Associate Legal Counsel

GoCardless; Greater London; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

An innovative technology company is seeking an Associate Legal Counsel to join their dynamic legal team. This role offers an exciting opportunity to shape the legal landscape of a fast-growing business by advising on high-value deals and supporting strategic initiatives. You will work collaboratively with various teams, ensuring that legal considerations empower business objectives rather than constrain them. If you thrive in a challenging environment and have a passion for technology and efficiency, this position is perfect for you. Join a forward-thinking firm where your contributions will directly impact the company's success and customer experience.

Qualifications

• 4 to 6 years of PQE with a focus on various legal areas.
• Experience in a fast-paced technology environment is beneficial.

Responsibilities

• Advise UK teams on legal matters and negotiate key deals.
• Support strategic projects and manage external legal counsel.
• Focus on process improvement and contract automation.

Skills

Private practice training

In-house experience

Project management

Communication skills

Understanding of FCA requirements

Knowledge of payment services

Experience with SaaS solutions

Familiarity with APIs

Education

Law degree

Tools

Legal management tools

Contract automation tools

Job description

We’re approaching ‘Legal Risk’ in Financial Services in a new way.

• We are ready to serve everyone, if we wanted to - we ensure Legal Risk does not constrain the business but empowers it to achieve its goals;
• We create the best possible customer experience - we want our customers (both internal and external) to look forward to going through our processes; and
• We aim to automate wherever possible - we don’t like inefficiencies nor do we believe that real risk mitigation is achieved by throwing people at the problem.

The Legal Function is at the forefront of GoCardless’ expansion. We must ensure that GoCardless adopts, implements and maintains forward-thinking and appropriate processes and controls, often coming across new challenges or issues that require innovative solutions.

The role

• As Associate Legal Counsel (4 to 6 years of PQE), you will focus on a number of legal areas and advise UK teams across the business.
• You will take a consultative approach and work closely with the business- never working alone, or able to concentrate on purely legal issues. As a member of a busy legal team you will also be expected to contribute to team-wide initiatives.
• The key responsibilities of this role include:
• Support and advise the team in charge of the relationships with PSPs and negotiate PSP deals
• Support and advise the Partner team and negotiate strategic Partner deals
• Support and advise the Go-To-Market teams in the UK on the most strategic and/or highest value deals
• Work closely with your manager to support on strategic projects
• Work on specific projects, for example when we roll out new templates/launch new products
• Reviewing and negotiating customer, partnership and supplier contracts by providing pragmatic and commercial support
• Supervise more junior lawyers on negotiations or on specific files
• Instruct and manage external legal counsel
• Build out and maintain self-help tools, playbooks and guides for the legal team and for the wider business
• Focus on constant process improvement related to high volume work - for example by iterating our contracting automation and management workflows
• Be prepared to deal with any legal issue, at any time.

Desired skills

We’re looking for a lawyer with private practice training and/or in-house experience in a fast-paced environment. You will be driven, able to work independently and able to apply your existing knowledge and approach across a very wide range of legal (and quasi-legal) areas. As a technology business, it helps if you have had experience in a similar area, or perhaps you have a keen interest in tech outside of your day to day work.

We’d love to hear from you if:

• You grasp new legal concepts quickly, and are not afraid to use your common sense.
• You are able to appropriately challenge ways of working and not be afraid to ask why.
• You are a self-starter who is proactive and you are willing to roll up your sleeves to get the job done.
• Your communication skills are first class, and you are able to distil complex and cumbersome legalese into understandable English.
• You love tech and tools, and love exploring how they can contribute to efficiency and customer experience.
• You enjoy project management and thrive on operational efficiency.
• You are easy to work with, do not take yourself seriously and want to work in a fun, fast-growing and challenging environment.

Bonus points if:

• You have knowledge of FCA requirements or payment services.
• You have experience with selling and supporting SaaS solutions.
• You can explain what an API is.