Legal Counsel

Cellulant Group; Cape Town; Remote; ZAR 513 000 - 685 000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent African payments company is looking for a Newly Qualified Lawyer to support their Legal team. The role involves drafting and negotiating contracts, conducting legal research in the FinTech sector, and collaborating with various internal teams to ensure compliance and practicality of agreements. The ideal candidate is a recently qualified lawyer with a keen interest in commercial law and the financial services landscape. This position offers a chance to develop legal expertise while contributing to effective business growth across multiple markets.

Benefits

Market-related compensation

Generous personal time off

Medical and life insurance benefits

Qualifications

• Newly qualified lawyer (NQ) with up to 2 years’ post‑qualification experience.
• Exposure to commercial contracts during training or early practice.
• Interest in FinTech, payments, banking, or financial services.

Responsibilities

• Support the drafting, review, and negotiation of agreements.
• Conduct legal research on payments and regulatory developments.
• Assist teams in closing deals and delivering services on time.

Skills

Legal research

Contract negotiation

Communication skills

Problem-solving

Education

Legal qualification in Africa

Job description

About Cellulant

Cellulant is Africa’s leading payments company, providing seamless, secure and innovative solutions that empower businesses, banks, and global brands to thrive in a fast‑changing global economy.

With a presence in over 24 countries and 200+ payment methods across cards, bank transfer and mobile money, our single API payment platform, Tingg, simplifies collections, disbursements, and reconciliations. It processes over 1 million transactions daily for market leaders in various sectors, such as Airlines, Telecoms, E‑commerce, Ride‑Hailing, Retail, and Remittances.

By simplifying how people pay and get paid, we drive trust, commerce and scale – and connect companies to their ambitions.

Our Story

Across Africa, payments are more than transactions. They are gateways to prosperity, connecting people, businesses and communities to opportunities and growth.

From enabling a logistics company in Lusaka to pay suppliers across borders, to enabling a hospitality brand in Lagos to scale effortlessly, to supporting an airline in Nairobi to reconcile payments from multiple platforms, Cellulant is the bridge that makes it all possible.

Through trusted technology and customer‑centric innovation, we build connections that inspire progress, strengthen economies and transform payments into a tool for progress.

Since our founding in 2003, we've continuously adapted and grown, leveraging our experiences to simplify payments for businesses. We are driven by an unshakable belief that seamless people‑centred payments are the key to unlocking prosperity.

Today, Cellulant powers online and offline payment processing, allowing businesses to collect payments, send payouts, and accelerate business growth.

Our Mission

To deliver seamless, secure and innovative payment solutions for businesses.

Our Vision

To create a connected world where businesses move money as easily as they share ideas.

Legal Counsel (Commercial) – NQ

Cellulant is hiring a Newly Qualified Lawyer to join our Legal team and support our commercial work across multiple African markets. You will work closely with colleagues in Revenue, Product, and Finance to ensure our contracts and commercial arrangements are practical, compliant, and support the business to grow.

This role is hands‑on and developmental. You will assist in drafting, reviewing, and negotiating contracts with customers, banks, network partners, and vendors under the guidance of senior counsel. You will also collaborate with our Legal, Regulatory, and Compliance teams to help Cellulant move quickly while managing risk.

You will report to the Head of Legal.

Location

You can be based anywhere in Africa. If you are located outside the continent, your time zone must be within ±2 hours of Central Africa Time (CAT).

What You’ll Do

• Support the drafting, review, and negotiation of customer, partner, bank, and vendor agreements.
• Support senior lawyers in resolving commercial and contractual issues
• Conduct legal research on payments, FinTech and regulatory developments across African markets.
• Assist sales, product, and finance teams in closing deals and delivering services on time.
• Help maintain and update contract templates, playbooks and internal knowledge resources
• Provide clear, practical legal input under supervision, and build strong relationships across the business.
• Collaborate with colleagues in Legal, Regulatory, and Compliance on shared priorities.
• Learn to balance risk and commercial goals in a fast‑paced FinTech environment.

What We’re Looking For

• Newly qualified lawyer (NQ) with up to 2 years’ post‑qualification experience.
• Exposure to commercial contracts during training or early practice.
• Interest in FinTech, payments, banking, financial services, or software technology.
• Strong legal research, drafting, and communication skills.
• Eagerness to learn contract negotiation and commercial risk management.
• Ability to work across multiple markets and in an international business environment.
• Collaborative, proactive, and solution‑driven mindset.
• Legal qualification in Africa. Candidates with training or secondments outside Africa will have an advantage.
• Added advantage: Awareness of the payments regulatory landscape in Kenya, Ghana, or Nigeria.

This role is an opportunity for a newly qualified lawyer to gain hands‑on experience in commercial contracts and FinTech, working directly with senior teams to support growth across the continent.

Why Work for Us?

At Cellulant, we are more than a payments company: we are bridge‑builders. We believe that by simplifying the way people pay and get paid, we are connecting companies to their ambitions, people to opportunities, and Africa to the global economy. Our work goes beyond payments—it’s about what people, businesses, and communities can do when the movement of money becomes more dependable, seamless, and secure.

Some exciting things about us...

• We have an extensive footprint: We have an office presence in 10 countries, and our products serve 24 countries across Africa, with a global workforce of about 300 employees.
• We believe innovation is at the heart of Fintech: Thousands of market leaders and top enterprises trust our technology to power their payments. Our customers are in various sectors, including financial services, travel and hospitality, telecom, e‑commerce, remittance companies, SaaS, and the gig economy.
• We support a diverse and inclusive workforce: We focus on the growth and development of our employees through well‑developed, individualised career paths, ensuring you reach your full potential in a supportive and delivery‑oriented environment.
• We put our employees first: We offer market‑related compensation, generous personal time off, and medical and life insurance benefits (markets permitting).
• We seek collaborative builders: At Cellulant, we believe that great ideas happen when we come together. Therefore, we nurture a collaborative work environment that challenges, engages, and empowers each person to contribute to the growth and success of the business.
• We solve Africa's digital economy: We’re solving payment challenges on the continent to create opportunities and accelerate economic growth for all of Africa.