Senior Legal Counsel

Yoyo Group; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 700 000 - 900 000; Full time

Job summary

A dynamic tech company in Cape Town is seeking a Senior Legal Counsel to draft and negotiate commercial agreements, provide legal advice, and ensure regulatory compliance. Ideal candidates will have an LLB degree and 3-5 years of experience in the SaaS or fintech sectors. Responsibilities include risk assessment and delivering training on legal processes. Strong organizational skills and proficiency in contract automation are essential. This full-time position does not offer remote work options.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years post-qualification experience in-house or in a law firm.
• Strong understanding of SaaS, fintech, and technology industries.
• Detail-oriented and able to manage multiple contracting workstreams.

Responsibilities

• Draft and negotiate various commercial agreements.
• Provide business-oriented legal advice across operational matters.
• Monitor industry laws and ensure compliance with regulations.

Skills

Commercial contracting experience

Proficient in contract automation platforms

Understanding of IP law

Experience negotiating with enterprise clients

Strong communication skills

Education

LLB degree

Tools

CLM platforms (e.g., Juro)

Job description

About the Job

We are seeking a tech-savvy, solutions-driven and commercially minded Senior Legal Counsel to join our Yoyo team in Cape Town, operating within a dynamic SaaS or fintech environment.

Responsibilities

Contract Management

Draft, review and negotiate a wide range of commercial and technology/SaaS-related agreements, including MSAs, DPAs, SOWs, reseller/partner agreements, platform terms, SLAs, client contracts, licensing arrangements, partnerships, loans and more.

Apply strong understanding of IP ownership, licensing, confidentiality, limitation of liability, data security, indemnities and other core technology-industry clauses to ensure company interests are protected.

Support contracting needs related to the global group structure, including shareholder agreements, intra-group service arrangements and governance documentation.

Maintain and update the central contract repository, ensuring organisational accuracy and accessibility of all legal documents.

Lead meetings with Commercial Leads to manage and optimise the contract life cycle and ensure alignment across teams.

Maintain and improve legal templates, negotiation playbooks, structured approval workflows and contract lifecycle processes.

Oversee legal intake prioritisation and contract lifecycle management, including renewal tracking.

Collaborate closely with Sales, Product, Operations and Engineering to ensure commercial terms are aligned with operational commercial and technical realities.

Legal Advice & Counsel

Provide practical, business-oriented legal advice to management and internal teams across operational, compliance, regulatory, and contractual matters.

Support decision-making by offering clear, actionable legal recommendations that align with business objectives.

Assist the Legal & Compliance team in areas such as POPIA data protection, vendor due diligence, KYC and internal policy maintenance.

Regulatory Compliance

Monitor relevant industry laws and regulations, ensuring Yoyo’s policies, operations and products remain compliant.

Implement and refine compliance frameworks using digital tools where appropriate to streamline tracking and reporting.

Support compliance initiatives relating to data protection (POPIA), vendor onboarding/due diligence and internal governance.

Risk Assessment & Mitigation

Identify legal risks across operations, products and services and collaborate with teams to develop effective mitigation strategies.

Use data and automation where possible to improve risk monitoring and reporting.

Support ongoing risk management activities particularly relating to contractual exposure, data protection, operational processes and vendor engagements.

Training

Deliver legal and regulatory training to employees, including onboarding programs, to embed a strong compliance culture across the business.

Equip teams with the knowledge and tools needed to follow policies and manage legal risks effectively.

Qualifications

Knowledge & Skill Requirements

• LLB degree with 3–5 years post-qualification experience (in-house or law firm).
• Proficient in CLM/contract automation platforms (e.g., Juro).
• Strong commercial contracting experience within SaaS, fintech, technology or payments industries.
• Solid understanding of IP law, data protection requirements, software licensing concepts and standard tech contract risk positions.
• Experience negotiating with enterprise clients and aligning terms with product engineering and operations teams.
• Exposure to shareholder agreements, group-company contracting or cross-border legal work advantageous.
• Familiarity with regulatory frameworks affecting fintech and payments (TPPP, Systems Operator, PASA, SARB) a plus.
• Highly organized, detail-oriented and comfortable managing multiple contracting workstreams.
• Strong communication skills and ability to work collaboratively in a cross-functional environment.

Additional Information

Ideal Candidates are:

• Tech-savvy and naturally inclined to improve processes through automation.
• Able to design and automate legal workflows or processes.
• Adaptable, comfortable working in a fast-moving scaling tech environment.
• Commercially minded and able to align legal advice with business priorities.
• Collaborative, building strong relationships across cross-functional teams.
• Proactive, solution-oriented and willing to take ownership of projects.
• Growth-driven, open to feedback and committed to continuous improvement.

Our Yoyo values: we are looking for a team member that will always live out and demonstrate behaviours aligned to our values :

• Be extremely customer‑centric: in everything we do, serve and delight our customers, using data to continuously improve.
• Be a passionate team player: bring momentum and energy to those around you, leave ego at the door and be teachable.
• Be an owner: be accountable, take responsibility, find solutions, learn from mistakes and own tasks to completion.
• Be world‑class at speed: delivering world‑leading solutions that delight our clients and customers.
• Be curious and creative: constantly innovating, exploring, learning, stretching ourselves, pushing the boundaries and thinking out of the box.

Remote Work: No

Employment Type: Full‑time