Executive Director, Legal Counsel - Derivatives and Securities Financing | SCIB

SLB Banco Santander, S.A. (Branch London); Camden Town; On-site; GBP 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary annual bonus

Pension contributions at 8% of salary

Private medical insurance

Life insurance and critical illness

Employee share plans

Job summary

Santander seeks an Executive Director, Legal Counsel - Derivatives and Securities Financing to lead legal support for DSF across UK and international desks. You’ll negotiate master agreements, advise on complex risk-transfer structures, and partner with front office to enable ready-to-trade status while managing external counsel.

You’ll bring PQE in banking law, deep derivatives expertise, and strong stakeholder management to influence senior leaders and drive compliant, efficient deal execution.

Qualifications

• Qualified lawyer with extensive post-qualification experience in a financial institution.
• Excellent knowledge of markets products and experience advising on structured derivatives.
• Experience drafting and negotiating master trading agreements for DSF transactions (ISDA, CSAs, GMRAs, GMSLAs, CDEAs).
• Strong understanding of UK regulatory frameworks including UK EMIR, MiFID II/MiFIR, SFTR and margin rules.
• Ability to manage complex transactions independently and advise senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Provide legal advice across markets products including derivatives and other structures.
• Structure, review, and lead on transaction documentation from term sheet to execution.
• Advise on new-product approvals and novel transaction structures.
• Instruct and manage external counsel cost-effectively within budget constraints.
• Mentor colleagues and contribute to legal technology and AI-enabled workflows.

Skills

Derivatives expertise

Legal risk management

Stakeholder management

Negotiation

Regulatory compliance

Education

Qualified lawyer with PQE

Tools

MS Office

Job description

Executive Director, Legal Counsel - Derivatives and Securities Financing | SCIB Country: United Kingdom

Join our community. Santander Corporate & Investment Banking (SCIB) is Santander's global division that supports some of the world's most complex and sophisticated corporate and institutional clients, offering customised services and value-added wholesale products to best meet their needs. The Derivatives and Securities Financing (DSF) Legal team directly supports the following SCIB business units: FIG Client Coverage and CIB Client Coverage, Risk Solutions Group (RSG), Institutional Sales, Market Making, Structuring (including Credit Structuring and RSG Structuring), Active Credit Portfolio Management (ACPM) and Private Debt Mobilisation (PDM). Depending on the business, coverage extends across the UK, Continental Europe, the United States and Latin America. In this interesting role, you’ll support client-facing and market-making activities, product structuring and risk-transfer transactions. You’ll play a critical role in enabling the bank to execute sophisticated transactions safely and efficiently, working alongside specialists in structured and non-structured market products. You’ll act as the legal owner for allocated matters, partnering with the business and helping them to achieve ready-to-trade status through expert negotiation, an efficient documentation process and timely turnaround. You’ll join a supportive, friendly and high-performing team in an expanding business, working directly with the front office on a wide variety of transactions and on other legal projects associated with the SCIB businesses. This role offers a strong platform for professional growth in a highly specialised area of banking law, with the opportunity to develop deep technical expertise.

The difference you’ll make:

• Providing legal advice on a broad range of Markets products: structured and non-structured derivatives across all types of underlying assets, including interest rates, inflation, FX, equity, credit, bonds and commodities, as well as repos, securities lending and structured deposits
• Structuring, reviewing and leading on transaction documentation throughout the transaction lifecycle, from term sheet to execution
• Providing legal input into new-product approvals and assessing novel transaction structures
• Advising on risk-transfer transactions, such as financial guarantees, insurance policies and risk participation agreements
• Reviewing, drafting and negotiating all types of master trading agreements and ancillary documentation
• Providing general trade floor support and handling trade queries
• Instructing and managing external counsel cost-effectively, including agreeing fixed fees and managing spend with regard to budgetary constraints
• Sharing your expertise, mentoring colleagues and acting as a technical sounding board on complex DSF matters
• Contributing to appropriate legal-technology and AI-enabled workflow improvements
• Contributing to the bank’s engagement with industry bodies and consultations
• Providing support to the Head of DSF Legal as well as the Head of SLB Legal on non-transactional matters and legal projects according to business needs

What you’ll bring

Our people are our greatest strength. Every individual contributes unique perspectives that make us stronger as a team and as an organisation. We’re enabling teams to go beyond by valuing who they are and empowering what they bring.

The following requirements represent the knowledge, skills, and abilities essential for success in this role.

• Qualified lawyer with extensive post qualification experience from a law firm or in-house in a financial institution
• Excellent knowledge of Markets products and experience advising on structured derivatives transactions
• Extensive experience drafting and negotiating master trading agreements for DSF transactions, including ISDA Master Agreements and associated CSAs, GMRAs, GMSLAs and CDEAs
• In-depth understanding of UK regulatory frameworks including UK EMIR, MiFID II/MiFIR, SFTR and margin requirements
• Ability to manage complex transactions independently, provide commercially focused legal advice, and influence senior stakeholders
• Excellent communication, negotiation and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to explain complex legal concepts clearly and concisely

It would also be nice for you to have.

• Previous experience advising on credit derivative transactions and risk-transfer transactions
• Knowledge of Significant Risk Transfer (SRT) transactions
• Experience supporting Capital Markets transactions, including structured notes and repackaging programmes
• Experience advising on traditional and synthetic securitisations and related derivative products
• Experience designing or operating outsourced legal support models and associated governance frameworks
• Additional European language skills

Location and Environment

This role is based at our offices in Triton Square, London located within easy walking distance from Warren Street and Euston.

Equal Opportunities

Equal Opportunities. Santander is proud of being an organization where there are equal opportunities regardless of age, gender, disability, civil status, race, religion or sexual orientation. We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible application process for all candidates.

Rewards and Benefits

• As well as a competitive salary, you’ll enjoy a benefits package that you can tailor to your needs.
• Eligible for a discretionary performance-related annual bonus.
• We put 8% of salary into your pension, even if you don’t contribute yourself.
• We’ll pay in up to 12.5% of salary, if you contribute as well, and you can take some of our contribution in cash if you prefer.
• 30 days’ holiday plus bank holidays, which increases to 31 days after 5yrs service, with the option to purchase up to 5 contractual days per year.
• Company funded individual private medical insurance.
• Voluntary healthcare benefits at discounted rates such as private medical insurance for your family, dental insurance, and health assessments.
• Protection for you and your family, with company-funded death-in-service benefit and income protection insurance, and the option to take advantage of discounted rates for additional life assurance and critical illness cover.
• Share in Santander’s success by saving or investing in our share plans.
• Learn more about our benefits and family friendly policies

About Santander

The Santander Way Santander is evolving from a global, high-impact brand into a technology-driven organization, and our people are at the heart of this journey. Together, we are driving a customer-centric transformation that values bold thinking, innovation, and the courage to challenge what’s possible. This is more than a strategic shift. It’s a chance for driven professionals to grow, learn, and make a real difference. Our mission is to contribute to help more people and businesses prosper. We embrace a strong risk culture and all our professionals at all levels are expected to take a proactive and responsible approach toward risk management.