Head of Legal

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Head of Legal

Department: Legal

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: London

Description

The Head of Legal is responsible for overseeing all legal matters within the organisation, providing strategic legal advice to senior management, and ensuring compliance with laws and regulations. This high-impact, dynamic, and commercially focused role requires balancing the priorities of all relevant stakeholders in alignment with the business's strategy and key objectives.

An effective and articulate communicator, the Head of Legal must be able to persuasively present and explain legal matters clearly and concisely to key stakeholders. A risk-based mindset is essential, enabling the identification of critical areas of concern and the construction of legally compliant, commercially viable solutions.

Aligned with the company's global strategy, the Head of Legal must have an international orientation and a commitment to building knowledge and familiarity with foreign markets. They must demonstrate the ability to quickly understand complex products and services, identify key issues and risks, and offer creative solutions. A commitment to staying current with the latest developments in laws, regulations, and industry trends is crucial, including a solid knowledge of GDPR, UK GDPR, data protection, and localisation laws around the world.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership and Management

• Lead and manage the legal department, including, training, and supervising legal staff.
• Develop and implement departmental goals, objectives, budgets and systems.

Legal Strategy and Advice

• Provide strategic legal advice to senior management and the board of directors.
• Advise on major business transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures.
• Support the development and implementation of business strategies and policies.
• Support expansion of Reward in international markets.

Compliance and Risk Management

• Ensure the company's compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
• Develop and maintain policies and procedures to manage legal risk.
• Oversee internal investigations and compliance audits.
• Work with Risk & Compliance, and Chief Data officer to ensure compliance with data usage, protection and privacy guidelines, including consumer facing policies and terms and conditions.

Contract Management

• Review, draft, and negotiate a wide range of commercial contracts.
• Develop standard contract templates and negotiation guidelines.
• Create key clause library, market entry guidelines and other supporting documents to enable commercial outcomes.

Dispute Resolution

• Manage litigation and disputes involving the company.
• Work with external counsel as needed to resolve legal issues.

Corporate Governance

• Assist with corporate governance matters, including board meetings and corporate records.
• Ensure compliance with corporate governance standards and best practices.

Training and Development

• Provide training to employees on legal topics and compliance issues.
• Stay updated on relevant legal developments and ensure the legal team is informed.

Skills Knowledge and Expertise

• Deep knowledge of FCA regulations, PCI DSS standards, GDPR, and data usage rights.
• Proven experience with banking partnerships, loyalty programs, and redemptions advantageous.
• Strong leadership and team management skills.
• Excellent negotiation, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to provide strategic legal advice and manage complex legal issues.

• Education: J.D. or LL.B. and membership in good standing with the Law Society of England and Wales.
• Experience: Extensive years of experience in a senior legal role, preferably within the banking, financial services, or loyalty sectors.

Benefits

• Annual Leave: 25 days + bank holidays and increasing by one day a year to 30 days
• Company holiday: 3 additional days off between Christmas & New Years
• Ability to buy and sell holiday days as well as the ability to bank days (tenure dependent)
• Flexible working options: we are operating a hybrid working model with 3 days a week from the office
• Pension: Hargreaves Lansdown - 6% matched contribution
• Employee share scheme
• Generous family friendly cover
• Private healthcare - Bupa
• Income protection
• Critical illness cover
• Life insurance cover
• Dental cover
• Optical cover
• Yulife app for access to employee wellbeing and discounts
• Perks at Work, cashback/discount shopping site
• Employee referral scheme
• Salary sacrifice program which includes cycle to work scheme, electric car scheme and season ticket loans
• Volunteering program
• Company events i.e. Christmas party, all-company event and other social/hosted events during the year (we have an active social committee!)
• Team socials