Legal Counsel - UK

We are seeking a Legal Counsel to join our team in London. As a Legal Counsel at Wise, you will play a critical role in enabling, protecting, and empowering the business and people of Wise to achieve growth with minimal distraction.

Responsibilities:

• Work closely with multiple business teams across the UK, EMEA, and multi-regional to advise on a wide range of legal matters and ad hoc issues as they arise, including financial regulation, consumer protection, payments, banking, marketing standards, and partnerships;
• Collaborate with the business and other members of the global Legal team and outside counsel on new product launches, market expansions, corporate matters, and commercial agreements;
• Own all aspects of the contract lifecycle with bank partners, online platforms, and enterprise customers, from structuring and drafting to negotiation;
• Assess and advise the business on risks specific to API integrations, including country risk, feature launches, regulatory implications, and the overall relationship with a bank partner or online platform;
• Structure and draft multi-party commercial agreements, including allocating regulatory obligations, commercial terms, and KYC/AML responsibilities across several counterparties in a single deal;
• Advise on regulatory positioning in new and emerging markets, including reviewing external counsel memoranda, assessing local licensing and registration risk, and drafting contractual language to manage regulatory exposure;
• Mentor and upskill the business teams and other members of the Legal team, including supervising responses to Legal support queries;
• Understand the real risks to the business and advise on the operational impact and practicalities of those risks;
• Review current practices and develop and maintain templates;
• Streamline processes and structure tasks related to legal matters globally;
• Stay up to date on legal developments in the UK and advise on future-looking initiatives;
• Work with the global Legal team to support the wider needs of Wise, for example, training and workshops.

Qualifications:

• 5-7 years PQE and be a UK qualified (or another common law jurisdiction), with strong post-qualification commercial experience;
• Experience in the banking or payments industry;
• Previous law firm or in-house experience, focusing on payments, card processing, financial services, banking, or investments;
• A proven aptitude for commercial contract structuring, drafting, and negotiation;
• A strong interest and experience in financial services regulation, including payments, consumer protection, banking, and investments;
• A broad legal knowledge that enables you to spot and resolve a variety of legal issues in upcoming product offerings;
• A focus on impact, through trusted relationships and attention to detail;
• Clear communication, project coordination, and management skills, including for partner relations;
• Ability to navigate complex issues and multiple stakeholders, advising the business on key risks, and developing solutions;
• Have a get-it-done, collaborative approach to problem solving.

What we offer in return:

• Stock options as part of compensation package;
• Flexible working – whether it’s working from home, school plays, or life admin, we get that flexibility is essential and you’re trusted to do the right thing;
• Wellbeing support – you and your family have access to an Employee Assistance Program, where you’ll be able to speak to qualified counselors on anything that matters to you;
• 6 weeks of paid sabbatical after 4 years at Wise on top of annual leave.