Senior Legal Counsel, Data and Cyber

Monzo; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 95,000 - 105,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading UK bank is seeking a Senior Legal Counsel to join their team. This role involves advising on data protection and cyber security compliance, working with various stakeholders, and managing legal relationships. Candidates should have a minimum of 5 years experience in data protection, ideally in a banking or financial environment. The position offers a competitive salary, opportunities for remote work, and a commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Benefits

Base salary circa £100,000

Stock options

Learning budget of £1,000 per year

Flexible working hours

Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 years of relevant post qualification experience.
• Experience in-house at a bank or financial institution is preferred.
• Comfortable with advising on data protection laws.

Responsibilities

• Partner with data protection teams on various initiatives.
• Provide legal advice on marketing and data compliance.
• Deliver training on data protection risks.

Skills

Deep experience in data protection

Interest in data and cyber developments

Experience with advertising and marketing data

Understanding of financial regulation

Experience in AI legal issues

Transactional data protection experience

Strong communication skills

Strategic thinking

Proactive problem-solving

Ability to handle diverse legal issues

Education

Qualified lawyer with minimum 5 years experience

Job description

⭐Our Legal team

We’re looking for a Senior Legal Counsel, Data & Cyber to join our team at Monzo and help us build one of the best, most innovative banks in the world.

This role will have day-to-day responsibility for advising on data protection and cyber security related compliance issues.

In this role, you will partner with colleagues at all levels in the organisation and work with a wide‑range of stakeholders including but not limited to our Privacy, Growth & Marketing, Supplier Operations, Third Party Risk Management, Security, Risk & Control and Compliance teams as well as working directly with Product teams across Monzo.

No two days are the same in Monzo’s Legal team. This is not your typical legal role; so we’re not looking for a typical person. On any given day you may be advising on the data protection risks of a new product launch, a complex data transformation project, a new direct marketing campaign, how we use new innovative technologies in our advertising ecosystem or the implementation of a novel AI solution.

Ultimately, we’re looking for someone with exceptional technical expertise who is willing to roll up their sleeves and get things done to help deliver products and services that delight our customers, raise standards in our industry, and contribute to the achievement of our mission.

If this sounds right up your street then please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.

You’ll play a key role by…

• Partner with our first line and second line data protection teams on a range of initiatives and data protection related issues.
• Acting as trusted legal advisor to colleagues across the Monzo business to provide pragmatic and scalable legal advice and solutions to complex data related challenges. You will be advising on a range of matters with a heavy focus on marketing, advertising and tracking technologies as well the interplay of data protection requirements with our obligations as a fully regulated bank.
• You will also need to provide advice relating to the completion of data protection assessments by our first and second line teams in more specialised areas (for example, where special category data is involved or we are utilising new forms of AI).
• Delivering training, sharing insights from your work, and helping educate others on key data protection risks for Monzo.
• Managing relationships with our external legal counsel and ensuring we are optimising our legal spend.

We’d love to hear from you if…

• You have deep experience in all aspects of data protection, having ideally spent time in private practice, and/or in‑house at a bank and/or other financial institution or regulator, or a leading big tech company. You have a minimum of 5 years of relevant post qualification experience (or equivalent).
• You have a genuine interest in data and cyber developments; it’s not just your job but something you’re proud to be a geek about.
• You have good experience working with the use of data for advertising and marketing purposes, including the use of the latest tracking technologies.
• You have good experience of financial regulation as it intersects with data protection laws and are comfortable with advising on the interplay between these regimes.
• You have some experience in AI, particularly key legal issues related to the use of generative artificial intelligence, and an appetite to develop this further.
• You have experience in the transactional elements of data protection, including negotiating data sharing agreements, data processing agreements, and standard contractual clauses.
• You are passionate about working to advise the business to keep Monzo safe and compliant with our legal and regulatory obligations.
• You are a strategic thinker, a strong communicator and a keen problem solver who can recommend solutions that balance business and risk perspectives.
• You are willing to jump in and handle a wide range of legal issues that may arise even outside your core areas of expertise in an enthusiastic, proactive, and resourceful manner, and can sensibly assess when best to engage external counsel in a cost‑effective way.
• You are comfortable operating at all levels of the organisation and liaising with a variety of internal and external stakeholders.
• You enjoy horizon scanning, proactively assessing risks, and quickly identifying and independently implementing mitigating actions.
• You have a dynamic and entrepreneurial approach and are comfortable with the ambiguity of a fast‑paced and rapidly‑evolving environment.
• You welcome diverse perspectives, think rigorously and critically and aren’t afraid to challenge assumptions.
• You have an open and curious mind, are passionate about the intersection of banking and technology and are excited to join us for the next stage of our journey at Monzo!

Not ticking every box? That’s totally okay! Studies show that women and people of colour might hesitate to apply unless they meet every single requirement.

At Monzo, we’re dedicated to creating an inclusive and welcoming team. If you’re passionate about this role and keen to learn and grow with us, we encourage you to apply – even if you don’t have everything that’s listed just yet. Drop us your application, we’d love to hear from you!

Whilst in‑house financial services experience (including at a regulator) is strongly preferred, it is not essential for the right candidate. PQE is a guide only.

The application journey has 3 key steps

• Recruiter call (potentially followed by an initial call with Senior Legal Counsel – Data & Cyber)
• First stage 1 hour role specific interview
• Second stage 1 hour behavioural interview

Our average process takes around 3‑4 weeks but we will always work around your availability. You will have the chance to speak to our recruitment team at various points during your process but if you do have any specific questions ahead of this please contact us on [e-mail].

We’ll only close this role once we have enough applications for the next stage. Please submit your application as soon as possible to make sure you don’t miss out.

Your compensation package:

c.£100,000 base salary (dependent on experience) + stock options

✅ We can sponsor visas

This role can be based in our London office, but we’re open to distributed working within the UK (with ad hoc meetings in London).

⏰ We offer flexible working hours and trust you to work enough hours to do your job well, at times that suit you and your team

Learning budget of £1,000 a year for books, training courses and conferences

#LI-DH1 #LI-REMOTES

Equal opportunities for everyone

Diversity and inclusion are a priority for us and we’re making sure we have lots of support for all of our people to grow at Monzo. At Monzo, we’re embracing diversity by fostering an inclusive environment for all people to do the best work of their lives with us. This is integral to our mission of making money work for everyone. You can read more in our blog, 2024 Diversity and Inclusion Report and 2024 Gender Pay Gap Report.

We’re an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to age, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, family or parental status, national origin, or veteran, neurodiversity or disability status.

If you have a preferred name, please use it to apply. We don't need full or birth names at application stage