Senior Legal Counsel

About the Role
This is a unique opportunity for an experienced financial services lawyer to establish and lead the legal function of a new, licensed multi-asset market infrastructure in Muscat, Oman. Backed by prominent institutional investors, the business is currently building its operations from the ground up and is focused on developing its legal, regulatory, and operational foundations ahead of its planned launch. The successful candidate will play a central role in establishing the legal basis on which the infrastructure operates, ensuring the enforceability of book-entry title, settlement finality, and participant obligations. This is a senior position requiring specialist knowledge of financial market infrastructure, securities settlement, and regulatory frameworks, along with the ability to build a legal function from a blank page.

The Role
Reporting to the Programme Director, you will establish and lead the company's legal function, taking ownership of its legal framework, regulatory engagement, participant documentation, and material commercial contracts. You will act as the company's principal legal interface with regulators, market participants, external counsel, and infrastructure providers. Working closely with the wider programme team, you will ensure that the legal foundations are robust, enforceable, and appropriate for a licensed market infrastructure operating across multiple asset classes and jurisdictions. This is an opportunity to shape the legal framework of a new institution rather than inherit an established function.

What You'll Do

• Establish the legal basis of the infrastructure: Ensure the enforceability of book-entry title, settlement finality, and participant obligations under the law of the financial centre. Lead the preparation and maintenance of legal opinions relied upon by regulators and participants.
• Lead regulatory engagement: Own the legal aspects of the company's authorisation and recognition processes, including regulatory applications, consultations on rules and regulations, and the ongoing supervisory relationship.
• Develop the participant legal framework: Draft and maintain the rulebook, participation agreements, and associated terms. Negotiate documentation with banks, custodians, participants, and their legal advisers.
• Manage commercial and outsourcing contracts: Take ownership of the company's legal contracts, particularly platform, technology, and material outsourcing agreements, ensuring appropriate provisions covering service levels, liability, data protection, and exit arrangements.
• Support international recognition and access: Lead the legal work required for recognition by foreign authorities and facilitate cross-border participant access.
• Advise on corporate governance and data matters: Provide legal advice on governance arrangements, delegated authority, internal policies, personal data protection, and conflicts of interest.
• Manage external legal advisers: Appoint and oversee external counsel, managing scope, budgets, quality, and delivery.
• Build the legal function: Establish the processes, records, and controls needed to ensure that legal obligations, contracts, and legal risks are properly documented and traceable within the company's operating model.

What You'll Bring

• Qualified lawyer in a common-law jurisdiction, such as England and Wales or an equivalent jurisdiction, holding a current practising certificate.
• At least 10 years' post-qualification experience, including a minimum of 5 years specialising in financial market infrastructure or post-trade.
• Direct experience of securities settlement, custody, or registry infrastructure, gained within an infrastructure operator, regulatory authority, or through advising such organisations.
• Strong working knowledge of the CPMI-IOSCO Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures (PFMI), particularly on legal basis, settlement finality, money settlements, central securities depositories, and operational risk.
• Experience drafting, negotiating, or providing legal opinions on settlement finality and book-entry title regimes, ideally across multiple jurisdictions.
• Experience leading or co-leading a regulatory authorisation or recognition application and managing an ongoing supervisory relationship.
• Proven experience drafting rulebooks and participation agreements and negotiating these with banks, custodians, and their legal advisers.
• Experience negotiating material outsourcing and technology contracts for regulated financial services businesses.
• Exceptional legal drafting skills, with the ability to produce clear, robust documentation to an English common-law standard.
• The professional judgement and integrity to challenge proposed approaches where they are not supported by the law, including at senior levels.

Desirable Experience

• Experience working within a GCC financial free zone or comparable common-law financial centre, such as DIFC, ADGM or AIFC.
• Exposure to Islamic finance structures, sukuk documentation, and Sharia governance.
• Experience with the regulation of tokenised assets and digital-asset custody.
• Arabic language skills, both written and spoken.
• Exposure to Omani law and experience working with Omani-admitted legal counsel.

Personal Attributes

• Comfortable building legal frameworks and processes from the ground up, particularly where local precedent may not exist.
• Commercially aware, with the ability to distinguish legal requirements from preferred approaches and explain the implications clearly.
• A confident communicator who can advise and challenge senior stakeholders while building strong relationships across the business.
• Willing to share knowledge and develop colleagues' understanding of the legal and regulatory environment.
• Takes personal accountability for legal advice, drafting, and decisions, including work prepared using approved technology and AI tools.

Location: Muscat, Oman.

• Omani nationals: Permanent employment.
• Expatriate candidates: Two-year fixed-term contract.

This is a rare opportunity to establish and lead the legal function of a new financial market infrastructure, shaping its regulatory and legal foundations from the outset and supporting its development into an operating institution.