Senior Legal Counsel (FTC)

Company Description

SquareTrade operates in 14 markets in Europe.  As one of the largest and fastest growing mobile and consumer electronic insurance providers in Europe, SquareTrade is revolutionising and disrupting the £2bn+ market whilst setting the service standard in Europe by creating the most consumer-centric digital protection service, obsessed with best-in-class operations and technology, hassle-free service, and driving pace and product innovation in an industry that has lagged behind others. Partners include major European telecom operators such as Magenta, 3, Telenor, YouSee, DNA and Elisa as well as leading consumer electronics retailers including Amazon, FNAC, Power, Elkjop and MediaMarkt.

The European Legal Team

The European Legal and Compliance team is responsible for all legal and regulatory compliance activities across SquareTrade in Europe. This includes advising on legal risk associated with insurance distribution, relationships with partners and suppliers, outsourcing of business services, and ensuring appropriate internal controls are always in place and adhered to. The European Legal and Compliance team also takes an active part in supporting the development of the business in Europe and the contracting and on-boarding of new partners.

Job Description

Job Purpose

At SquareTrade, ensuring a seamless customer experience is of utmost importance. A critical aspect of that goal is ensuring that SquareTrade’s operations, customer journeys and product documentation comply with applicable legal, regulatory and data protection requirements.

This fixed-term maternity cover role will provide legal support to the business during the absence of a team member on maternity leave. The successful candidate will help ensure continuity of legal support across key work streams, including product terms and conditions, customer-facing documentation, regulatory compliance, privacy and data protection matters, contract support, incident management and responses to internal and external legal queries.

SquareTrade is a fast paced, dynamic scale up with an open and collaborative culture and will require a candidate who can quickly become familiar with the business, manage a varied workload, work closely with internal stakeholders and provide clear, pragmatic legal advice in a fast-paced international environment

Job Responsibilities

• Provide day to day legal support across the business  on a wide range of topics, including insurance policy interpretation, regulatory compliance, contractual obligations and operational matters affecting SquareTrade’s European operations.
• Draft and negotiate a wide variety of contracts including with suppliers, our channel partners and other third parties as necessary for the distribution of SquareTrade’s insurance products and related services. 
• Draft, review and update customer-facing documentation, including terms and conditions, IPIDs, policy summaries and related pre-contractual documents across relevant sales channels and legal technology platforms.
• Advise on legal and regulatory requirements affecting customer journeys, claims processes, operational changes, new products and business initiatives.
• Support data protection compliance activities, including DPIAs/PIAs, records of processing, data subject requests, third-party data requests and internal privacy queries.
• Assist with the investigation and management of potential data incidents and data protection-related complaints, including escalation and reporting where required.
• Prepare or contribute to internal reports, board materials, updates and recommendations relating to legal, regulatory or data protection matters.
• Work collaboratively with internal stakeholders, external counsel and business partners to ensure continuity of legal and compliance support during the cover period.
• Support knowledge transfer, handover and transition activities at the start and end of the fixed-term assignment.
• Providing supervision and support to junior members of the legal team.

Qualifications

• Qualified lawyer, or legally trained professional with relevant experience in commercial, regulatory, insurance, consumer, technology and/or data protection matters.
• Experience advising on legal and regulatory issues in a commercial environment, ideally within insurance, financial services, technology, retail or another regulated sector.
• Minimum of 4-6 years experience practicing law in a similar role.  Experience working in the regulated financial services industry, ideally within the insurance industry. Ideally at least two years at a law firm and prior in-house experience.
• Able to quickly get up to speed with an established workload and provide effective cover during a fixed-term maternity leave period.
• Excellent knowledge of legal principles, practices, and industry standards, with the ability to apply them in a practical and business-oriented manner.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to assess complex situations, identify risks, and recommend appropriate actions and practical solutions.
• Strong project management and stakeholder management skills.
• Fluency in English is required and any other European languages considered an asset.
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills, with the capacity to explain complex concepts (sufficient to conduct business in the insurance industry) in English, both written and verbal, to non-technical audiences.
• Proven track record of managing legal matters independently and collaboratively within a team environment.
• Ability to be pragmatic and understand and communicate legal requirements as well as effective risk mitigation strategies and implications of non-compliance.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment, prioritising and managing multiple tasks simultaneously

Skills

• Ability to work in and provide clear, practical legal advice in a changing, fast paced international business
• Strong drafting, reviewing and negotiation skills.
• Good judgement and ability to balance commercial, legal, regulatory and customer outcomes.
• Confidence working independently while collaborating closely with legal, compliance and business stakeholders.
• Ability to prioritise competing workstreams during a defined cover period.

Additional Information

This role is based in market but will require significant internal travel to partner locations along with monthly international travel to SquareTrade HQ in London. 

On average, two to three days per week will be spent with the partner, across a mix of locations, including HQ and stores, both within and outside the assigned region, depending on business requirements. 

The Team:  http://www.squaretrade.com/leadership   

SquareTrade is an Equal Opportunity Employer