# Legal Counsel - UK

**Company**: Wise
**Location**: London
**Experience**: senior
**Job type**: full-time
**Category**: Legal
**Industry**: Finance

**Apply**: https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/Wise/744000159355444-legal-counsel-uk?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply
**Canonical**: https://yubhub.co/jobs/job_a94235b6-b1b

## Description

We're seeking a Legal Counsel to join our team in London. You'll play a crucial role in enabling, protecting, and empowering our business and people to achieve growth with minimal distraction.

Responsibilities:

- Work closely with multiple business teams across the UK, EMEA, and globally to advise on various legal matters, including financial regulation, consumer protection, payments, banking, marketing standards, and partnerships.

- Collaborate with the business and global Legal team on new product launches, market expansions, license applications, corporate matters, and commercial agreements.

- Manage the contract lifecycle with bank partners, online platforms, and enterprise customers, from structuring and drafting to negotiation.

- Assess and advise on risks specific to API integrations, including country risk, feature launches, regulatory implications, and bank partner relationships.

- Structure and draft multi-party commercial agreements, allocating regulatory obligations, commercial terms, and KYC/AML responsibilities.

- Advise on regulatory positioning in new and emerging markets, reviewing external counsel memoranda, assessing local licensing and registration risk, and drafting contractual language.

- Mentor and upskill business teams and other Legal team members, supervising responses to Legal support queries.

- Identify and advise on operational impacts and practicalities of risks to the business.

- Review current practices, develop and maintain templates, and streamline processes.

- Stay updated on legal developments in the UK and advise on future-looking initiatives.

- Support the wider needs of Wise, including training and workshops.

Qualifications:

- 5-7 years of PQE, 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.

- Proven aptitude for commercial contract structuring, drafting, and negotiation.

- Strong interest and experience in financial services regulation, including payments, consumer protection, banking, and investments.

- Broad legal knowledge to spot and resolve various legal issues.

- Ability to distill complexity and communicate practical, risk-based solutions.

- Focus on impact through trusted relationships and attention to detail.

- Clear communication, project coordination, and management skills.

- Ability to navigate complex issues and multiple stakeholders.

- Collaborative approach to problem-solving.

What we offer:

- Stock options as part of the compensation package.

- Flexible working arrangements.

- Wellbeing support, including an Employee Assistance Program.

- 6 weeks of paid sabbatical after 4 years at Wise.

## Skills

### Required
- financial regulation
- consumer protection
- payments
- banking
- commercial agreements
- contract negotiation
- regulatory compliance
- risk assessment

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Source: [Apply at jobs.smartrecruiters.com](https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/Wise/744000159355444-legal-counsel-uk?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply)