About the Role
The company is a payment orchestration platform serving merchants through a global network of acquiring banks and PSPs. The Senior Commercial Counsel is a senior, managerial role within Legal, owning the legal structuring and negotiation of the company's commercial agreements and acting as the lead on payments regulation across Europe, Asia, and MENA.
This role sits at the intersection of law and commercial strategy. The successful candidate will negotiate directly with merchants, acquiring banks, and partners, and manage a small team of direct reports as the function scales. The successful candidate will work closely with the Commercial, Risk, Sales, Finance, and Payment Solutions functions to keep deal terms both commercially workable and legally sound.
The Senior Commercial Counsel will report to the company's CLO and will be responsible for the commercial agreements database, setting SLAs, improving the team's use of AI, and resolving disputes.
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Key Responsibilities
- Commercial contracting: Lead the drafting, negotiation, and closing of the company's commercial agreements, including merchant agreements, acquiring bank and PSP agreements, referral and partnership deals, and technology and SaaS agreements.
- Deal advisory: Advise the Commercial and Sales teams directly on deal terms, pricing mechanics, reserves, liability, and risk allocation, serving as Legal's primary partner on commercial deals.
- Payments and regulatory: Contribute to the company's legal position on payments regulation and card scheme rules across Europe, Asia, and MENA, including scheme compliance, settlement and fund flows, safeguarding, and chargebacks.
- Licensing and market entry: Lead licensing and market entry workstreams, coordinating local counsel, corporate service providers, and regulators on applications, filings, and ongoing obligations.
- Team leadership: Manage and develop the Legal Counsel team, allocate work, review output, and set standards for contract review, quality, and turnaround.
- Cross-functional partnership: Partner with Risk and Compliance on merchant risk appetite and onboarding terms, and with Finance on deal economics.
- Strategic negotiations and dispute resolution: Support senior leadership on escalated or strategic negotiations, including with acquiring banks, card schemes, and key partners.
- Process and scale: Build, own, and maintain the contract frameworks, playbooks, and templates that allow the team to scale efficiently, keeping them current with regulatory and business changes. A strong use of AI legal tools is essential.
- Reporting: Track and report on deal flow, workload, and contract risk to the CLO.
Requirements
- Qualified lawyer with 8+ years' PQE, ideally with in-house experience.
- Strong background in drafting and negotiating commercial agreements in payments, fintech, or payment orchestration; direct experience with acquiring banks, PSPs, or card schemes is strongly preferred. Comfortable negotiating reserves, liability, and risk-sharing terms directly with merchants and partners.
- Working knowledge of payments regulation in Europe (such as PSD2 and the UK PSRs), Asia, and MENA, as well as how licensing and scheme rules shape deal terms.
- Working knowledge of data protection and privacy law (such as the GDPR, the UAE PDPL, and the DIFC Data Protection Law) and intellectual property, sufficient to advise on and negotiate related clauses in commercial agreements, including data processing terms, confidentiality, IP ownership, and licensing.
- Proven experience resolving payments disputes and litigation arising from commercial agreements with PSPs.
- Prior people-management experience, with the ability to coach a junior lawyer and set quality standards.
- Experience with legal engineering and integrating AI tools into daily work, demonstrating a data-driven approach.
- Comfortable operating across multiple jurisdictions and time zones, with practical knowledge of UAE commercial law as an advantage.
Benefits
- Competitive salary package aligned with experience and market standards.
- Medical insurance starting from day 1.
- Access to training resources and development opportunities that support professional growth.
- Well-stocked office with snacks, drinks, and refreshments available daily.
- A multinational organization that promotes a strong, collaborative culture.
- Regular team-building events and company activities that strengthen collaboration across teams.
- Employee Recognition Program celebrating the
