Lead Legal Counsel

Coventry Building Society; Coventry; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

28 days holiday

Discretionary bonus

Pension scheme

Life assurance

Private medical insurance

Job summary

Coventry Building Society invites a Lead Legal Counsel to shape product development and advise on lending, savings and customer propositions within a high‑regulation environment.

You will work closely with senior stakeholders, manage regulatory risk and lead cross‑functional legal projects across the Group with a hybrid working pattern from Manchester or Coventry.

Qualifications

• Established post‑qualification experience with prior qualification as a solicitor, barrister or equivalent legal professional.
• Strong expertise in financial services law and regulation such as lending, savings, mortgages and conduct regulation.
• Ability to provide pragmatic, commercially focused legal advice to senior stakeholders.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the confidence to build trusted relationships across a business.
• Experience interpreting regulatory change and translating complex requirements into practical actions.
• Strong drafting, negotiation, analytical and risk management capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Providing strategic legal advice on retail savings, lending, bank accounts and wider customer products.
• Supporting product development and business change activity by identifying legal and regulatory considerations early in the decision‑making process.
• Advising stakeholders on legal risk, regulatory change and customer‑related matters, delivering practical and commercially focused solutions.
• Supporting product proposition and development, including advising a wide range of stakeholders on product design, customer journeys and communications, operational processes and procedures, policies and governance.
• Building trusted relationships across the business, influencing stakeholders and supporting sound risk‑based decision making.
• Managing external legal advisers and contribute to continuous improvement across the Legal function.
• Leading on complex legal issues across all Product & Customer areas

Skills

Financial services law

Regulatory compliance

Stakeholder management

Legal advisory

Regulatory change interpretation

Job description

As Lead Legal Counsel - Products & Customer, the Lead Legal Counsel will provide strategic legal advice across the Group's lending, savings and wider customer propositions. Working closely with senior stakeholders, the role will help shape product development, manage legal and regulatory risk, and support the delivery of fair customer outcomes.

This is a highly visible position within a growing organisation of around 6,000 colleagues, offering the opportunity to influence decisions that sit at the heart of the Society's business model.

The Lead Legal Counsel role can be based in either Manchester or Coventry in a hybrid business working model at least once a week from either office.

Your Key Responsibilities will include (but by no means be limited to):

• Providing strategic legal advice on retail savings, lending, bank accounts and wider customer products.
• Supporting product development and business change activity by identifying legal and regulatory considerations early in the decision-making process.
• Advising stakeholders on legal risk, regulatory change and customer-related matters, delivering practical and commercially focused solutions.
• Supporting product proposition and development, including advising a wide range of stakeholders on product design, customer journeys and communications, operational processes and procedures, policies and governance.
• Building trusted relationships across the business, influencing stakeholders and supporting sound risk-based decision making.
• Managing external legal advisers and contribute to continuous improvement across the Legal function.
• Leading on complex legal issues across all Product & Customer areas

Our benefits include:

• 28 days holiday a year plus bank holidays and a holiday buy/sell scheme
• Annual discretionary bonus scheme
• Personal pension with matched contributions
• Life assurance (6 times annual salary)
• Private Medical Insurance

About You:

Join a purpose‑led organisation at an exciting time of growth. Following the acquisition of The Co-operative Bank, we are now a Group of around 6,000 colleagues and the second largest building society in the UK. As Lead Legal Counsel - Products & Customer, you’ll provide strategic legal advice on lending, savings and wider customer propositions that sit at the heart of our business. Working closely with senior stakeholders, you’ll help shape product decisions, manage legal risk and support the delivery of good customer outcomes in a highly regulated environment.

For this role you’ll need to have:

• Established post‑qualification experience with prior qualification as a solicitor, barrister or equivalent legal professional.
• Strong expertise in financial services law and regulation such as lending, savings, mortgages, consumer credit, payment services and conduct regulation.
• Ability to provide pragmatic, commercially focused legal advice to senior stakeholders.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the confidence to build trusted relationships across a business.
• Established experience of interpreting regulatory change and translating complex requirements into practical actions.
• Strong drafting, negotiation, analytical and risk management capabilities.

Experience in these areas would be helpful:

• In-house legal experience within a financial services organisation.
• Experience supporting property‑related legal matters or complex customer disputes.
• Experience managing external legal counsel and advisers.

About us:

In 2025, Coventry Building Society purchased The Co-operative Bank. Bringing together our purpose‑led building society with the UK’s original ethical bank was the start of an exciting journey.

Trusted by over four million people, we’re a mutually owned business free from shareholders, and with our combined experience of almost 300 years, our ethics and dedication will continue to guide us. Together, we have shared values and an ethical approach towards our members, customers and colleagues.

We’re officially recognised as a ‘Great Place to Work’ and our benefits go beyond basic pay, with a discretionary bonus scheme, a culture of reward and recognition and comprehensive support for wellbeing.

We’re serious about equality, of race, age, faith, disability, and sexual orientation and we celebrate diversity. By working together, we know you’ll build more than just a career with us.

Flexibility and why it matters

We understand the need for flexibility, so wherever possible, we’ll consider alternative working patterns. Have a chat with us before you apply to see what the possibilities are for this role.

Proud to be a Disability Confident Committed Employer

We’re proud to offer an interview or assessment to every disabled applicant who meet the minimum criteria for our vacancies. As part of the application process, disabled applicants can opt in for the Disability Confident Interview Scheme. If there are ever occasions where it is not practicable to interview all candidates that meet the essential criteria, such as when we receive a high number of applications, we commit to interviewing disabled candidates who best meet the minimum essential and desirable criteria.