Senior Legal Counsel, EMEA at Finastra in London

Job description

• As Senior Legal Counsel, you will act as a key legal leader for EMEA, providing strategic guidance and negotiation of high-value customer engagements and leading a talented team of legal professionals.
• You will operate at the heart of the business, partnering with Sales, Finance, Product and senior leadership while running negotiations with some of the world’s leading financial institutions. The role brings together people leadership, sophisticated commercial negotiation, stakeholder management, and confident, risk-based decision-making.
• This is a highly visible opportunity to make a meaningful impact within a commercially focused legal function. You will have the opportunity to:
• Influence business-critical decisions and high-value customer outcomes.
• Work on varied, complex, and strategically important technology transactions.
• Partner with senior stakeholders across an international business.
• Lead and develop a talented legal team.
• Play a key role in strengthening Finastra’s London legal hub, bringing the EMEA legal team together and supporting the business through an important period of change and growth.

Responsibilities

• Lead, support, and develop a team of legal professionals across Europe.
• Act as the senior escalation point for complex commercial and contractual matters.
• Negotiate strategic software, SaaS, hosting, licensing, services and wider technology agreements with enterprise customers.
• Partner with Sales, Finance, Product and senior leaders to balance commercial objectives with legal risk.
• Provide pragmatic legal guidance on high-value engagements with major financial institutions.
• Build trusted relationships across the business and influence key commercial decisions.
• Drive consistency, efficiency, and best practice across legal processes.
• Participate as one of a select number of approvers in the Finastra deal approval committee.
• Ensure internal governance and approval processes are followed before commitments are made to customers.
• Monitor relevant legal and regulatory developments affecting software vendors and financial services customers, supporting contractual updates where required.
• Lead the analysis and resolution of complex customer disputes, creating pragmatic solutions aligned to business and customer outcomes.
• Help strengthen Finastra’s legal presence in London and support matters across EMEA, including the Middle East where required.
• Drive productivity and business performance by embedding AI-enabled automation, improving processes based on value and risk, ensuring trusted data standards, and leveraging insights to support informed decision-making and measurable outcomes.

Requirements

• We would like to hear from commercially minded lawyers who combine strong legal expertise with the confidence to operate as business leaders. You will bring:
• A law degree or equivalent legal qualification.
• Fluency in English, with the ability to communicate complex legal topics clearly in written and spoken form.
• Experience leading, managing, or developing legal professionals.
• Demonstrable experience negotiating complex enterprise software, SaaS, hosting, licensing or wider technology agreements.
• Strong software vendor-side experience, ideally within enterprise software, fintech, financial services technology or a comparable B2B technology environment.
• A strong commercial mindset and a pragmatic, solution-focused approach to legal risk.
• The confidence to make decisions, manage competing priorities, and operate autonomously in a fast-moving environment.
• Sound judgement, with the ability to identify when matters should be escalated while otherwise making accurate, risk-based decisions independently.
• Excellent stakeholder management, influencing, communication, and negotiation skills.
• The ability to lead complex negotiations with clarity, credibility, and a clear understanding of both customer and internal stakeholder priorities.
• Awareness and interest in developments within the IT, software and financial services industries.
• Negotiating with large banks, financial institutions, or other complex enterprise customers.
• Working across multinational or EMEA business environments.
• Knowledge of DORA, GDPR, privacy and security practices in the context of software vendors.
• Supporting legal or commercial matters involving the Middle East.
• Proficiency in German, French, Spanish, Italian or Portuguese.
• Willingness to travel occasionally within Europe for client meetings.

Skills

Required

• Leadership
• Stakeholder management
• Influencing
• Communication
• Negotiation
• Commercial mindset
• Pragmatic
• Solution-focused
• Confidence
• Autonomy
• Sound judgement
• Risk-based decision-making

Benefits

• We are proud to offer a range of incentives to our employees worldwide. These benefits are available to everyone, regardless of grade, and reflect the values we stand for:
• Flexibility: Enjoy unlimited vacation, subject to local regulations and business priorities. Benefit from hybrid working arrangements and inclusive policies such as paid time off for voting, bereavement, and sick leave.
• Well‑being: Access confidential one‑to‑one support through our Employee Assistance Program, connect with our network of Wellbeing Champions and Gather Groups, and take part in monthly events and initiatives designed to help you thrive—inside and outside of work.
• Health & Financial Security: Medical, life and disability insurance, retirement plans, lifestyle, and other benefits.*
• Sustainability: Paid time off for volunteering and donation‑matching opportunities to support causes that matter to you.
• Inclusion: Get involved in our inclusion communities, such as Count Me In, Culture@Finastra, Proud@Finastra, Disabilities@Finastra, and Women@Finastra—open to everyone who wants to participate and contribute.
• Career Development: Access online learning and accredited courses through our Skills & Career Navigator tool.
• Recognition: Take part in our global recognition program, Finastra Celebrates, and share your voice through regular employee surveys that help shape our culture and ways of working.
• *Specific benefits may vary by location.