Senior Legal Counsel

At Smart, our mission is to transform retirement, savings and financial wellbeing, across all generations, around the world.

THE ROLE

We are looking for a driven and experienced commercial lawyer to join our expanding Legal Team to advise on a range of technology and commercial contracts as well as all aspects of commercial law in a fast paced and growing business.

Responsibilities:

• Drafting, reviewing, negotiating and finalising a range of commercial contracts including non-disclosure agreements, complex or high value supplier contracts (IT and non-IT), technology contracts and our platform-as-a-service agreements issued to our platform clients.

• Provide high quality, business focused legal support directly to a growing and developing global business through a strong understanding of both legal requirements and commercial implications.

• Advise internal teams on contractual risk, compliance considerations and practical mitigations.

• Maintain contract templates and playbooks to ensure alignment with evolving regulatory, commercial and data protection requirements.

• Provide support and guidance on the protection, exploitation and enforcement of the company's intellectual property rights.

• Advise the business on legal interpretations, internal standards and practices, new business initiatives and other commercial and regulatory matters.

• Build relationships with stakeholders and be a trusted legal adviser.

• Provide legal training to the business and be a knowledge-hub of best practices.

• Support the implementation of improved processes including the creation and implementation of contract templates and playbooks.

• Guide junior members of the team and foster team development.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

The skills, experience, and aptitudes we are looking for are listed below but please don’t be discouraged from applying if you don’t meet every single one of these criteria – having a ‘can do’ attitude is sometimes more important than being able to tick every box:

• Proven experience in drafting and negotiating commercial contracts, ideally within a technology-driven environment. Experience of SaaS and PaaS arrangements would be an advantage.

• Confident and pragmatic approach to problem solving and managing legal risk.

• Proven ability to deal with ambiguity in a fast-paced environment to meet deadlines whilst maintaining the utmost attention to detail.

• Comfortable managing internal and external stakeholders including our senior leadership team, with strong written and verbal communication skills.

• 5+ years PQE with a strong background in commercial law.

WHO WE ARE

We work in partnerships with governments and financial institutions in the UK and internationally. Our cloud-native digital platform is revolutionising how people around the world think about, and save for, their retirement.

At heart, we’re a financial technology business. What we do is all about innovation, and using the power of digital change to put the customer first. Our Engineers will tell you that working at Smart gives you the opportunity to play your part in developing world-class technological solutions, working with – and learning from – like-minded people.

You’ll also find that, across our business, our colleagues love Smart’s culture, and how what we do means better financial outcomes for savers. That feels worthwhile, and it means that what we do, collectively, goes way beyond the nine to five of a typical working day.

Don’t just take our word for it – you can see what our colleagues say about working at Smart on LinkedIn Life and Glassdoor.

BENEFITS

At Smart, one of the eight principles we work to is “We want happy and good people in our team”. We created a list of benefits that helps us achieve this goal:

• 25 days’ holiday per year, increasing with length of service.

• £500 annual training budget to spend on your professional development

• Extensive private healthcare, including dental, eyecare and EAP

• Enhanced sick leave (three months’ pay per year)

• Enhanced maternity and paternity (maternity – 6 months fully paid/paternity – 3 weeks fully paid)

• Death in service insurance cover

• Fully-paid five-week sabbatical after five years of employment

• In office wellbeing, such as manicures, massages and barbers. 

• Smart employees also enjoy a 50% discount on orders from our sister company Arena Flowers, Britain's most ethical florist. They offer unique hand-tied bouquets, luxury flowers, letterbox flowers, plants and gifts to spend on friends and loved ones or even for yourself.

At Smart, we are committed to creating an inclusive and equitable workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to do their best work.

We believe that diverse perspectives help us lead the way in transforming retirement, savings, and financial wellbeing. We welcome differences in background, experience, thinking, and identity, and we recognise that innovation is strongest when it is built on inclusion and fairness. We encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and experiences and do not discriminate on the basis of any protected characteristic.

If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process or in the workplace, we encourage you to let us know - we are committed to supporting you.

We think Smart is an awesome place to work. If it sounds like somewhere you’d like to work, too, and if you’re ready to play your part in our continued success in the future, then naturally we’d love to meet you.