UK Commercial Legal Counsel

The company

Small businesses move fast. Opportunities often don’t wait, and cash flow pressures can appear overnight. To keep going, and growing, SMEs need finance that’s as flexible and responsive as they are.

That's why we built iwoca. Our smart technology, data science and five-star customer service ensures business owners can act with the speed, confidence and control they need, exactly when it's needed.

We’ve already cleared the way for 100,000 businesses with more than £4 billion in funding. Our passionate team is driven to help even more SMEs succeed, through access to better finance and other services that make running a business easier. Our ultimate mission is to support one million SMEs in their defining moments, creating lasting impact for the communities and economies they drive.

We are recruiting a UK qualified lawyer to work across our UK business on commercial and regulatory matters and report to iwoca’s General Counsel.

Day to day you will:

• Support and advise our credit card product team, which will include providing regulated payment services, to build a best-in-class business credit card for SMEs

• Support and advise the wider business on commercial and regulatory issues, in cooperation with the regulatory compliance team

• Support and advise our other new ventures, which include an SME M&A platform (Manda), an SME credit score to help them monitor, understand and improve their business credit score (Credit Compass) and insurance brokerage that aims to disrupt an industry ill-suited to SMEs’ needs, to:

  • navigate the complex regulatory environment and structure the product accordingly;

  • build new features that solve real-world problems for SMEs;

  • develop and manage contracts with partners; and

  • prepare and update customer terms and conditions

• Identify and implement process improvements to make legal work more efficient, including building out and maintaining templates, playbooks and decision frameworks to produce better outcomes, all of which can be augmented using AI tools

• Instruct and manage external legal counsel, and manage legal budget with the guidance of the General Counsel and business heads

There will be opportunities for you to:

• Advise and educate other members of the legal team on areas of your competence through formal and informal training

• Grow with a fast-growing business and get exposure to a wide range of Fintech products and services

We are looking for:

• You are a qualified lawyer in the UK with a minimum of 3 years post-qualification experience

• You have knowledge in payments regulations (including the PSRs, EMRs and FCA Handbook) and have demonstrated the ability to apply it in a commercial setting

• You have experience in drafting and negotiating commercial contracts, including high value partnerships with regulated institutions

• You are smart, meaning you:

  • use thoughtful legal analysis to quickly cut through legal and commercial complexity

  • give concrete feedback in a way that facilitates decision-making

  • apply proportionality in your advice, considering solutions against legal risk and opportunity cost

• You are motivated, meaning you:

  • go above and beyond to deliver high quality legal work in line with deadlines

  • curious about all parts of the business and the challenges they face

  • are willing to learn about unfamiliar areas of financial regulation and develop into an internal subject matter expert

• You are humble:

  • no ego, we’re in it together and sometimes need to cover others’ work

  • you proactively reflect on individual and team performance on a task

• It would be also nice (but not required!) if you:

  • have some knowledge of regulations outside of payments, for example insurance, consumer credit or data protection

  • have some knowledge and understanding of lending businesses

  • appreciate the importance of quantifying legal risk to inform decision-making

  • have a pre-existing knowledge and interest of using AI tools in your work

The culture

At iwoca, we prioritise a culture of learning, growth, and support, and invest in the development of our team members. We value thought and skill diversity, and encourage people to explore new areas of interest, adopt better tools – including AI – and apply sound judgement so our products and decisions improve over time.

The offices

We put a lot of effort into making iwoca a great place to work:

• Offices in London, Leeds, Berlin, and Frankfurt with plenty of drinks and snacks.

• Events and community-led groups, including running groups, padel, and monthly ping-pong and pool competitions.

The benefits

• Flexible working hours.

• Medical insurance from Vitality, including discounted gym membership.

• A choice between a dedicated dental plan or a health cash plan that reimburses everyday medical expenses.

• A private GP service (separate from Vitality) for you, your partner, and your dependents.

• 25 days’ holiday per year, an extra day off for your birthday, the option to buy or sell an additional five days of annual leave, and unlimited unpaid leave.

• A one-month, fully paid sabbatical after four years.

• Instant access to external counselling and therapy sessions for team members that need emotional or mental health support.

• 3% Pension contributions on total earnings.

• An employee equity incentive scheme.

• Generous parental leave and a nursery tax benefit scheme to help you save money.

• Electric car scheme and cycle to work scheme.

• Two company retreats a year: we’ve been to France, Italy, Spain, and further afield.

And to make sure we all keep learning, we offer:

• A learning and development budget for everyone.

• Company-wide talks with internal and external speakers.

• Access to learning platforms like Treehouse.

Useful links:

• iwoca benefits & policies

• Interview welcome pack