Senior Legal Counsel - Contracts

Capital One; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Wealth & Future: Pension & bonus

Holidays: 25 days + 5 days

Private medical insurance

Parental leave

Job summary

Capital One seeks an experienced Senior Legal Counsel - Contracts to join its UK Legal Team. You will draft and negotiate complex supplier agreements, oversee risk in outsourcing, SaaS and tech contracts, and guide business units with legal insights.

Reporting to the Head of UK Contracts, you’ll mentor juniors, manage multiple workstreams, and collaborate with global teams. A strong in-house background in financial services is highly valued.

Qualifications

• Qualified solicitor with around 6–12 years PQE (PQE is a guide only).
• Extensive experience in drafting and negotiating complex commercial contracts, with a strong understanding of data protection law, and ability to navigate other risk areas such as AI terms, IP, and TUPE.
• Ability to leverage precedent terms or negotiate third party terms as required for the business context.
• In-house experience strongly preferred, ideally with financial services context, although this is not essential.
• Ability to apply strategic thinking and strong problem solving skills to support the business with navigating challenges.
• Excellent workload management skills, with an ability to work in a fast paced environment, and flexibility to adapt to our changing business needs.
• Confidence in written and verbal communications, tailoring content and style to the audience as needed.
• Proven track record of delivery with a results focus.
• Great relationship building and team working – across our supplier and sourcing managers and our broader Legal department and throughout our business’ multi-functional teams.
• Forward thinking on maximising use of digital opportunities as part of providing legal advice and contract drafting.
• Genuine focus on delivering a best in class legal service to our business.

Responsibilities

• Prepare and negotiate contractual arrangements, including services agreements, outsourcing agreements, software licences, terms and conditions of purchase, NDAs, variation agreements, termination agreements and renewals.
• Manage the contractual workstreams across a number of business areas; partner with the relevant supplier management and business contacts to integrate legal considerations into initiatives at the appropriate point and ensure timely execution in line with business priorities.
• Advise on legal and regulatory risks as well as strategic considerations in relation to third party contracting, including in relation to outsourcing requirements and data protection, and collaborate with other legal specialists where necessary.
• Supervise and mentor junior team members in relation to contract negotiation and drafting, legal research and advice.
• Develop and maintain great working relationships with stakeholders including suppliers, sourcing managers and business managers in Capital One UK and where appropriate within our US parent company.
• Identify and assess the impact of new laws, training other business areas where appropriate, and provide advice on legal risks for new initiatives.
• Instruct and manage input from outside counsel where needed.
• Manage your workload in a timely and effective manner and proactively communicate to stakeholders on progress.
• Ensure contracts procedures and policies are followed and risks escalated appropriately.
• Own your own development and support the development of others within the business through feedback, coaching and mentoring.

Skills

Contract drafting

Negotiation

Data protection

AI terms

IP

TUPE

In-house experience

Strategic thinking

Problem solving

Workload management

Communication

Relationship building

Job description

Nottingham Trent House (95002), United Kingdom, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire

Senior Legal Counsel - Contracts

Our Mission

We’re on a mission to be a force for good in lending. Throughout our almost 30-year history, we’ve consistently been recognised as a great place to work; in 2026, Capital One was officially ranked 9th in the UK’s Best Workplaces™ list. Hear from our team about what it’s like working at Capital One UK.

About The Role

Capital One is excited to have a new opportunity for an experienced in-house commercial contracts solicitor within the UK Legal Team.

Our Contracts team within Legal plays a key role in managing risk when we are engaging suppliers who work for Capital One. As a financial institution, ensuring robust supplier contracts is essential. To complement our existing team, we are looking for a strong team player with great communication skills, contract drafting and negotiating experience and commercial acumen. If you're looking for a new, exciting step in your career this could be for you!

Reporting to the head of UK Contracts, you'll provide legal advice to Capital One's business teams on a range of supplier contracts, such as outsourcing contracts, SaaS and other technology agreements, as well as other commercial matters.

