Senior Commercial Counsel

About the role

Finera is a payment orchestration platform serving merchants through a global network of acquiring banks and PSPs. The Senior Commercial Counsel is a senior, managerial role within Legal, owning the legal structuring and negotiation of Finera's commercial agreements and acting as the lead on payments regulation across Europe, Asia and MENA. The role sits at the intersection of law and commercial strategy, negotiating directly with merchants, acquiring banks and partners, managing a small team of direct reports and reporting to the CLO.

Key responsibilities

• Draft, negotiate and close commercial agreements: merchant agreements, acquiring bank and PSP agreements, referral and partnership deals, and technology and SaaS agreements.
• Advise the Commercial and Sales teams on deal terms, pricing mechanics, reserves, liability and risk allocation.
• Contribute to Finera's legal position on payments regulation and card scheme rules across Europe, Asia and MENA, including scheme compliance, settlement, fund flows, safeguarding and chargebacks.
• Lead licensing and market entry workstreams, coordinating local counsel, corporate service providers and regulators.
• Manage and develop the Legal Counsel, allocate work, review output and set standards for contract review, quality and turnaround.
• Partner with Risk and Compliance on merchant risk appetite and onboarding terms, and with Finance on deal economics.
• Support senior leadership on escalated or strategic negotiations, including with acquiring banks, card schemes and key partners.
• Build, own and maintain contract frameworks, playbooks and templates, and track and report deal flow, workload and contract risk to the CLO.

Required profile

• Qualified lawyer with 8+ years' PQE, ideally with in-house experience.
• Strong background drafting and negotiating commercial agreements in payments, fintech or payment orchestration; direct experience with acquiring banks, PSPs or card schemes strongly preferred.
• Proven experience resolving payments disputes and litigation arising from commercial agreements with PSPs.
• Prior people-management experience, able to coach a junior lawyer and set quality standards.
• Comfortable working across multiple jurisdictions and time zones; practical knowledge of UAE commercial law is an advantage.

Required skills

• Working knowledge of payments regulation in Europe (PSD2, UK PSRs), Asia and MENA, and of licensing and scheme rules.
• Working knowledge of data protection and privacy law (GDPR, UAE PDPL, DIFC Data Protection Law) and intellectual property.
• Litigation knowledge and experience with legal engineering and AI tools.

What we offer

• Competitive salary package aligned with experience and market standards.
• Medical insurance starting from day 1.
• Training resources and development opportunities.
• Well-stocked office with snacks and drinks available daily.
• Team-building events, company activities and an Employee of the Month recognition program.