Head of Legal
London | Financial Services | 4-days a week in office base
The Organisation
A UK-regulated bank with c.450 employees. The business has grown organically over the past decade, quadrupling in value and is now targeting continued significant growth over the next four to six years, supported by a recent private equity investment. The bank operates across property finance, secured lending, recoveries and specialist financial services.
The Role
A newly created, sole counsel position reporting to the Chief Risk Officer and sitting on the Senior Leadership Team. The Head of Legal will establish the bank's in-house legal function, reduce reliance on external counsel and deliver commercially focused legal support across all business lines. The role carries significant autonomy, and the incumbent will shape the function.
Key Responsibilities
- Advise on Watchlist, Recoveries and distressed lending, with focus on property lending, restructures and enforcement strategy.
- Support lending litigation and dispute management, including guarantee claims and recovery actions.
- Own and maintain the bank's lending and security documentation framework — Facility Agreements, Offer Letters, Terms & Conditions and related core documentation.
- Lead legal structuring support for new products, services and strategic initiatives.
- Provide legal oversight of TPRM and outsourcing arrangements in line with PRA/FCA requirements.
- Draft, review and negotiate supplier and outsourcing contracts, including liability, indemnity, operational resilience and regulatory provisions.
- Support governance, regulatory reporting and outsourcing oversight, including board reporting and regulatory submissions.
- Establish and manage the external legal panel — selection, onboarding, performance management and fee negotiation.
- Drive reduction in external legal spend through strengthened in-house capability and process efficiency.
Required Experience & Competencies
- Qualified solicitor or barrister with in-house financial services experience, ideally within Banking as a Head of Legal
- Strong grounding in banking and property finance law — secured lending, recoveries and regulation
- Sound knowledge of PRA/FCA regulatory requirements, outsourcing frameworks and TPRM obligations.
- Proven ability to draft, review and negotiate complex commercial, lending and supplier agreements.
- Commercially astute — able to deliver clear, pragmatic legal advice to senior stakeholders.
- Track record of managing external panel firms and optimising legal spend.
- Able to operate independently as sole counsel with the gravitas to influence at ExCo level.
For further information, please contact me. Poppy.Taylor@ssq.com / 07534087340