What You’ll Do

• Prepare and negotiate contractual arrangements, including services agreements, outsourcing agreements, software licences, terms and conditions of purchase, NDAs, variation agreements, termination agreements and renewals


• Manage the contractual workstreams across a number of business areas; partner with the relevant supplier management and business contacts to integrate legal considerations into initiatives at the appropriate point and ensure timely execution in line with business priorities


• Advise on legal and regulatory risks as well as strategic considerations in relation to third party contracting, including in relation to outsourcing requirements and data protection, and collaborate with other legal specialists where necessary


• Supervise and mentor junior team members in relation to contract negotiation and drafting, legal research and advice


• Develop and maintain great working relationships with stakeholders including suppliers, sourcing managers and business managers in Capital One UK and where appropriate within our US parent company


• Identify and assess the impact of new laws, training other business areas where appropriate, and provide advice on legal risks for new initiatives


• Instruct and manage input from outside counsel where needed


• Manage your workload in a timely and effective manner and proactively communicate to stakeholders on progress


• Ensure contracts procedures and policies are followed and risks escalated appropriately


• Own your own development and support the development of others within the business through feedback, coaching and mentoring.

What We’re Looking For

• Qualified solicitor with around 6 - 12 years PQE (PQE is a guide only)


• Extensive experience in drafting and negotiating complex commercial contracts, with a strong understanding of data protection law, and ability to navigate other risk areas such as AI terms, IP, and TUPE


• Ability to leverage precedent terms or negotiate third party terms as required for the business context


• In house experience strongly preferred, ideally with financial services context, although this is not essential


• Ability to apply strategic thinking and strong problem solving skills to support the business with navigating challenges


• Excellent workload management skills, with an ability to work in a fast paced environment, and flexibility to adapt to our changing business needs


• Confidence in written and verbal communications, tailoring content and style to the audience as needed


• Proven track record of delivery with a results focus


• Great relationship building and team working – across our supplier and sourcing managers and our broader Legal department and throughout our business’ multi-functional teams


• Forward thinking on maximising use of digital opportunities as part of providing legal advice and contract drafting


• Genuine focus on delivering a best in class legal service to our business

Where And How You'll Work

This is a permanent position based in our Nottingham or London office.

We embrace a hybrid approach to work. You'll spend three days a week in the office (Tuesday-Thursday), with Monday and Friday being dedicated work-from-home days.

Our offices are designed to inspire and support you. At our Nottingham head office, you'll find an on-site gym, restaurant and dedicated Learning Loft. Our London office boasts a rooftop running track and coffee bar.

What’s In It For You

We invest in the growth of our people alongside our business. You will have extensive opportunities to learn and develop your career, including access to up to £5,000 in funding for external qualifications.

Benefits

In addition to career development, our comprehensive benefits package is designed to grow with you, ensuring your wellbeing is prioritised at every stage of your career:

• Wealth & Future: Competitive pension and performance-based bonus schemes


• Holidays: Start with 25 days of annual leave, increasing with tenure. Need more? You have the option to buy 5 additional days.


• Health: Access premium care through our private medical insurance.


• Family Support: We champion your milestones with enhanced parental leave.

A full list of our benefits is available here.

What You Should Know About How We Recruit

We pride ourselves on hiring the best people, not the same people. Building diverse and inclusive teams is the right thing to do and the smart thing to do. We want to work with top talent: whoever you are, whatever you look like, wherever you come from. We know it’s about what you do, not just what you say. That’s why we make our recruitment process fair and accessible.

We value diversity, inclusion and belonging at our core. We empower our associates to do great work by creating an inclusive culture— one that values diverse perspectives, foster collaboration and encourages innovative ideas—and a place where associates of all backgrounds can thrive by bringing their most authentic selves to work. We call this our Culture of Belonging, and it rests at the heart of our business.

Our associate-led Business Resource Groups were created to help support our diverse population and include over 10 groups across our offices. Because each Business Resource Group is as unique as the population it serves, they offer a range of activities, networking opportunities, special events and learning programmes to associates

Capital One is committed to diversity in the workplace.

Capital One Financial is made up of several different entities. Please note that any position posted in Canada is for Capital One Canada, any position posted in the United Kingdom is for Capital One Europe and any position posted in the Philippines is for Capital One Philippines Service Corp. (COPSSC).

Who We Are

At Capital One, we're building a leading information-based technology company. Still founder-led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard Fairbank, Capital One is on a mission to help our customers succeed by bringing ingenuity, simplicity, and humanity to banking. We measure our efforts by the success our customers enjoy and the advocacy they exhibit. We are succeeding because they are succeeding.

Guided by our shared values, we thrive in an environment where collaboration and openness are valued. We believe that innovation is powered by perspective and that teamwork and respect for each other lead to superior results. We elevate each other and obsess about doing the right thing. Our associates serve with humility and a deep respect for their responsibility in helping our customers achieve their goals and realize their dreams. Together, we are on a quest to change banking for good.