Legal Counsel

AJ Bell

Manchester

Hybrid

GBP 60,000 - 90,000

Full time

13 days ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

25 days holiday

6% Pension

Discretionary bonus

Share schemes

Health cash plan

Private healthcare

Free onsite gym

Enhanced family leave

Travel loan

Bike loan

Employee Assistance Programme

Job summary

AJ Bell in Manchester is seeking a Legal Counsel to join our Legal team and provide practical, commercially focused advice to support growth.

You will draft and negotiate commercial agreements, contribute on regulatory obligations and work with Product, Risk and Compliance to shape customer terms. This role offers hybrid working with strong collaboration across teams and opportunities to influence key decisions.

Qualifications

Qualified solicitor in England and Wales with 3–6 years PQE in commercial, corporate or financial services regulatory work.
Strong commercial judgement and practical, solutions-focused advice.
Excellent drafting and analytical skills with attention to detail.
Ability to take ownership, work independently and make sound judgements.
Ability to turn complex legal issues into clear, concise and actionable advice for non-lawyers.
Strong communication, influencing and negotiation skills with stakeholders at all levels.
Curiosity about legal technology and new ways of delivering high-quality legal support.
Collaborative approach and willingness to broaden expertise as the team develops.
Experience in data protection/privacy, corporate transactions, and financial services regulation is valuable.

Responsibilities

Draft, review and negotiate a broad range of commercial agreements including supplier contracts.
Work with Product, Risk and Compliance to develop customer terms and conditions.
Research legal and technical issues and translate into practical advice for the business.
Help meet regulatory obligations, including Consumer Duty, in a proportionate and commercially effective way.
Partner closely with teams to identify solutions and deliver business priorities.
Use judgement to identify where legal input adds most value and manage risk.
Explore legal technology and new ways of delivering high-quality legal support.

Skills

Commercial judgement

Drafting skills

Analytical skills

Ownership

Clear advice

Communication skills

Negotiation skills

Prioritisation

Legal tech interest

Collaborative approach

Education

Solicitor qualification (England & Wales)

Job description

We’re looking for a Legal Counsel to join our Legal team and help AJ Bell make confident, well informed decisions as we continue to grow. By providing clear, pragmatic legal advice that protects our customers and our business, you’ll support our ambition to help more people feel good about investing.

Reporting to the General Counsel & Company Secretary, you’ll work across the AJ Bell group in a visible and varied role, partnering with stakeholders at all levels and getting involved in the legal issues that matter most to the business.

What does the job involve?

You’ll be a trusted legal adviser to colleagues across AJ Bell, providing practical, commercially focused advice and helping teams find solutions that work.

You’ll:

Draft, review and negotiate a broad range of commercial agreements, including third-party supplier contracts and standard terms of business.
Work with Product, Risk and Compliance to develop and maintain clear and effective customer terms and conditions.
Research legal and technical issues and translate them into clear, practical advice for the business.
Help AJ Bell meet its regulatory obligations, including Consumer Duty, in a proportionate and commercially effective way.
Partner closely with teams including Technology Services and Product to identify solutions, navigate legal and regulatory considerations and deliver business priorities.
Use your judgement to identify where legal input adds the most value and help the business manage risk effectively.
Explore how legal technology and new ways of working can make our legal support simpler and more efficient.

What are we looking for?

You’ll be a solicitor qualified in England and Wales, ideally with around 3 to 6 years’ PQE, with a strong grounding in commercial, corporate or financial services regulatory work gained within a leading UK law firm or an in-house environment.

You’ll also bring:

Strong commercial judgement and a practical, solutions-focused approach to legal advice.
Excellent drafting and analytical skills, with strong attention to detail.
The ability to take ownership of matters, work independently and make sound judgements.
The ability to turn complex legal issues into clear, concise and actionable advice for non-lawyers.
Strong communication, influencing and negotiation skills, with the confidence to work with stakeholders at all levels.
The ability to manage competing priorities and focus your time where it will have the greatest impact.
Curiosity about legal technology and different ways of delivering high-quality legal support.
A collaborative approach and an appetite to broaden your expertise as AJ Bell and the Legal team continue to develop.

Experience in data protection and privacy, corporate transactions and company law, financial services regulation, or pensions and trusts law would be valuable, but you don’t need to bring experience across all of these areas. We’re equally interested in people with the curiosity and ambition to develop their knowledge.

About AJ Bell

At AJ Bell, we believe investing should feel good. Whether you're looking for an ISA, pension or dealing account, whether you want to invest with the help of a financial adviser or do it yourself, we have easy-to-use solutions to suit people from all walks of life.

We're one of the UK's fastest-growing investment platform businesses, trusted by everyone from professional financial advisers to first-time investors.

Today, over 762,000customers trust us to manage more than £121.5billion of assets. By continually striving to make investing simpler and more accessible, we're helping more people take control of their financial futures.

We're proud to be recognised as one of the UK's Best 100 Companies to Work For for six consecutive years, and a Great Place to Work in 2025 and 2026, a reflection of our supportive and collaborative culture.

What we offer