UK Legal Advisor

Ford; Dunton; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Ford UK seeks a UK Legal Advisor to provide practical, commercially focused legal advice to FCE Bank operations in the UK, covering consumer finance, banking, insurance, regulatory and governance matters.

You will partner with business, compliance, risk, operations, product and project teams to enable strategic priorities while ensuring compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements. The role requires 5–10 years post-qualification and a solicitor qualification in England and Wales.

Qualifications

• Qualified solicitor in England and Wales.
• 5–10 years post-qualification experience in financial services, banking, or consumer finance.
• Strong knowledge of consumer finance and financial services regulation.
• Experience advising business stakeholders in a complex, highly regulated environment.
• Experience with large-scale regulatory change, remediation, or transformation programmes is highly desirable.

Responsibilities

• Provide day-to-day legal advice on consumer credit, financial services regulation, banking regulation, insurance, customer communications, product development, and operational initiatives.
• Advise on UK legal and regulatory developments and support implementation of legal and regulatory change programmes.
• Instruct and manage external counsel for specialist advice or litigation.
• Support governance forums and assess legal implications of regulatory developments.

Skills

Communication skills

Stakeholder management

Education

Qualified solicitor in England and Wales

Job description

The UK Legal Advisor will provide practical, commercially focused legal advice to FCE Bank operations in the UK. The role supports a wide range of legal, regulatory, governance, product, and operational initiatives, with particular emphasis on consumer finance, banking, insurance, regulatory and legal change implementation, and legal risk management. The successful candidate will partner closely with business, compliance, risk, operations, product, and project teams to help deliver strategic priorities while ensuring compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

• Provide day-to-day legal advice on consumer credit, financial services regulation, banking regulation, insurance, customer communications, product development, and operational initiatives.
• Advise on UK legal and regulatory developments and support implementation of legal and regulatory change programmes.
• Interpret new legislation, regulatory consultations, and FCA/PRA requirements, translating them into practical business actions.
• Work closely with Compliance and Risk teams to assess legal implications of regulatory developments and support governance forums.
• Support complex customer remediation and redress programmes, including legal interpretation of regulatory requirements and customer treatment principles.
• Advise programme teams on legal risk, consumer protection requirements, complaints, ombudsman matters, and customer outcomes.
• Review and advise on legal positions relating to consumer credit agreements, financial promotions, customer communications, and related regulatory obligations.
• Provide clear, solution-oriented legal advice that enables business objectives while appropriately managing legal and regulatory risk.
• Instruct and manage external counsel where specialist advice or litigation support is required.

Minimum requirements we seek:

• Qualified solicitor in England and Wales.
• 5-10 years of post-qualification experience in a financial services, banking, or consumer finance environment.
• Strong knowledge of consumer finance and financial services regulation.
• Experience advising business stakeholders in a complex, highly regulated environment.
• Demonstrated ability to balance legal risk management with commercial objectives.
• Experience working on large-scale regulatory change, remediation, or transformation programmes is highly desirable.

Desirable:

• Sound legal judgement and risk assessment.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Ability to simplify complex legal issues for non-legal audiences.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• High level of integrity, professionalism, and discretion.
• Collaborative and solutions-oriented approach.

Additional Information:

The Company is committed to diversity and equality of opportunity for all and is opposed to any form of less favourable treatment or harassment on the grounds of race, religion or belief, sex, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or disability

This position is based in Dunton, and it is expected the successful candidate will be able to attend the Dunton office for typically 4 days a week and remain flexible on the days they are required to attend the office according to business requirements.

As part of our pre-employment checks process, successful candidates will be required to undertake a criminal record check. This will be conducted in line with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and applied only to unspent convictions.