Director of Legal

Brightwater Executive; Dublin; On-site; EUR 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Brightwater Executive is seeking a Director of Legal reporting to VP Group Legal to oversee regulatory, compliance and data privacy for Insurance EU DAC entities, aligning with Group policies and local EU laws. The role manages strategic direction, oversees legal operations, advises CEO and Board, handles regulatory interactions (CBI, FCA), corporate governance and contract oversight.

Ideal candidate: solicitor/barrister in Ireland/UK with 7–10 years PQE in financial services, strong

Qualifications

• Qualified solicitor or barrister in Ireland or the UK with 7–10 years post-qualification experience.
• Experience in financial services, ideally insurance, with regulatory exposure (CBI/FCA) and cross-border matters.
• Proven ability to provide strategic legal advice to CEO and Board.

Responsibilities

• Provide legal counsel and training across topics to the business and PCF/CF holders.
• Oversee regulatory change, interpret new legislation (EU AI Act, Solvency II) and draft implementation plans.
• Manage external counsel and budget, maintain relationships with regulators and advisory bodies.
• Lead data privacy matters in projects and product development.

Skills

Strong communication

Negotiation

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Qualified solicitor or barrister in Ireland/UK

7-10 years PQE in financial services

Job description

This role will be report to the VP, Group Legal. The Director of Legal will manage and oversee the legal, regulatory affairs for their Insurance EU DAC entities, ensuring proactive and strong stakeholder engagement and interactions with their wider teams and colleagues in Group.

Manage strategic direction and the day-to-day operations and services of the legal division with robust oversight of resources, driving operational efficiencies where possible and be a key contributor to enterprise-wide projects to support corporate goals, balancing operational and strategic priorities.

Legal Regulatory / Compliance Responsibilities:

• Provide legal advice, counsel and training to the business and support the cross functional PCF and CF holders where needed across different topics.
• Develop and maintain a strong internal stakeholder relations and work effectively with the Group Legal & Compliance divisions, ensuring global consistency where possible and correct adaption and adoption of group policy and frameworks in line with local, European regional markets.
• Monitoring and influencing the development of regulatory change together with advising on interpretation and implementation of new legislation / regulation, providing regulatory gap analysis and assisting with drafting implementation plans, policies and procedures. e.g. EU Artificial Intelligence Act, Solvency Il reviews.
• Support / lead out on interactions with key regulatory stakeholders (CBI) and any relevant cross border insurance industry forums.
• Remain current on legal and regulatory developments within the EU and wider regions.
• Devising and delivering the annual departmental plan including projects, upstream legislative and regulatory risk and compliance.
• Support with the preparation and presenting of quarterly compliance report to the Board.
• Handle and assist with insurance regulatory and compliance matters

Stakeholder Management & Advisory Role:

• Provide proactive legal advice to the CEO, the Board and senior management on a wide range of issues, including regulatory compliance, corporate governance, claim litigation and legal risk management
• Collaborate with key stakeholders within the Risk and Compliance teams and provide such support and assistance as required to ensure the firm’s compliance with applicable legal and regulatory matters.
• Identify and mitigate legal risks associated with the company's operations and transactions.
• Prepare and present legal reports to the Board and senior management as required.
• Support and advise on complex corporate governance issues pertaining to the Board, (for example, board succession planning and fitness and probity matters).
• Maintain sound and proactive relationships with external counsel. Coordinate with external legal counsel as needed and management and oversight of budget spend.

Commercial Contract Management:

• Advise on the negotiation of master services agreements, professional services agreements, service level agreements, agency contracts, IT contracts (external vendor and intragroup arrangements).
• Policy Product Reviews - manage drafting, reviewing of various terms and conditions for product suite.

Projects

• Support and advise on functional projects - implementation of new operational resilience and outsourcing frameworks.
• Key stakeholder contribution on steering committee / project work streams.
• Key legal and regulatory advisor on policy product / complex claim processes reviews.

Data Privacy:

• Providing advice on privacy matters in relation to projects, product development and releases, customer engagement and sales channels. Support and assist with any data privacy matters and issues.

The Ideal Candidate:

• Qualified solicitor or barrister in Ireland / UK with ideally 7-10 years + post qualification experience. Ideally from a mid/top tier firm or an in-house role within financial services (ideally insurance, but open to wider financial services).
• Sound European cross border insurance / financial services experience (general insurance sectoral expertise would be advantageous) in a legal or legal and compliance remit.
• Experience dealing with the CBI, FCA, with knowledge of EU / Ire / UK laws and regulations.
• Adept communication, negotiation, and leadership skills with proven experience in providing solution focused advice on a variety of legal matters.
• Strong cross functional team collaborator, excellent commercial acuity and highly developed and successful negotiation skills.

For a confidential discussion regarding this Director of Legal position please contact Estelle Davis at Brightwater Executive or