Legal Counsel, Central Legal Team

Legal Counsel – Commercial Contracts and Payments
Birmingham or Manchester

As a Barclays Legal Counsel for Commercial Contracts and Payments, you will be accountable for providing strategic and day-to-day legal assistance across the Barclays Group, by acting as a business-savvy service provider and partner to clients and colleagues. The main types of commercial contract work will include similar types of contracts to the broader Commercial, Innovation and Technology (CIT) Legal team as well as Barclays Payments contracts. This is a great opportunity to join this expanding and specialist team, with a varied role.

Barclays is one of the world's largest and most respected financial institutions, with 329 years of success, quality and innovation behind us. We offer careers that provide endless opportunity – helping millions of individuals and businesses thrive, and creating financial and digital solutions that the world now takes for granted.

Working Flexibly
We’re committed to providing a supportive and inclusive culture and environment for you to work in. This environment recognizes and supports ways to balance your personal needs, alongside the professional needs of our business. Providing the opportunity for all our employees, globally to work flexibly empowers each of us to work in a way that suits our lives as well as enabling us to better service our customers’ and clients’ needs. Whether you have family commitments or you’re a carer, or whether you need study time or wish to pursue personal interests, our approach to working flexibly is designed to help you balance your life. If you would like some flexibility, then please discuss this with the hiring manager, and your request will be reviewed subject to business needs.

We are currently in the early stages of implementing a hybrid working environment, which means that many colleagues spend part of their working hours at home and part in the office, depending on the nature of the role they are in. We’re flexible on how this works and it may continue to change and evolve. Depending on your team, typically this means that colleagues spend a minimum of between 20% to 60% of their time in the office, which could be over a week, a month or a quarter. However, some colleagues may choose to spend more time in the office over a typical period than their role type requires. We also have a flexible working process where, subject to business needs, all colleagues globally are able to request work patterns to reflect their personal circumstances. Please discuss the detail of the working pattern options for the role with the hiring manager.
What will you be doing?
• Drafting, reviewing and negotiating contracts in order to effectively manage and mitigate legal risk actively

• Liaising with and involving other members of the legal and compliance functions and other stakeholders throughout the Barclays Group on legal risk matters pro-actively
• Maintaining effective file management practices including use of the team’s electronic filing platform
• Influencing the development of processes, policies and procedures designed to manage, mitigate and reduce legal risk and/or increase the efficiency of the team
• Keeping effective file management practices including use of the team’s electronic filing platform
• Providing know-how and experience to other legal advisers within the team and elsewhere within the Legal Function
• Forging relationships with a broad range of legal and business areas and third parties in order to encourage the best quality output and service from the team
• Ensuring that all activities and duties are carried out in full compliance with regulatory requirements

What we’re looking for:
• Qualified lawyer, ideally English qualified

• PQE experience ideally with one or more of the following areas: software/fintech, commercial, financial services, e-commerce
• Excellent technical knowledge of commercial agreements and experience in negotiating and advising on general commercial/payments/technology contracts
• Sound stakeholder management, ability to work cross-functionally in a collegiate and professional manner, and willingness to assist on projects led by other teams and functions

Skills that will help you in the role:
• Experience with innovation, FinTech/payments businesses and regulatory aspects

• Familiarity with tender processes (public and private sector)
• Knowledge of the financial services industry, either in house with a financial services organisation or with a significant regional, national or City law firm
• Demonstrable experience of identifying improvements in process and ways of working and assisting the implementation of the same

Where will you be working?

Barclays Snowhill is at the heart of the professional district and commands a workforce of around 1000. With great transport links to Birmingham Grand Central and Snowhill train stations as well as the local metro. Our office has a dedicated staff coffee shop and deli and break out areas for staff. There is also a presentation theatre for client and staff events. Our office boasts a great working environment as well as opportunities to network across the city.

In the centre of Spinningfields, Hardman Street is right in the centre of the best of Manchester’s professional business network. A multi divisional space with Corporate, Wealth, Premier and Digital colleagues, the offices include a client suite for meetings for up to 100 people, but are equally intimate for smaller meetings. Set in the heart of the cities gyms, bars, restaurants and shopping, Barclays offices are a real benefit to its 300 staff and an attractive venue for clients.

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