment and pragmatic business support. You will lead the Legal team, manage commercial negotiations, and oversee corporate governance and DPIAs.

You will act as DPO, interact with regulators, and partner with Product, Tech, Risk, and Business teams to embed privacy-by-design in all initiatives. Fluency in French and English is required.

Qualifications

• 15+ years in senior legal positions, with banking/fintech exposure.
• Master’s degree in law or equivalent qualification.
• Experience as Data Protection Officer and with GDPR compliance.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead Alma’s legal strategy aligned with business goals.
• Oversee corporate governance, financing, IP, antitrust and contracts.
• Coordinate external counsel and manage the legal budget.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Negotiation

Stakeholder management

Bilingual French/English

Leadership

Education

Master’s degree in law

15+ years in senior legal roles

DPO experience / GDPR

Tools

External counsel coordination

Job description

About Alma

At Alma, we believe sustainable commerce depends on fair, well-balanced trade. Because finance plays a pivotal role in business, our mission is to put it back in its rightful place - serving merchants and consumers.

Our installment and deferred payment solutions help merchants boost sales by 20% or more, increase customer loyalty, and deliver a seamless shopping experience - without encouraging bad debt.

As the buy now pay later leader in France and active in 10 European countries, we've empowered over +25,000 merchants and 10 million consumers.

With 400+ Almakers and €100M+ ARR, Alma is scaling rapidly across Europe as a member of the Next40, and we're just getting started!

About the team

The Head of Legal supports Alma to grow safely and sustainably by anticipating and managing legal risk, providing pragmatic advice, negotiating contracts, and supporting teams across the company; in a strongly regulated environment.

The Head of Legalreports to Alma’s General Secretary and lead the Legal function. You will be a trusted partner to the Director’s Committee and work closely with Product, Tech, Sales, Operations, Finance, Risk, Compliance, Information Security and People.

You will also act as Alma’s Data Protection Officer, with the independence, resources and direct access to senior management required to perform the role effectively.

This is a permanent position based in Paris.

About the job

As Head of Legal, you will define Alma’s legal and privacy strategy and ensure that it supports the company’s business ambitions, regulatory obligations and risk appetite.

Your main responsibilities will include:

Define and lead Alma’s legal strategy

• Develop and execute a clear legal roadmap aligned with Alma’s business and international strategy.
• Identify, assess and manage Alma’s main legal risks, escalating material matters to executive management and governance bodies when appropriate.
• Provide clear, pragmatic and business-oriented advice to the Executive Committee and teams across Alma.
• Translate complex legal requirements into actionable recommendations, policies and scalable operational processes.
• Monitor relevant legal developments across Alma’s markets and anticipate their impact on the company’s products and activities.

Support Alma’s business, products and partnerships

• Advise Product and Tech teams throughout the design and launch of new products and features, embedding legal and privacy considerations from the outset.
• Support Sales, Account Management, Operations and other business teams on strategic projects and complex legal questions.
• Oversee the drafting, review and negotiation of commercial agreements, including agreements with merchants, partners, suppliers and technology providers.
• Establish scalable contracting standards, templates, playbooks and approval processes that enable teams to move quickly while controlling legal risk.
• Advise on strategic transactions, partnerships, outsourcing arrangements and international expansion projects.

Oversee corporate and governance matters

• Manage Alma’s corporate legal matters and ensure that its legal entities comply with applicable governance and corporate requirements.
• Support executive management and governance bodies in preparing decisions and maintaining appropriate corporate documentation.
• Advise on financing, corporate transactions, intellectual property, competition law and other strategic legal matters.
• Coordinate external counsel and manage the legal budget, ensuring that external expertise is used effectively.
• Oversee litigation, pre-litigation, claims and other disputes, defining the appropriate strategy and protecting Alma’s interests.

Act as Alma’s Data Protection Officer

• Define and oversee Alma’s data protection framework in accordance with the GDPR and other applicable privacy laws.
• Inform and advise Alma and its employees on their data protection obligations.
• Monitor compliance through appropriate policies, processes, controls and reporting.
• Maintain and continuously improve Alma’s privacy governance, including records of processing activities, privacy notices, retention standards and procedures for handling data-subject requests.
• Establish a robust framework for data protection impact assessments and ensure that DPIAs are conducted when required.
• Advise Product, Tech, Data, Risk, Operations, Marketing and People teams on privacy-by-design and privacy-by-default principles.
• Work closely with Information Security on personal-data breaches, incident response, security measures and regulatory notifications.
• Act as Alma’s primary contact for data protection authorities and cooperate with them when required.
• Develop training and awareness initiatives to foster a strong data protection culture throughout Alma.

Lead and develop the Legal team

• Set a clear vision, priorities and operating model for the Legal team.
• Manage, coach and develop team members, promoting high standards of expertise, ownership and collaboration.
• Allocate resources according to business priorities and ensure that legal requests are handled effectively.
• Define meaningful objectives and indicators to measure the team’s impact, service quality and risk management.
• Build trusted relationships across Alma and position Legal as both a strategic partner and an independent control function.

About you

You combine excellent legal judgment with a strong understanding of business. You are comfortable taking clear positions on complex matters while remaining pragmatic and solution-oriented.

You are likely to thrive in this role if you:

• Can move comfortably between strategic questions and hands-on legal work.
• Understand how to balance business velocity, customer experience, innovation and legal risk.
• Communicate complex legal matters clearly to both legal and non-legal audiences.
• Build trusted relationships with senior leaders and challenge decisions constructively when necessary.
• Enjoy developing people and creating clarity for a multidisciplinary team.
• Are comfortable working with incomplete information and taking ownership of sensitive or high-impact decisions.
• Have strong negotiation, drafting and stakeholder-management skills.
• Are fluent in both French and English.

Your experience

• You hold a Master’s degree in law or an equivalent legal qualification.
• You have significant experience in senior legal positions (15+ years), combining experience in a leading bank or FinTech and a law firm.
• You have strong expertise in banking, commercial and technology contracts, corporate matters and business law.
• Experience supporting international activities and working across several European jurisdictions would also be valuable.
• You have the level of expertise and professional standing required to act as Data Protection Officer.

Hiring process

Because of the strategic importance of this role, the recruitment process will be thorough while remaining as efficient as possible. It is expected to include:

1. An introductory conversation with the Talent Acquisition team.
2. An interview with the General Secretary.
3. A practical case study focused on legal strategy, business partnering and data protection with key members of the team.
4. Meetings with key members of Alma’s leadership and relevant cross-functional stakeholders.
5. An interview with one of our co-founders.

Diversity & Inclusion

At Alma, we believe that diversity fuels innovation and makes our community stronger. We are committed to building a workplace where every person feels seen, respected, and empowered to do their best work whatever their gender, background, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religion, disability or lived experience. As an equal opportunity employer, we welcome applicants from all walks of life, and all employment decisions are made based on qualifications, merit, and business needs.