Senior Associate Counsel

About the Role

We are seeking a mid-level lawyer to join our Legal team in Dubai. This position involves providing broad day-to-day commercial, corporate, and governance support for the group’s entities, specifically focusing on the legal questions associated with operating licensed fintech products. The ideal candidate will have a strong technical foundation from private practice or a reputable in-house team and seek ownership of their own matters.

Responsibilities

• Assist in maintaining the group’s corporate entities: incorporation, licensing, renewals, and ongoing maintenance across UAE mainland, DIFC, ADGM, and other free zones, as well as in overseas jurisdictions where the group operates.
• Prepare and manage corporate governance documentation: constitutional documents, shareholder and board resolutions, powers of attorney, delegations of authority, and statutory registers.
• Support board and committee processes, including papers, resolutions, minutes, and follow-up actions, ensuring that the group’s authority matrix is current and correctly applied.
• Advise on intra-group arrangements and related documentation, collaborating with Finance and Tax, and instructing external counsel for specialized questions.
• Draft, review, and negotiate a full range of commercial agreements, including vendor, supplier, and services agreements, technology and software licensing, SaaS and cloud contracts, distribution and reseller arrangements, marketing and sponsorship, and strategic partner agreements.
• Advise on intellectual property matters, covering brand protection, licensing-in and licensing-out, and IP terms in product and technology contracts.
• Own and continuously improve the contract templates, playbooks, fallback positions, and self-service tools to streamline business operations with minimal legal involvement.
• Advise on consumer-facing terms, including user terms and conditions, promotional terms, disclosures, and marketing claims.
• Provide legal input regarding how products and features align with the regulatory perimeter for payments, stored value, remittance, card issuing, and lending, including understanding the licence conditions applicable to the group’s regulated entities.
• Support the legal aspects of regulatory submissions and correspondence, including licence variations, product notifications, and regulator queries, while working with Compliance to manage relationships with the Central Bank of the UAE and other regulators.
• Collaborate with Product and Engineering teams from the design stage to ensure regulatory, AML/CFT, sanctions, consumer protection, and data protection requirements are integrated into products.
• Advise on data protection and privacy matters across the group, including the UAE personal data protection framework and relevant DIFC and ADGM data protection regimes as well as GDPR.
• Review and negotiate agreements with banks, card schemes, payment processors, and other financial institution and fintech counterparties.
• Stay updated on relevant regulatory developments alongside Compliance, translating them into actionable guidance for the business.
• Handle pre-action disputes, demands, and complaints, instructing and supervising external counsel for escalations while managing costs effectively.
• Contribute to the legal risk register and help develop policies, training, and internal guidance for the wider business.
• Assist with employment, real estate, and other general corporate matters as they arise, sharing the workload with the legal team.

Requirements

• Qualified lawyer in a common law jurisdiction (England and Wales, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, India, or similar), or a civil law jurisdiction with strong common law drafting experience, holding good standing.
• 4 to 6 years of post-qualification experience gained at a reputable law firm and/or a respected in-house legal team.
• Strong background in commercial contracting, along with solid corporate and governance knowledge, ideally with exposure to financial services, payments, or fintech.
• Proficient and precise drafting and negotiation skills in English, with the judgment to discern when to pursue particular points.
• Fluent professional English, as it is the working language of the team and the group.
• Proven ability to manage matters independently and meet deadlines, demonstrating sound judgment regarding escalation.

Advantageous

• Proficiency in Arabic, either written or spoken, is a genuine advantage but not mandatory and will not penalize strong candidates.
• Experience within the UAE or wider GCC region, along with familiarity with the UAE regulatory environment, including Central Bank of the UAE requirements.
• Background in a high-growth technology company, licensed fintech, or other regulated environments.
• Experience supervising junior lawyers and paralegals.
• Familiarity with legal operations tooling, including contract lifecycle management, matter management, e-signature, and legal AI tools.