Senior Legal Counsel

Technology Contracting (essential)

• Substantial technology contracting experience is essential: platform, SaaS and licensing terms, master services agreements and statements of work, data licensing and data sharing arrangements, API and integration agreements, and inbound cloud, hosting and professional services contracts.
• Command of the service level, security, liability and indemnity architecture that sits behind those agreements, and a clear grasp of the commercial consequences of each.
• Practical experience of advising on intellectual property in a technology environment, including licence scope, open source and rights in data and outputs.

Data Protection

• A serviceable working knowledge of substantive data protection under the UK and EU GDPR as applied to high-volume personal data processing, together with a demonstrable appetite and the capacity to deepen that expertise in role.
• Command of the transactional elements of data protection, sufficient to negotiate data processing and data sharing terms, standard contractual clauses, international transfer provisions and security schedules without supervision.

Judgment and Communication

• Exceptional academic credentials, with demonstrated analytical and drafting ability.
• The capacity to explain legal concepts in plain English and the confidence to give a clear recommendation rather than a list of options.
• Sound commercial judgment, a practical and problem-solving orientation, and scrupulous adherence to legal and ethical requirements. A strong business, rather than purely technical, bent.
• Credibility and presence with senior stakeholders, including the group executive and the legal and procurement functions of major financial institutions.

Leadership and Collaboration

• A collaborative approach focused on leading rather than directing, with the approachability and adaptability required to work effectively with a wide variety of people and personalities at all levels of the group.
• Experience of supervising or mentoring more junior lawyers, and of instructing and managing external counsel and legal spend.
• Capacity to implement compliance standards, with practical experience of evaluating, managing and mitigating risk.
• Demonstrated flexibility, adaptability and capacity for growth and reorientation, with the drive and determination to deliver outstanding results as the group grows.

Desirable

• In-house experience in a payments, loyalty, banking technology or data analytics business, or as a supplier to regulated financial institutions.
• A recognised data protection qualification, for example the CIPP/E.
• Familiarity with the data protection regimes of the DIFC and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and with other CEMEA and NALP regimes in which the group operates.
• Experience of AI governance frameworks and of preparing for the EU AI Act.
• Practical experience of using AI tools to streamline legal and commercial workflows, for example contract review and triage, template and clause automation, obligation extraction and knowledge management, and the judgment to know where such tools should not be relied upon.
• Experience of contract lifecycle management or other legal technology implementation.

Commercial and technology contracting

• Lead the drafting, review and negotiation of the group’s most significant and complex commercial agreements across the UK, EMEA, the Middle East and the US, including bank and card issuer agreements, card scheme and network arrangements, retailer, merchant and publisher agreements, SaaS and platform terms, master services agreements and statements of work, data licensing and data sharing agreements, API and integration agreements, reseller, agent, referral and joint marketing arrangements, and inbound technology, cloud, hosting and professional services contracts.
• Take the lead in negotiations with counterparty legal, procurement and sourcing teams, and drive matters to signature, extension or renewal without day-to-day supervision.
• Own the group’s templates, fallback positions and playbooks, and keep them current as the business and the regulatory position develop. Apply the non-negotiable positions set by the Group General Counsel and, where applicable, by commercial risk sign-off, and exercise judgment in real time on the points that are tradeable, escalating promptly where a departure from a non-negotiable position is sought.
• Support Product and Engineering from the design stage, so that products and services are offered on terms that are commercially competitive, technically deliverable and protective of the group’s intellectual property and data rights.
• Advise on intellectual property across the technology estate, including software and platform IP, licence scope, open source use and compliance, brand and trade mark matters, and the allocation of rights in models, derived data, insights and outputs.
• Ensure that executed contracts are communicated to the relevant stakeholders, with the interpretation and practical guidance required to support implementation, and that obligations, renewals and change controls are tracked and acted upon.

Data protection, AI and technology regulation

• Negotiate the data protection provisions in the group’s commercial arrangements, including data processing and data sharing terms with banks, retailers and processors, controller and processor allocation, international transfer mechanisms, and the security and audit schedules that accompany them.
• Own data protection for the group as a legal matter, under the UK and EU GDPR, PECR and equivalent marketing rules, and the regimes applicable to group operations in the DIFC, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other CEMEA and NALP markets. Set the group’s legal position on lawful basis, transparency, controller and processor allocation and international transfers, and direct the legal aspects of impact assessments, records of processing, data subject rights, incident response and regulatory engagement, co-ordinating with the Rezolve Head of Risk and Compliance, who is the group Data Protection Officer, and with Compliance, who support operational delivery.
• Own the group’s AI legal and governance framework, and lead on the legal issues arising from the group’s use and supply of artificial intelligence and machine learning, including the EU AI Act and comparable emerging regimes, training and input data rights, model and vendor terms, automated decision-making and profiling, and the group’s internal AI use policies.
• Own the legal assessment of the regulatory perimeter as it affects the group’s propositions, including financial promotions, consumer protection and unfair commercial practices, marketing and consent, and the requirements imposed on the group in its capacity as a supplier to regulated financial institutions. Manage third-party risk assessments, partner audits, security and resilience schedules, and information requests from bank and scheme counterparties.

Risk and disputes