Senior Legal Counsel

About Shufti

Shufti is a global leader in AI-powered identity verification (IDV) and anti-money laundering (AML)

About Shufti

Shufti is a global leader in AI-powered identity verification (IDV) and anti-money laundering (AML) solutions, offering advanced KYC (Know Your Customer), KYB (Know Your Business) and KYI (Know Your Investor) services that enable businesses to onboard customers securely and meet regulatory requirements. Founded in 2017 and trusted by industry leaders in FinTech, Crypto, Banking, E-commerce, and iGaming, our technology delivers real-time verification in over 240 countries and territories, empowering a safer, fraud-free digital world.

Position purpose

Lead the Commercial & Corporate Legal pillar for a global RegTech (KYC/AML/KYB) business — owning commercial contracting, corporate governance and cross-border legal work. You will build the function and its playbooks from a lean base, partner closely with the Compliance and Privacy pillars, and grow into the senior leadership of the Legal, Compliance & Privacy department. This is a build-and-own role for a commercially minded lawyer who wants scope, ownership and a clear progression path rather than a narrow, process-bound seat.

The role is offered at Commercial Legal Counsel level and is expected to progress to Senior Commercial Legal Counsel on successful completion of the probationary period, with a further track toward Head of Department as the function matures.

Key Responsibilities

Commercial contracting

• Own the end-to-end commercial contracting engine: a live contract repository, an agreed turnaround SLA, and a clear signing-authority matrix.
• Build and maintain self-serve playbooks and templates (NDAs, customer, vendor and data-processing agreements) so routine agreements move quickly and consistently.
• Clear the live contract queue and keep it current, escalating only genuine risk items.

Cross-border & international

• Draft, review and negotiate commercial agreements across the global network — UK, EU, UAE, US and APAC — coordinating local counsel where required.
• Support international expansion and market-entry work with fit-for-jurisdiction terms.

Corporate governance & company secretarial

• Run corporate governance reliably across group entities: board and committee minutes, resolutions, statutory filings and entity governance.
• Maintain accurate corporate records and support the group’s multi-entity structure.

Strategic transactions

• Support fundraising rounds and any M&A activity with clean documentation and diligence-ready records.
• Coordinate external counsel efficiently, controlling scope and cost.

Privacy & data-protection adjacency

• Partner the Privacy pillar on DPAs, GDPR / UK GDPR matters and AI-regulatory change (including the EU AI Act) as they affect commercial terms.

Leadership & function-building

• Mentor and support the Legal Counsel and Legal Associate, and coordinate across the Compliance and Privacy pillars.
• Build the pillar’s processes, registers and playbooks, and demonstrate readiness to take on department leadership.

Required Qualifications

• Qualified lawyer (England & Wales, or equivalent common-law jurisdiction) with a strong commercial and corporate practice background.
• Demonstrable ownership of commercial contracting end-to-end — drafting and negotiating NDAs, customer, vendor and data-processing agreements.
• Cross-border / international commercial legal experience across multiple jurisdictions.
• Corporate governance and company-secretarial experience across one or more entities.
• Sound working knowledge of data-protection law (GDPR / UK GDPR) as it applies to commercial arrangements.
• Strong stakeholder management — able to work directly with sales, product, compliance and senior leadership.
• High learning agility and the appetite to build a function rather than inherit one.

Preferred Qualifications

• In-house experience at a fintech, RegTech, SaaS, payments or other regulated-technology business.
• Direct exposure to KYC / AML / KYB, sanctions or identity-verification subject matter.
• Experience supporting fundraising or M&A alongside a general or fractional general counsel.
• Dual qualification, or experience coordinating US and international counsel.
• Early people-management or mentoring experience, or clear readiness for it.

What Success Looks Like (first 12 Months)

• A live contract engine - repository, turnaround SLA, signing-authority matrix and self-serve playbooks - with the standing queue cleared.
• Cross-border commercial contracting owned reliably across the network, with reduced reliance on external counsel for routine work.
• Corporate governance running dependably across entities, with clean minutes, resolutions and records.
• A strong working partnership with the Compliance and Privacy pillars, and demonstrated readiness to progress to Senior Commercial Legal Counsel.

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