Senior Counsel - Regulatory

Responsibilities

• Provide legal support on cryptoasset, e-money, and payment-services regulatory requirements, including account-access obligations and operational compliance questions.
• Support active licensing applications and EU/UK licensing or registration workstreams, including compiling application materials and coordinating with outside counsel.
• Provide regulatory support for corporate transactions and structural changes affecting EU/UK entities, including change-of-control notifications and corporate-client migrations.
• Support day-to-day relationships with regulators for licensed entities.
• Translate MiCA, the UK Cryptoasset Regime, CBI and FCA rulebooks, AML/CTF, DORA, outsourcing requirements, and e-money and payment-services regulation into practical guidance.
• Promote clear, plain-English communication, measurable risk tradeoffs, and decision-ready recommendations.

Requirements

• Qualified lawyer: Solicitor or Barrister of England and Wales, Irish Solicitor or Barrister, or equivalent admitted in an EU Member State.
• 10+ years of post-qualification experience in financial-services regulatory law, gained at a regulated financial-services institution or in private practice supporting such clients.
• Demonstrated ability to independently own business-as-usual regulatory workstreams.
• Direct experience supporting regulator engagement, including notifications, information requests, and supervisory correspondence with the CBI, FCA, or an equivalent EU competent authority.
• Substantive experience advising on MiCA or the UK Cryptoasset Regime.
• Substantive experience with EU or UK e-money and payment-services regulation, including account-access and open-banking obligations.
• Experience with AML/CTF, including related policies, controls, and regulatory expectations.
• Experience advising on outsourcing arrangements and operational-resilience compliance, such as DORA or the UK FCA/PRA operational-resilience regime.
• Outstanding analytical, drafting, and organisational skills with crisp, plain-English writing.
• Ability to distill complex legal and regulatory issues into clear, actionable guidance for non-lawyer stakeholders.
• Pragmatic, commercially accountable approach to legal and regulatory risk.
• Comfortable working autonomously and owning a broad, fast-moving BAU workload.

Nice to haves

• Familiarity with MiFID II and its application to investment services, including derivatives, equities, and tokenised financial instruments.
• Experience supporting change-of-control notifications or other regulatory aspects of corporate transactions.
• Interest in crypto and digital assets, with familiarity with Payward and competitor products.