Legal Counsel

Nucleus Financial; City of Edinburgh; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial services firm in Edinburgh seeks a motivated commercial solicitor to join their legal team. The role involves negotiating complex contracts and supporting various business operations in a regulated environment. Candidates should be qualified solicitors with experience in commercial law and a passion for compliance. The firm is known for its strong culture of collaboration and inclusivity, offering flexible working options and a generous benefits package.

Benefits

Non-contributory pension

Bonus

Enhanced parental leave

Health and wellbeing initiatives

Flexible working options

Qualifications

• Minimum of 1-3 years PQE in commercial law, preferably within the financial services.
• Excellent relationship building skills and experience in a regulated environment.

Responsibilities

• Support the business on contract reviews, drafting, and negotiations.
• Identify process improvements for contracting.
• Advise on legal issues related to SaaS and investment platforms.

Skills

Negotiation

Stakeholder management

Attention to detail

Problem-solving

Communication

Analytical skills

Education

Solicitor qualified in England & Wales or Scotland

Tools

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel

Job description

About The Role

We’re on the lookout for a diligent and motivated commercial solicitor with experience in negotiating IT and other complex commercial arrangements to be part of our Legal team here at Nucleus. This role is a great opportunity to join an ambitious and highly respected team which advocates and promotes a strong legal risk management and compliance culture throughout the Group. As we continue through an exciting phase of organisational growth and evolution, there is no better time to join our journey in a role that adds true value to our business and our customers.

Our new Legal Counsel will have the opportunity to make a real difference by supporting our Third Financial business and wider Group through a wide variety of third-party contracts in a highly regulated environment. By working collaboratively across various teams, you’ll have the opportunity to build relationships and work in partnership with colleagues and third parties to promote engagement and embed a culture of continuous process improvement.

Role

It’s a varied role with lots of interesting and value-add work to keep you busy, and here are some of the ways you’ll spend your time:

• Supporting the business on all aspects of contract reviews, drafting and negotiation.
• Ensuring that a robust approach is taken to contracting with third parties to protect the Group’s interests, whilst also contributing to an efficient procurement and/or sales process.
• Identifying areas for improving the contracting process and implementing measures to promote risk-mitigation and efficiency.
• Reviewing and negotiating complex contractual arrangements with partners and suppliers such as investment managers, adviser firms and asset custodians.
• Advising on a range of legal issues relating to Software as a Service (SaaS), investment platforms, tax wrappers (in particular self-invested personal pensions), investments, and both on and off-platform partnerships.
• Advising on data protection issues, particularly in the context of data sharing with third party partners and suppliers.
• Assisting with precedents and tools to promote efficiency and excellence across the team.
• Supporting the business with product terms, literature and customer communications.
• Reviewing internal policies, procedures and documentation to ensure legal and regulatory compliance, including in relation to data protection and Consumer Duty.
  
  

A Bit About You

Your friends would probably describe you as a ‘problem-solver’ who is motivated by doing the right thing and supporting others to do the same. You’ll love researching and absorbing new information on a range of subjects. You’re the type of person who takes time to really understand an issue and is aware that each person or team has their own unique needs and requirements.

Tenacious, unafraid to challenge, and leaving no stone unturned, you’re thorough, with an eye for detail, and will ask great questions to help solve problems and persevere to get the best outcome possible. You’re a pro at understanding how the little things influence the big picture.

You'll demonstrate an open and honest approach and be able to build relationships and communicate confidently across the business.You'll encourage the right behaviours, support our core values and lead by example. You’ll set the bar high and help engender a team environment which is both supportive and rewarding, where high performance is the norm.

We’ve always placed more importance on cultural contribution above technical ability, but we’d really like you to have:

• Solicitor qualified in England & Wales or Scotland with a minimum of 1-3 years PQE in commercial, preferably with experience working in the financial services or other regulated sector and entitled to work in the UK
• Awareness of the FCA and PRA regulatory landscape (desirable but not essential)
• Understanding of trust law
• Understanding of SIPPs, platform structures and associated products (e.g., ISAs, GIAs and access to off-platform products) (desirable but not essential)
• Excellent PowerPoint/Word/Excel skills
• Excellent relationship building skills
• Great written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present to groups and engage with a diverse workforce
• Strong negotiation, influencing and conflict resolution skills
• Ability to work on own initiative, independently and to prioritise effectively in accordance with business strategy
• Ability to manage conflicting priorities and evolving work demands without sacrificing quality or accuracy
  
  

A Little About Us

We are the Nucleus Financial Platforms group and we help make retirement more rewarding. Our Third Financial business expands our capabilities to help investment managers and adviser firms better service their clients. Here at Nucleus, people come first - whether it’s our colleagues, or the advisers and customers we support, we know that working in partnership and collaboration leads to the best outcomes. Together, we’ve shaped the platform to how it is today. We work hard, and we celebrate hard too.

Our ambition is to create a platform with a difference, putting the customer centre stage meant tearing up the rule book and starting from scratch. We’ve come a long way since then, but our mission remains just as focused. That’s why our culture, values, and social responsibility are things we keep at the top of our agenda – because we know they matter and have a big impact.

Our culture is one of the many things that sets us apart from the pack. We want to have an environment where our people feel that they can make a real difference, know they’ll be rewarded for their efforts and more importantly, enjoy themselves at work.

Are we a perfect match? Check out this video and find out!

Inclusion and diversity at Nucleus

As with most things in life, who cares, wins. We really care about inclusion.

For us it’s not a tick box exercise; inclusion and diversity are embedded in our culture and everything we do. It’s a commercial imperative. It isn’t about being PC. It’s about being future-relevant and durable. We owe it to ourselves and the industry to ensure we are playing our part in creating a fair, balanced and transparent financial services sector.

More diversity means broader experience, a wider set of perspectives and a better collective ability to problem-solve. And it means being more representative of customer groups, which supports areas such as product development.

At Nucleus, we offer a generous blend of benefits for the things that really matter to our people, including a non-contributory pension, bonus, enhanced parental leave, paid time off for emergencies, health and wellbeing initiatives and flexible working options.