Senior Manager - Legal - (Fleet Finance & Treasury)

ENGINEERINGUK; Crawley; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Senior Manager Legal Counsel to join their dynamic team. This role involves providing strategic legal advice on complex asset finance and corporate matters, managing high-value transactions, and ensuring compliance. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in legal advisory within the aviation sector, showcasing strong negotiation skills and the ability to influence senior stakeholders. Join a forward-thinking company that values collaboration and innovation, and contribute to their mission of delivering exceptional service in the airline industry.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of post-qualification experience, ideally in aviation or asset finance.
• Expertise in drafting and negotiating complex commercial agreements.

Responsibilities

• Lead legal support on aircraft financing and leasing.
• Manage relationships with banks and external counsel.
• Provide strategic legal advice on asset finance and treasury matters.

Skills

Asset Finance

Legal Advisory

Negotiation

Corporate Law

Commercial Acumen

Project Management

Education

Qualified Solicitor (UK or equivalent)

Strong Academic Track Record

Job description

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Senior Manager - Legal - (Fleet Finance & Treasury)

View more categories View less categories Sector Finance and Accounts ,Legal ,Technology Role Senior Manager Contract Type Permanent Hours Full Time

Job Details

Salary: Competitive per annum

Hours: 37.5 per week, Monday to Friday

Location: Hybrid, 3 days a week in our VHQ, Crawley

Contract: Permanent

Closing Date: 16th May 2025

In a nutshell

At Virgin Atlantic, we pride ourselves on being a leading airline that is passionate about delivering exceptional service and innovative solutions. We are looking for a talented and experienced Senior Manager Legal Counsel to join our dynamic team and support our corporate fleet and finance operations.

As the Senior Manager Legal Counsel, you will provide strategic legal advice on complex asset finance, fleet, corporate, and banking matters. You will manage high-value legal aircraft transactions and corporate deals, ensuring compliance, risk mitigation, and optimal outcomes. This role requires engaging with senior cross-functional stakeholders and members of the leadership team to resolve issues pragmatically and influence decision-making at senior/executive levels.

Day to day

• Lead legal support on aircraft and engine financing, leasing, acquisition, redelivery, and disposal.
• Provide legal advisory services on asset finance, treasury, and banking matters, including loan facilities, credit agreements, hedging, and security documentation.
• Manage external relationships with counsel, banks, lessors, and OEMs, driving effective negotiation and resolution of legal and commercial issues.
• Support strategic initiatives across corporate, commercial, and fleet activities, including joint ventures, restructurings, shareholder arrangements, and cross-border transactions.
• Identify and advise on legal risks related to treasury, asset finance, and fleet, providing strategic, commercially-focused guidance to senior stakeholders.
• Contribute flexibly across the General Counsel's Office, supporting colleagues as needed and positively influencing the broader legal function.

About you

• Qualified solicitor (UK or equivalent) with a strong academic track record.
• At least 6 years' post-qualification experience, ideally from a leading law firm or in-house within aviation, asset finance, or banking.
• Expertise in finance law issues and substantial experience in drafting and negotiating complex commercial/finance agreements.
• Strong commercial acumen aligned with senior legal roles in the airline industry.
• Proven ability to analyse complex legal issues and deliver practical, solutions-focused advice.
• Excellent attention to detail and accuracy in legal drafting.
• Skilled in negotiating complex financial agreements and achieving favourable outcomes while maintaining strong relationships.
• Effective at managing multiple projects and priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Clear and persuasive communicator, able to influence and advise at senior/executive levels.
• Professional, proactive, and solutions-oriented, with a positive, can-do attitude.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with a collaborative approach and experience working cross-functionally and with external stakeholders.

If you are ready to take on this exciting challenge and contribute to the success of Virgin Atlantic, we would love to hear from you. Apply now and join our team!

Our recipe for leadership

At Virgin Atlantic, our leaders empower teams to thrive through collaboration, innovation, and excellence. Explore our Leadership Recipe and discover the 20 core ingredients that define what it means to lead with us, driving our mission to be the most loved travel company and achieve sustainable profit. Want to learn more? Click here

Be yourself

Our customers come from all walks of life and so do our colleagues. That's why we're proud to be an equal opportunity employer and actively encourage applications from all backgrounds. At Virgin Atlantic, we believe everyone can take on the world - no matter your age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disabilities, religion, or beliefs. We celebrate difference and everything that makes our colleagues unique by upholding an inclusive environment in which we can all thrive. So that everyone at Virgin Atlantic can be themselves and know they belong.

To make your journey with us accessible and individual to you, we encourage you to let us know if you'd like a little extra help with your application, or if you have any individual requirements at any stage along your recruitment journey. We are here to support you, so please reach out to our team, ( [email protected] ) feeling confident that we've got your individual considerations covered.

Company

Richard Branson founded Virgin Atlantic in 1984 with the intention of shaking up the aviation industry. Since then, we’ve grown from a small team, one 747 plane and a single route, to a global network that employs thousands of wonderful people worldwide.

We’re not just your average airline. We’re a family-centric one who recognises togetherness as a hugely important aspect of life. We support and care about our employees and their families, which makes Virgin Atlantic a special place to work and the long-haul airline our customers fall in love with.

When it comes to our people, they’re a passionate lot, united in creating something different. It’s always been like this. It’s in our DNA, and it was ignited within us from the moment we started flying. So, step on board, get ready to find your purpose, embrace your human spirit and let it fly.

Our ways of working

We’re on a mission to become the most loved travel company, but with this comes great responsibility. We must support all of our people to embrace a growth mindset. To think like a start-up and act like an owner of Virgin Atlantic and to live our values every day. Our ways of working are designed to reflect the balance of happiness, productivity, collaboration, and team spirit that make us uniquely Virgin. We have built our approach on six core principles, recognising work as an activity, not a place. The focus is less on when and where people work, collaborate, or learn, but on their performance and outcomes. This is built on a foundation of trust and celebrates the diversity of our people, embracing that we all have different work-life considerations and varying times when our energy is highest.

Our people & networks

At Virgin Atlantic, we want to inspire everyone to take on the world, championing inclusivity, activism, and challenger spirit. It guides us in everything we do as we strive to make progress on the issues that matter most. We know difference is a strength, enabling us to be a force for good for our employees, customers, and communities. We aim to be an employer of choice, and our purpose, the belief that drives us, is that everyone can take on the world. We’re committed to bringing together a workforce that reflects the society we live in, creating an environment that supports diversity, equity, and inclusion, and allowing all our people to bring their whole selves to work.

Supported by their own Executive Ally, our four employee networks are employee-led communities where our people can connect, celebrate and support each other. The networks work together to raise awareness of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion across the business and, through regular conversation, inform the actions we need to take as an organisation to create an environment where everyone feels they belong.

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