Legal Counsel

Phoenix; City of Edinburgh; Hybrid; GBP 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading savings and retirement business in the UK is seeking a Legal Counsel to join their legal team. This permanent role involves providing legal advice, managing external counsel, and ensuring compliance with the regulatory framework. Candidates should be qualified lawyers with experience in financial services and strong communication skills. The position offers hybrid working options and a comprehensive benefits package.

Benefits

Private medical cover

38 days annual leave

Career breaks

Qualifications

• Qualified lawyer with in-house or private practice experience.
• Strong understanding of financial services and life insurer operations.
• Ability to translate complex legal concepts into actionable business advice.

Responsibilities

• Provide legal advice to support business objectives.
• Manage external counsel and costs during transactions.
• Draft, review, and negotiate documentation compliant with regulations.
• Advise on legislative changes and regulatory frameworks.

Skills

Legal advice

Experience in financial services

Strong communication skills

Education

English or Scottish Qualified lawyer

Job description

Overview

Job Type: Permanent

Location: Based from our Birmingham/London/Edinburgh offices with hybrid working options.

Flexible working: All of our roles are open to part-time, job-share and other types of flexibility. We will discuss what is important to you and balancing this with business requirements during the recruitment process. You can read more about Phoenix Flex here.

Closing Date: 10.10.25

Salary and benefits: From £90,000 plus an indicative bonus range of 16%–32%, private medical cover, 38 days annual leave, excellent pension, 12x salary life assurance, career breaks, income protection, 3x volunteering days and much more.

Who are we?

We want to be the best place that any of our 6,600 colleagues have ever worked.

We’re Phoenix Group, we’re a long-term savings and retirement business. We offer a range of products across our market-leading brands, Standard Life, SunLife, Phoenix Life and ReAssure. Around 1 in 5 people in the UK has a pension with us. We’re a FTSE 100 organisation that is tackling key issues such as transitioning our portfolio to net zero by 2050, and we’re not done yet.

The Role

This is an excellent opportunity to join us as a Legal Counsel on a permanent basis to work in a highly motivated legal team. This role demands high energy and self-confidence as well as pragmatism and curiosity to learn.

This role is part of Phoenix’s legal team supporting across Corporate & Commercial, Shared Services, Retirement Solutions & Asset Management which provides high quality legal advice. All our lawyers provide support across our functions.

The role requires management of a variety of legal tasks supporting risk transfers, bulk purchase annuities, the management of legal risks, horizon scanning as well as being an active member of the wider Phoenix General Counsel function. Our lawyers are expected to take an active interest in the wider business and their stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide legal advice supporting the delivery of business objectives
• Manage external counsel on transactions ensuring costs are managed appropriately
• Draft, review, and negotiate commercial, corporate and risk transfer documentation
• Ensure alignment with UK and EU regulatory frameworks
• Advise on legislative and regulatory changes
• Ensure compliance with FCA conduct rules, Consumer Duty, and other applicable regulations
• Identify and assess legal risks across business unit
• Provide risk mitigation strategies and ensure decisions are legally sound

What are we looking for?

• We are looking for an English or Scottish Qualified lawyer with experience gained either in-house or in private practice.
• You will have a strong understanding of financial services either through private practice or inhouse
• An understanding of the operations of a life insurer
• Ability to translate complex legal concepts into actionable business advice.
• Work across other legal disciplines required to support a Life Insurance company

Essential Criteria

• Experience inhouse or from private practice in risk transfers, corporate and commercial
• Experience working in or with as a client Financial Services with a key understanding of the regulatory and legislative frameworks
• Ability to balance legal risk with business needs, advising stakeholders on risk tolerance and options
• Excellent communication skills to convey complex legal issues clearly to non-lawyers

We want to hire the whole version of you.

We are committed to ensuring that everyone feels accepted and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. If your experience looks different from what we’ve advertised and you believe that you can bring value to the role, we’d love to hear from you.

If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, please let us know so we can help you to be at your best.

We’re reviewing applications as they come in, so apply early to avoid missing out.

Find out more

Guide for Candidates: thephoenixgroup.pagetiger.com/guideforcandidates

Talk to us: www.thephoenixgroup.com/careers/talk-to-us