Join to apply for the Head Of Legal role at Thirdfort.
We're on a mission to protect society from fraud and money laundering. We’ve already protected over 3 million people through life’s big transactions, with a core aim to protect 3.5 million people by the end of 2025. Fraud and regulation are rising, costing the UK economy over £100bn every year; this makes it more difficult for businesses to protect themselves and their clients – individuals like you and me – from fraud and money laundering.
Our co‑founders Olly and Jack were led to this area when a friend was defrauded of £25 k when buying their first property. At the time, anti‑fraud technology didn’t exist, so completing the required checks was largely manual. These big life moments should be exciting, but instead are often confusing and scary because of the painful process of paper‑based checks and the risk of fraud.
Thirdfort helps businesses facilitate these anti‑fraud checks so that individuals know they can transact safely and seamlessly with professionals during big transactions.
Our anti‑fraud platform provides a secure way for professionals in regulated sectors like lawyers, estate agents and accountants to transfer funds and verify sensitive information through app‑based document checks, facial recognition and open banking.
Over 1 000 businesses now trust Thirdfort to verify their clients. We are FCA regulated and have raised over $25 m in capital from leading fintech investors Breega and Element Ventures, as well as the founders of Zoopla, Funding Circle, Comply Advantage, Tessian, Fenergo and Fidel.
The Role
We're seeking a dynamic, solutions‑oriented commercial lawyer to lead our legal team. The legal team has been integral to Thirdfort's growth story, working closely with the founders, C‑suite and all teams across the business to help achieve our goals.
This role is varied, fast‑paced and demanding. You'll balance needs from across the organisation, stay at the forefront of regulatory and industry trends, and help the business manage legal risk. You'll manage an associate legal counsel and set the legal strategy, while also being comfortable zooming in, getting hands‑on yourself and being a strong partner to teams across the business. We're looking for somebody who can effectively scale the legal function at Thirdfort, leveraging AI, technologies and designing effective ways of working that ensure our lean but highly capable legal function performs and scales at its best.
Responsibilities
* Provide strategic legal advice to the co‑founders, C‑suite and broader leadership team as required.
* Set and manage objectives and key results for the team and contribute to the broader planning and management requirements of the business.
* Line‑management responsibility for an associate legal counsel.
* Support commercial teams to manage and close a wide variety of commercial deals with clients and partners, improving legal and contracting processes, playbooks and templates.
* Enable teams by helping answer questions and solve problems on privacy, commercial law, AI and more.
* Give strategic and regulatory advice across the organisation while paying particular regard to the commercial context, to ensure the legal function is an enabler of company growth.
* Manage the legal aspects of supplier contracts, draft and negotiate outbound SaaS agreements, complex technology contracts and key vendor agreements; constantly iterate on the process for managing suppliers alongside other key procurement colleagues.
* Responsibility for managing and constantly iterating on the company’s data privacy compliance programme.
* Work with the founders, associate legal counsel and external counsel on potential corporate transactions such as fund‑raising or M&A.
* Constantly refine and iterate ways of working so the legal team can work more efficiently and support the needs of the business as they develop, considering process, people or tool improvement.
* Coordinate and implement any commercial litigation needs of the business.
You may be right for this role
* Are a qualified solicitor (England and Wales) with at least 6 years PQE in an in‑house legal department and/or a well‑respected law firm.
* Have experience at a startup or high‑growth company – a significant plus.
* Are an excellent communicator, negotiator and have top‑tier writing skills. You'll have the capacity to communicate legal concepts and jargon clearly to the rest of the business, at pace.
* Have high motivation and the ability to operate independently and act decisively on BAU as well as novel legal issues, within a fast‑paced, rapidly changing environment.
* Are hungry to learn about the world of fraud and money laundering and use your legal and professional background to add value to the business.
* Are pragmatic, output‑focused and enjoy working with and learning from colleagues from different teams and backgrounds.
* Are passionate about legal ops, AI and leveraging technology and smart ways of working to efficiently scale a legal function. You won't be driven by building a big team, but will instead focus on how you can drive the most value and impact while staying lean.
Life at Thirdfort
Driven by our values, our culture promotes a collaborative and open environment where Thirdforters can take ownership, have impact and feel empowered when it comes to their growth and development. We understand the importance of our teams’ wellbeing and recognise that a one‑size fits all approach rarely works, so we aim to provide the flexibility individuals need to work in the way that suits them and their families best.
Our Benefits
* Compensation – £110,000 – 140,000 p.a. base salary
* Flexible working hours
* Enhanced parental leave
* Customisable wellness budget and £250 WFH Budget
* Up to 30 days working from abroad
* Uncapped holiday
* Enhanced sick leave
* Private healthcare with our provider, AXA
* Regular company and team socials
* Uncapped budget for personal development
* Share options for all employees
* Enhanced employer matching pension scheme with salary sacrifice options
* Access to our Cycle to Work scheme
We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analysing resumes or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgement. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.
Senior Level: Director
Employment type: Full‑time
Job function: Legal
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